When is a home theater room too narrow? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Petoff]

Hi all,
I am looking at new houses as I'm moving soon. I want to make sure I have a room which I can use as a dedicated home theater. Well one house has a small finished basement (L shaped) and the one long section is kind of narrow. The other section has a column that would be obstructive.
Is it possible to have a home theater in a room that may be only 7 or 8 feet wide? I didn't have a tape measure but that is my guess. I'm going back to measure today. The length is probably 20-22 feet so that shouldn't be a problem.
My gut feeling is that you can't have the Left and Right speakers so close to the wall (assuming a 45-55" TV) and the Rear speakers so close to the listening position. The walls would present a problem right?
Can anyone PLEASE comment on my question and let me know. What is the minimum WIDTH for a home theater room?
Thanks so much!
-Scott

 

[Chad Isaacs]

That sounds alot like my mom's living room.We are supposed to get her property and house when my father dies,to much upkeep for her.
SO I have done alot of planning for that room...I think I decided it would be easier to have a new house built than mess with her old house..to small for a family of four and mabey 5 in a few years.
for an 8x22 room,the first thing that came to mind is a fp with micro perf screen.you could get a good sized screen and put the speakers behind the screen.
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[Dirk E]

I have a dedicated home heater room that is very small. It is about 4 meters (12 feet) long and only 2,5 m (7feet) wide. I use a direct view TV, but in the near future I will install front projection. The width is no problem at all. The movie experience is great! I use the Jamo System Two THX Ultra speaker set. These speakers are not very deep (16cm) and are wallmounted all around. The front speakers will soon be behind the screen. With other speakers I think the width would be a problem in such a little space.
Best regards Dirk
P.S.: I would have included a photo of my theater if I only knew how to do it.

 

[Tom Boucher]

Mine is 11 x 24. 36" Wega at the 11".
I plan to get a front projection system one day with the THX screen that lets you place the speakers behind it with no loss of sound. Apparently works quite well.
There are several intense theaters here on the forum that have 11' x XX rooms with the projector on the 11' wall. 8' might be interesting but I think it'd work.
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[Brett Robert]

My room is 11'6" wide. I have a 8'6" wide screen. My left and right front speakers are my only conplaint. If you mount your front speakers under or over the screen you can bump the picture all the way to the walls if you want. My picture is almost floor to ceiling so my speakers need to be on the sides. Otherwise width wouldn't matter. There isn't a writen rule that a theater need to be ?x? in size. Go ahead and do it. You might wish it was wider for seating but we have to make do with what we have.

 

[Barry_B_B]

Mine is set in a long and narrow basement, maybe 20'+ x 11', with the viewing area in the 11' portion. Biggest gripes are sitting too close to the rptv (48") and can't get the rear speakers mounted directly to the sides. Since they're dipoles, not a real problem. The sound is very good, and the picture is also very good viewing DVD's. VHS viewing exposes the scan lines from being too close. But it can be done.