Am I kidding myself????? (1 Viewer)

I'm in the process of building a new house. In the basement there is a room that is 17 x 12 x 9 (L x W x D). I want to get a front projector, 100" screen, and 2 rows of seating. Using 1.5 x screen width, that would make the first row 10 feet back. Is 7 feet enough for 2 couches and legroom in between? If not, I can remove a wall and make the room 35x12x9, but my wife has her heart set on a guest suite down there, so that might cause some problems.

What is considered the average space used by 2 row seating?

Thanks for any help.

I am currently doing exactly what you are asking, except right now I only have an 83" screen. My front couch is only about 10' from the screen and the back couch is right behind it. But, my back couch is on a riser, which I think helps a ton. I will be moving my HT into the basement when it gets finished, and that room is 13X16. The back couch will go up against the back wall and the front couch will go about 9-10' from the new 100" screen. Based on my current setup I think it will work fine. Also, both my couches are "wall away" recliners and while people cannot walk between the rows when someone in the back is reclining with the footrest out, the rest of time there is plenty of room for both couches to be reclined.

Dan,

Yes, you can do that. Count 33" for a big couch and 22" for legroom between the first and the second row. If the second couch is just a bit smaller (less deep), you can put it on a riser, with the legroom in front of it, and have a nice HT!

I'm in the process of planning my own HT and I can only use a room that's already there, which is about the same size as yours. I think I can do it.

Cees

Later: Ha, I didn't see Charles' post before I finished mine: we seem to agree heartily!
C.

That sounds great. Since I have the 9 foot ceilings, I'll definitely put in a riser. Wow, I'll be happy and the wife will be happy. I don't know if that's ever happened before. :wink:

Well, congrats. It looks like you are one step closer to realizing you're dream. One caveat though is to maybe go to an HT store and ask if you can pull a chair up a bit closer and try sitting 10' from a 100" image and make sure its not too big or that you cant see screendoor, etc.

10' from a 100" is about as big/close as you want to be without seeing the possible imperfections of the projector. What display device do you have or are considering?

I've just started looking, but from what I've read it's probably one of these 3 choices: Panny PT-L300, Infocus X1, or the Sanyo PLV-Z1. But who knows, by the time my house is finished and I get moved in and ready to start the HT room, I may go to something different. I still don't understand all the math involved in viewing distance, viewing angle, screen ratio, throw distance, and all the other math stuff, but I wanted to make sure the basics I want(2 rows, 100" diag screen) will theoretically fit in the room I have.

Yes, it will fit in that room snugly.

What a difference a day makes. My wife has found another floorplan she wants (luckily we're still at the lot improvement stage), and this new house has a space that would be 18x25! But at least now I know the minimums, so when she finally makes up her mind I will get nothing smaller than the 12x17 room.

Thanks for all the good news. You guys rock.