13.5' x 12' Dedicate HT - Help me! (1 Viewer)

[David F]

I've finally decided to finish my basement, and there's only one area which will hold a HT. (The other areas in the basement would

This theater would only be used for watching movies and maybe the occassional football game - it won't need to double as a living room or family room. (I already have two of those.)

I need some ideas/suggestions to help me move forward with it. Additional facts:

* The ceiling is 7.5', not including the drywall I'll put up for the ceiling.
* The room is 13.5' x 12'
* The doorway/door into the theater is on one of the 13.5' walls.
* Screen will definitely be 16:9
* Definitely want to do FP HD

Is there any way I can get a second row of seats in? Or am I limited to just one row? Should I put the screen on the short wall? (I'm thinking that since the room is almost a perfect square anyway it really doesn't matter - especially if only one row of seats are going in.) What kind of screen size would I be looking at, realistically?

Any comments/thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!
Dave

 

[Jim Mcc]

Dave, I would utilize the 13.5' length for viewing. That way you can sit back about 12' from screen. 1.5' more doesn't sound like much, but every little bit helps. The only way to have 2 rows is if you go with a smaller screen. And that defeats the whole purpose of a projector.
With a 720p HD projector, the rule of thumb is to sit back about 1.5X your screen width. That gives you a screen size of 96" wide, at 12' seating distance. If you put in a second row in front, it would be about 8'-9' from screen(depending on what type of seating you have in rear).

 

[David F]

Thanks for the advice so far. I was thinking that I could stick a row of 'real' theater seats in the back against the wall. The kind that fold-up. I'm not envisioning that they would be occupied very often, so I'm not going for something ultra-comfortable. Just something like a normal theater where people would be able to sit for a couple of hours to watch a movie.

How much difference do slight deviations from the 1.5x distance make? For example, if I move the front seats from 12' in front of the screen to 11'?

 

[Brian Osborne]

I'm going to be viewing at 9' for my first row and 14' for my second row. 1.5 is a guideline, I've also heard numbers as low as 1.1 x your screen size. Really depends on the projector you choose. Intial testing at 8' and with a 88" screen, no screen door, no pixels visable, everything looked great to me. I'll know more in a week or so when I get the screen paint up.
I say go for it, if you can put your first row at 8 or 9' and have a second row against the back wall, do it.

Check out the galary at the bottom of my post, the opening in my front wall is large enough to accomidate a 100" diagonal screen with the projector at about 12'. My room size is slightly larger at 16'x20', but the actual seating area and front wall is only 12'x16' I'm doing 2 full rows of recliners.
I wouldn't do large seats for you primary seating, might be a bit overpowering for the room size.

 

[Jim Mcc]

David, your prime seats will be the rear seats. The image will look much better than the front row at 8'-9'. Unless you like to sit in the front row at the movie theater.

 

[drobbins]

David,
Here are some pictures of my first theater that was 12' x 14'. Almost the same size you are looking into. It had a 95" screen that was located on the 12" wide wall. We used one row of 4 seats. Putting another row would have been pushing it too far with the 95" screen. If the room was another 2' deeper another row would have worked.

Dave

 

[David F]

Decision, decision. Thank God I found this forum! Thanks everyone for the replies. Dave, it was helpful to see a room that is the same sign. The real problem with the galleries that everyone posts is that the pics usually don't tell what size the room is, so it's nice to be able to look at a room and know that's the size that I'll have.

I'll probably end-up with one row of seats, based on these comments. I could also toss-down some large bean-bag type chairs if I were going to have more people over for football or something.

Dave

 

[Gurudristi]

guys,
It good that I saw this thread. I am also currently working on my DIY hometheatre. The rooms size is almost the same as yours 14.5x12 feet and 8.6 feet high. I plan to have a false ceiling of about 10" and for the rear surround fit the( L andR)as well as surround Back on the ceiling. I have short-listed Jamo in-ceiling speakers for the surrounds. My amp is Denon AVR 3805.
Am doing a quick coupling ceiling mount for the Projector. Am planning to get a fixed screen of 80"x45". I did look around for motorised screens.( but budget constraints as well as the dislike of the gather/wrinkles formed at the edges of the screen), I chose the fixed screen.
I am wondering as to how the in-ceiling mounted surround with sound? look forward to hear from you guys before I finalise.
Thanks:b

 

[Brian Osborne]

If you are able to direction your ceiling speakers there will be little performance diference from in walls. But you will not have as many choices for 2 way or 3 way ceiling speakers compared to in walls.
As for the screen, I couldn't be happier with www.diytheatre.com
Easy to apply, and a GREAT result.

 

[Gurudristi]

Thanks,
I've shortlisted a 2 way in-ceiling Jamo speakers Surround left and surrouns right, while for the surround back, I /ve a dual voice coil jamo. The tweeters are pivotable and therefore I would be able to direction them.

i think I am going to have fixed screen.