Starting to think a bit about how I'm going to address my riser construction and am hoping to get some advice.

Following is a picture of drywalled seating end of my HT. The floor to bottom of soffit measures 82". I still have to build the soffits at the rear wall and the right wall which will enclose the flex ducting for supply/returns, but they will be same size (24-25" wide) and height from the floor of 82".

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/feotto/riserdrywalled.jpg

I have done the riser height calc and conservatively need a 10-11" riser height. My concern (which I knew was going to be a concern) is resultant headroom from riser surface to bottom of left and right soffits, which is turning out to be around 6' or an inch or so less than that.

I will have only 3 seats in the first row and probably 4 in the rear. Riser depth is currently 7'6" but I could probably stretch to closer to 8' if needed.

First thought was as follows. Concern here is that after stepping up to riser the 6' head room comes in to play. Less concern with folks getting up there, more concern when exiting and hitting head on edge of soffit.

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/feotto/riser.jpg

Second thought was to just run the "step" portion along the entire front of the riser as shown below. Concern here is that it will push the seating further towards the rear wall.

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/feotto/riseroption1.jpg

I do have wiring in place for step lights or led from my Grafikeye.

I haven't been able to think of any other approaches to this. Center isle step up is not an option since I'm only putting 3 seats in and do not want to lose the center money seat.

Comments appreciated.

I was faced with a similar situation, although not quite as low as yours.

I offset the front row and put in only one, slightly wider stair. It allows a little more head room since the stair is wider than the soffit.

I also made my riser 1.5-2" shorter than recommended. It works great with the seats I have as people tend to sink down in or recline. I've had 9 people in the room and there was never a sightline issue.

Best of luck.

I would vote diagram #1, because it allows more room on the riser. And it looks better to not have stairs behind the front row seats.

Just another trick to get the seats higher without loss of head room when standing is to put a mini riser just under the base of the chairs. Carpet it to match and many won't even notice. You can experiment by taking a chair and putting it up on blocks to see what it is like sitting and getting up. You usually can do 2-3 inches.

This allows you to lower the much larger main riser. If you get it low enough (8 inches or less) you won't need a step up.

Thanks all for the replies. Big, I did see you suggest the "riser on a riser" in another thread and thinking that's probably what I'll end up with. I do like the idea of a step/access on both sides vs. the other option drawn.

Will need to experiment a bit on actual riser height needed based on seating distance and screen height before I forge ahead.

What software did you use to make that model? It looks a lot smoother than Sketchup. Thanks

Does anyone have pictures/diagrams of what a mini-riser might look like?

What software did you use to make that model? It looks a lot smoother than Sketchup. Thanks

It's Sketchup.

fotto,

One other thought besides adding the mini riser is to angle the step up as I did in my riser build. It is very natural when stepping up to the riser to go in the direction of the angle likewise when stepping down.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14760947&postcount=150

fotto,

One other thought besides adding the mini riser is to angle the step up as I did in my riser build. It is very natural when stepping up to the riser to go in the direction of the angle likewise when stepping down.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14760947&postcount=150

Very nice, I like that:) I saw that the depth of your riser was approx 6'. Curious what your room width is (could find that on your sketches)?

If I get mine to closer to 8' deep, I can probably get somewhere between 1.5'-2' between wall and rear seat back.

I wish I had a little more depth to move the seats away from the wall a little more but I had to make compromises in that area.

My rooms depth is 18' but with a false wall (18" at the center 21" at the edges from the screen's wall with a curved screen) I end up having only about 16 and a half feet of room depth to work with. So that is why I went with an approx. 6' riser. The width of the room will end up being about 11'3" when all is said and done with fabric wall panels.

My front row I end up placing about 10 inches or so away from the riser so I end up with about 9' viewing distance from a 110" wide scope screen. Works just fine for us.

I wish I had a little more depth to move the seats away from the wall a little more but I had to make compromises in that area.

My rooms depth is 18' but with a false wall (18" at the center 21" at the edges from the screen's wall with a curved screen) I end up having only about 16 and a half feet of room depth to work with. So that is why I went with an approx. 6' riser. The width of the room will end up being about 11'3" when all is said and done with fabric wall panels.

My front row I end up placing about 10 inches or so away from the riser so I end up with about 9' viewing distance from a 110" wide scope screen. Works just fine for us.

Thank you.