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The Spinal Tap Theater Build

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#1 · (Edited)
No, that won't really be the name when it's finished. But it will be the name throughout the building process because, "this one goes to 11." Our ceiling in the front portion of the room will be just over 11 feet, and the ceiling height in the back of the room will be just under 10 feet (standard for the rest of the basement).

Before getting into the particulars, first let me say thank you to some incredibly helpful advice from kmhvball in particular, along with Aaron Smith and audiovideoholic in the Cinema-Nati Theater Build thread. And, of course, thank you to many others on the forum whose posts I've been reading for months to get up to speed on the general concepts.

With that out of the way, the architect's drawing of the Spinal Tap Theater is attached. It includes the dimensions other than the ceiling heights listed above -- the room will be about 23 feet long and 19 feet wide (a little wider in part of it, but cabinets in that area will make it a consistent 19 feet from the perspective of how much room there will be for seats). You will walk in the back of the theater without any steps as you enter. At this level, there will be a 3rd row consisting of a counter and bar stools. There also will be a second row at the same level consisting of theater chairs. Finally, you will step down into the rest of the room to reach the front row of theater chairs. Based on my current tentative plan, the front portion of the room will be 15 inches lower than the rest of the basement -- two steps down from the level of the back two rows.

Still TBD --

1. Should I use an acoustically transparent screen with speakers behind it, or speakers on stands with the screen flush against the wall? I'm leaning toward the latter. You can't see the speakers with the lights off and a movie on anyway, and my kids are preteens and responsible now. Putting the screen flush against the wall also maximizes the room length, which should help with squeezing the third row into a room that will be only 23 feet long. I think I'll need the space even though the third row is smaller due to it being only a counter and bar stools.

2. How far should the front portion of the room, with its lower floor, extend out from the screen before hitting the back portion of the room with its higher floor and two rows of seating (2d row of chairs, 3d row of counter with stools). I'm leaning toward 10 feet from the screen to the back of the first row, which will leave the remaining 13 feet for the next level containing the second and third rows. This would closely mimic kmhvball's dimensions in the Cinema-Nati Theater.

3. As you can see, there is the odd bump out in the width on one side of the back portion of the room, which is dictated by the dimensions of the upstairs. I'm planning to place cabinets to hold the equipment there, which will include some counter space for snacks. Have I overlooked a reason why this might be a stupid idea?

4. Does dropping the floor 15 inches for the front portion of the room sound about right? I could do more or less since we still haven't moved any dirt.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the pre-construction planning. Once my concrete gets poured, this thread obviously could wind up being dormant for a long while. I'll resurrect it as progress is made or questions arise.

Thanks in advance for your insight on planning the room. I'm very excited about the project!
 

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#2 · (Edited)
1) the one thing you are missing in the AT screen decision is the position of the center channel speaker, if it is below the screen on a stand it is likely you will not see it from the back rows, If you can't see it you are not hearing the direct sound from the speaker only reflected sound. The clarity of the dialog is at risk

2) Back of the chairs at 10ft for the first row is closer than I would plan.

3) consider side surround speaker placement you will need one where you want the cabinets.

4) riser height is a function of screen height and position off the floor, you can run the numbers here. Use 42 and 36 inches for head height and eye height unless you have more specific data for your chairs.

http://www.diymovierooms.com/Home-Theater/Calculators/Riser-Height

Overall given the money you will probably spend on this space, it would be wise for you to get a professionally designed plan.
 
#4 · (Edited)
First, thank you. A few more questions, if you don't mind:

1. Does an AT screen negatively impact sound? I was leaning toward using one a month ago, but another thread (I can't recall which one) was very critical of their acoustics. I'm also struggling to find the right speakers to go tight against the wall because almost everything is rear ported.

2. I like to sit in the front 1/4 of a commercial theater. Does that change your advice?

3. The cabinets are TBD. I think they're going to be counter height only. I assume I may have to build a column around there somewhere to get the side surround speaker in the right spot.

4. I have no idea what chairs I will purchase yet. I'll run some numbers with your link and estimates. Thanks.

5. If I decide to consult a professional, how do I find reputable ones? What is the ballpark cost of having someone draw up a plan for my builder?
 
#3 ·
Congrats on starting the 'build thread'.... even if the house hasn't started the build phase!

I would error making the front/ sunken part a little deeper... you can always, relatively inexpensively, build a riser to extend the taller height (so, let's say you make it 12', but decide 10.5' is best easy to build a small riser)... but trying to dig down further after concrete is poured is much more tedious & expensive (i.e., digging it 10' up front, and deciding you really need 10.5').

My front row is closer than some prefer, I love it and it is my 'preferred' row of seating in my theater... and my kids (10 and 7) always sit in the front as well, but YMMV.

I would think 15" would be a good height, but the calculator Big provided will give you the final numbers.

I love my AT screen, but in order to 'fit' that and the three rows in a similar depth room, I did the 'In-Wall' speakers, albeit, mounted on the wall vs in the wall to help with sound-proofing. Having had an AT screen, for me, it would always be a 'requirement' if I were to do another theater.

I would ask to see a mechanicals lay out to make sure they aren't doing anything 'dumb' in terms of the theater space. Something like running a HVAC line through the center of the room, having a support pole in the room, running plumbing waste lines or natural gas lines in strange places, etc. Given they know your plans, I would think that wouldn't be an issue... but I have built 3 houses, and have been surprised by what I thought was super obvious, that the 'professionals' didn't think of.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I have an AT in my theater and have used one in 75% if my projects, To the naked ear you can't tell the difference but with test gear you can measure a dip at the higher frequencies. That dip is easily resolved with equalization. Contact Falcon or Seymour screens for more details. Keep in mind your commercial theater is using an AT screen.

Shawn Byrne, here on the forum as SierraMikeBravo is a professional designer. His design packages run from $1000 to $5000. his entry level package will tell you screen size, seating positions, speaker placement, Projector placement. Riser height requirements and position. contact him for more details.

sitting at 10 ft may be right if you sit at the front quarter mark in commercial theaters, but it really is a function of screen size and the resulting field of vision. Next time you are going to the theater get there early and pick your seat, then pace off the distance to the screen and the width of the screen to estimate your viewing angle.



Check out Rtheaters.com for seats.
 
#16 ·
I had seen this image many times posted in threads, but never really looked at it very closely. Another thread had it and posted about it, so, I thought I would look at how my screen size/ distance to eyes matched up with this.

Mine is very close to the SMPTE Minimum distance... for my 132" wide screen, the SMPTE minimum would recommend 111" to eyes. IN my case, I am at 108" to eyes, so, close to 0.82w vs the minimum .84w.

The illustrated theater has 12 rows, the 3rd row back is the .84W SMPTE minimum... so, if you like the front quarter, seems like you'll be in good shape using something close to my dimensions.
 
#6 ·
I went back and looked at my dimensions...

So, working from the seating side of the screen wall to the front of the riser:
- 9' 9 1/2" to front of riser

From the drywall on the front wall, to the 'seating' side of the screen wall itself, is ~ 11". Starting from the front wall drywall, the measurements are roughly:
- 4 1/4" mounting of 'in wall' center channel speaker on face of drywall (2x4 and 3/4" plywood)
- 1 1/2" 'toe in' mounting of L&R speakers (could be eliminated)
- 4" space before screen (could largely be eliminated)
- 1 1/4" screen wall framing

So, from my Drywall to the front of my riser is 10'8 1/2". If you add in the 1" air gap 3 1/2" stud width, and about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" for two layers of drywall... that adds 6". So, that then puts the 'from concrete wall' to front of riser be be at about 11'4 1/2".

If you are wanting to do full size speakers behind a screen wall, that probably adds another 13" or so... which then could be as much as 12'7 1/2" from the concrete wall.

I am a 'what if' kind of guy... so, I might have them go all the way back to the back of the room with the deeper excavation & plan to build a riser for the entire area.. you could conceptually cut vents around the perimeter & use the riser as a bass trap, and give you the most flexibility possible... but that does involve a bit more work/ money.

If they are building the theater room for you, then there really isn't a huge amount of difference in short term flexibility between having that poured concrete vs a riser since once it is built out - you aren't likely to change it.

If you use In-wall speakers (even if surface mounted like mine), then of course that works as there are no porting issues. Mine are the Klipsch KL-7800-THX model, which I bought from Direct Buy since I am a member, but the AVS Science sales team have very comparable prices (forum member Mike Garrett who is part of AVS sales is who I worked with, and who I bought my projector from). He can also help with some general questions like where to mount the projector.

In terms of the riser height calculator... my 'top of head' is about 45" if sitting straight up in the chair, which doesn't happen often, but does happen sometimes. The 'reclined' eye height is probably in that 36" range. So, if the 'back row' is reclined and the front row is sitting straight up, that can impact it. My screen material starts about 31" off the floor (so, if you had a screen frame with 3" frame, then the screen frame would be 28" off floor), and my 13" riser is about right, very rarely is there obstructions. If your screen is lower, then the riser needs to be higher.
 
#9 ·
I'm reading up on inwalls with an AT screen again. Maybe I'll go that way after all. I have space to build back boxes from behind given the unfinished space behind the front wall of the theater, so I can keep it well soundproofed. Generally how far in front of the front of the inwall speakers should an AT screen/false wall be built?
 
#13 ·
I have space to build back boxes from behind given the unfinished space behind the front wall of the theater, so I can keep it well soundproofed.
If it's unfinished space behind the screen wall, you don't have to use in-wall speakers. You can knock out space for any speaker under 15" wide and build a 'backer box' for it.

I had a very sticky situation in that, on the side walls flanking my screen was a doorway on each side, only about 4 inches off the wall. But there were window wells that I was going to be blacking out, and an in-wall furnace in the center that I was going to remove, and they were all perfectly placed for LCR. Check out my thread for some photos. Worked pretty slick and gave me many more options.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Thanks. This is all very confusing. I read one thread that said never use an AT screen because the screen will diminish audio performance of the speakers. Another thread said definitely use an AT screen because you can get your center channel's tweeter at ear height. Some threads say in wall speakers should never be used. Others say they perform great. There appear to be strong opinions on competing sides of every issue on the forum!
 
#12 ·
I have definitely seen a lot of opposing views on In-Walls... If you have the room, particularly if you can borrow some from behind the front wall to give you a little more... you could use standing speakers and your front wall could almost be a 'baffle wall' (which I know almost nothing about those... ).

In terms of AT screens... I have not seen much opposition to them in recent years, particularly in regard to sound. Almost everything I have seen talks about how they are preferred from a sound perspective - given the sound field is then uniform across the front & voices come from the screen vs below it. I think some of the older 'micro-perf' type screens had some issues (don't remember if it was audio or video, or both), but the Weaved AT Screens (such as from Falcon Screens (which mine is), or Seymour Screens, and I am sure many others), I have not really seen much negative from an audio perspective.

By virtue of them being somewhat transparent, they are not super bright & reflective screens (somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1 gain is most of what I have seen). By design, even non AT screens start as a 1.0 gain, so, AT or Non-AT doesn't matter. However, if you are in a bright room/ lots of ambient light, have a projector with low brightness, or a really large screen... you might need a 'high gain' screen, then an AT screen might not work. In a dedicated home theater, with most of today's projectors (which are pretty good on brightness), you shouldn't have any issues. I guess if you go with a 300" screen... you could still have that issue, but probably do regardless of screen type! To be clear, this isn't directly a 'quality of image' issue... it is how bright is your screen (which then does impact quality of image).
 
#17 ·
I'm supposed to meet with the builder next week about the basement, so I'm still in the brainstorming stage. I was reading more about soundproofing and am wondering if it makes sense to build a room within a room. Is that typically more or less expensive to build than using clips and channel?

I would lose about 10 inches all around, correct? (Extra 2x4 plus a one inch gap on each wall?) Given my dimensions, is it worth it to lose 10 inches of room length to gain the benefits of using the room within a room approach?

When building a room within a room, I'm guessing you hang the door on the interior wall. Is that correct?
 
#18 ·
Do you have a lay out of your total basement? For the wall against the exterior foundation, that is already meeting the need for being decoupled. It kind of looks like your mechanical room is on one end. If you did Double DD & GG on each side of that wall, it should be set. One of my walls, albeit on the AV closet wall, I did a 2x6" wall, with 'staggered studs'..., which is supposed to be pretty decent at decoupling, and only takes 2" more. I would probably do that on your mechanical room side.

I haven't looked at Room within a Room all that much, in large part because I didn't have a clear span to create the parallel subfloor joists. If you don't have obstructions in between your floor joists, you can do the room within a room with out losing all that much room height, maybe only 1"... but if you have obstructions, and can't run a joist all the way across the room, parallel to the existing joists (due to HVAC, plumbing, nat gas lines, even electric lines) and need to build underneath your existing joists to clear those obstacles, then you lose probably 10"+ of height (depending how deep your joists need to be to make the span).

If you do a 'double stud wall', which I think is what you are thinking with room within a room, then you might want two doors... One of my walls, I have two, parallel 2x4 walls, separated by about 1" or so between, and this is my wall which has my entry doors into theater. I have one door that opens out, and one that opens into the theater... one on each of the two walls. Doors are typically a weak point in soundproofing, so, having two doors really helps.

In retrospect, I would have probably built my own door, similar to the one in this thread http://www.avsforum.com/forum/19-dedicated-theater-design-construction/1533361-salt-mine-dedicated-family-theater-8.html (posts 216, 223, 224)... and had it open 'out' of my theater. Since I am so tight on space, which you might be as well if you are sticking with three rows, having a single, outward swinging door would have been nice.
 
#22 ·
Do you have a lay out of your total basement? For the wall against the exterior foundation, that is already meeting the need for being decoupled. It kind of looks like your mechanical room is on one end. If you did Double DD & GG on each side of that wall, it should be set. One of my walls, albeit on the AV closet wall, I did a 2x6" wall, with 'staggered studs'..., which is supposed to be pretty decent at decoupling, and only takes 2" more. I would probably do that on your mechanical room side.
I had an early planning meeting with the builder today. He is going to add staggered studs, like yours I assume, to decouple the theater walls from the walls of the rest of the house. That way, we can decouple without losing much from the room's interior dimensions. He will run ceiling joists parallel to the floor joists that support the floor above. The ceiling joists will be attached only to the theater rooms new staggered studs. Thus, the room's walls and ceiling will be decoupled from the everything else in the house except the concrete floor.

He suggested putting resilient channel on the staggered studs and ceiling joists before adding the double drywall/green glue combination. I had been assuming that resilient channel is something to use to decouple from a shared wall when you can't build a room within a room. Is it worth adding resilient channel to walls and a ceiling that are already decoupled through the staggered studs and parallel ceiling joists?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for the floor? Is it worth running some kind of vibration absorbing material between the concrete and the flooring of the theater room? If so, what do you recommend that is effective yet not exorbitantly expensive?
 
#19 ·
Generally speaking a non-AT screen gives you better picture but worst sound (sound not coming from people's faces on the screen) and dialog suffers being below the screen. Generally speaking AT screen has poorer picture quality (because of weave/holes, etc) but the sound sounds like its coming from person and not below it, etc which is what you want.

But honestly you're not supposed to see weave/holes, etc anyway and you have to pick your AT screen based on how far away you sit, etc. If you're doing a real cinema theater look try to do AT screen and remove the speaker grills (the AT screen will act like the grill anyway). If you are using your mains as music 2.0 also in same room then go with non AT screen. People with living room setups, non dedicated space, and music/movie room will go with non AT screen while dedicated theaters usually go for hidden speaker look. Pick your poison!
 
#20 ·
Generally speaking AT screen has poorer picture quality (because of weave/holes, etc) but the sound sounds like its coming from person and not below it, etc which is what you want.

But honestly you're not supposed to see weave/holes, etc anyway and you have to pick your AT screen based on how far away you sit, etc.
If you are in a light controlled room and you get a GOOD AT screen, you shouldn't be able to see much of a difference at all. The biggest difference between the good AT screens and non-AT these days is gain and ambient light rejection. If you don't have complete control over your lighting, yeah, non-AT is the way to go. But if you get a good screen (SeymourAV, etc.), you won't see a difference in picture quality, only gain. Seymour has some very nice full screen packages, and sweet auto-masking systems, but he also sells just the screen material for those on a DIY budget.
 
#21 ·
I sit 9' away from an 11' wide AT screen, and I can't see the weave. I even have the 'lower' of the two Falcon Screens versions.

I did the "DIY" approach, where I bought the screen material from Rich at Falcon Screens. I had him install the grommets & provide the o-rings (which, I think now he has a slightly different design), and it was in the neighborhood of 1/3rd as much. Since I did my front Screen Wall and the "Screen Frame", as a single structure, I essentially didn't have any extra cost for a frame.
 
#23 ·
You definitely would not need Resilient channel/ clips & hat channel on the ceiling based on the lay-out. The Staggered stud wall is intended to provided 'much' of the same benefit, so, doing it on the walls might help, but not sure how much better. If you were going to do that, I probably wouldn't do the staggered studs. You might ask in the "SOundproofing" sticky thread as well.

Just a comment on resilient channel...just to be sure you are aware, there are two different things... Resilient Channel, and also "Clips & Hat Channel". The gold standard is the clips & hat channel, and resilient channel supposedly has a greater risk of faulty installation. Single Leg Resilient Channel, installed correctly, has similar benefit to Clips & Channel. Double leg is a little less effective (i.e., twice as many touch points coupling). My understanding of the 'faulty installation', is that it is apparently fairly easy to screw through the channel into the studs, which then short circuits the entire purpose of using it.

I didn't do anything on my concrete floor, and if I were to do it again... I would not do anything next time either. I have no idea frankly if it would help or not, but, I wouldn't spend the time/ money.
 
#25 ·
According to this website: http://www.tmsoundproofing.com/decoupling-explained.html

A Staggered Stud wall is better than Ciips & Channel if you are also doing Double Drywall/Green Glue.



Staggered stud wall, excluding the 'floor space', which in my view is minimal vs Clips/Channel... is certainly less expensive as well.

I think my comments were based on just a 'gut feel' that Clips & Channel might be better than staggered stud wall, but looks like that isn't the case. Certainly, clips and channel along with a staggered stud wall is better (and more costly!).
 

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#29 · (Edited)
Any thoughts on a good screen size to mount on an 18 foot wide front wall. In case it will affect your answer, again, the room will be roughly 22 feet long.

I just played with the calculator and Jeff's viewing angle/THX chart above. I determined on a screen website that a 152 inch diagonal 2.35:1 screen has a 140 inch width. That width in my soon to be built room would mean my seating configuration (first row with eyes at roughly 10 feet and second row with eyes at roughly 17 to 18 feet) ought to work -- Multiplying 140 by .84 and dividing by 12 yields 9.8 feet as the closest recommended seating. Multiplying 140 by 1.54 and dividing by 12 is 17.96 feet. Am I doing this correctly?

I had thought I might postpone the screen size decision. Now, I have realized that I need to set speakers behind the screen so I need to have the front wall planned so the framing accommodates the speaker locations.
 
#31 ·
Thanks!

When you say 13' wide, I assume you mean actual width and not diagonal. Am I correct? That would be about a 170 inch diagonal 235:1 screen based on what I'm reading on Falcon's site. It says a 173.9 inch diagonal screen would be 160 inches wide.

Do you think my first row would be too close? Jeff's chart would suggest that the first row's eyes should be no closer than 11 feet with that big of a screen. My eyes will be about 10 feet back. However, as I've mentioned before, I do prefer to sit in the front 1/3 to 1/4 of a commercial theater.
 
#33 ·
I think that I'm going to build big shelves that extend back from the front wall of theater into the unfinished space behind the front wall. They will let me put speakers behind an AT screen and maximize the length of the room. The design will be something like this (from an overhead perspective):

UNFINISHED ROOM

____/--\______/--\______/--\____ FRONT WALL WITH SHELVES EXTENDING INTO UNFINISHED ROOM

_________________________ SCREEN WALL


SEATING FOR THEATER


This is similar to what thrillcat did in his theater, which he kindly pointed out to me earlier. ( http://www.avsforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=589938&d=1425781006 )

I can build the shelves to be large or small -- with the unfinished space behind the front wall, I can have the builder do anything I want (except move the wall to lengthen the room, unfortunately, because it is load bearing for two stories above it). I assume larger is better, but I'm really only guessing.

I assume I'll need front ported or sealed speakers, and like thrillcat, will need to line the area with linacoustic.

Is this a stupid idea? Any speaker suggestions to strongly consider, or avoid, in this type of set up?
 
#34 ·
One more question -- what about putting only the center channel behind the AT screen and putting the L and R speakers in front, just to the sides of the screen? That would allow me to pull the L & R speakers in a little tighter for 16x9 content, which we will watch frequently for sports, and then push them a little wider when removing the masking to reveal the entire 2.35:1 screen.
 
#36 · (Edited)
My builder didn't remember my instructions and allowed the entire HVAC unit to be installed flush against the wall that the unfinished space shares with the theater -- dead center on the front wall of the theater. Thus, there is no longer room for me to extend a shelf from the theater into the unfinished space and put the center channel behind an AT screen. I have two options:

(1) I can make the builder bring the HVAC guy out to move everything. That's going to be a significant project. My wife is opposed and is worried that, although we don't have to pay for it because it was counter to our instructions, we'll pay for it one way or another going forward.

(2) I can place the speakers in the room, under the screen. The screen can easily be located 3 or 4 feet off the floor -- I have an 11 foot ceiling at the front of the room. Even before the mix up about leaving space for the shelf, my builder was recommending that the screen should be placed that high for ease of viewing from the back row. With the screen up that high, the tweeters would be pretty close to even with the ears of those in the front row even without an acoustically transparent screen. The back row will be 18 inches higher on a riser, so the tweeters would be just under two feet below the back row viewers' ears.

With the screen at least 3 feet off the floor, would putting the speakers in the room be less desirable than putting at least the center channel behind an AT screen? I've seen lots of posts advocating for the center channel to be placed behind an AT screen, but as I recall, the stated reason was to get your tweeters on level with your ears. Again, I think I have that issue covered even with the center sitting in the room.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
#37 ·
What row is your primary seating row?

4' sounds high to me, most of what I read was your eyes were supposed to be about 1/3rd of the way up the screen... The 'white' of my screen starts at 30" (a traditional screen frame would then start at 27"), but my primary row is my Front row. If your primary seating row is your second row... then maybe 4' is a touch high, but not too bad. If it is your front row, it definitely sounds high.

Most of what I read was that the primary benefit, and why almost every movie theater uses AT screens, is that the sound itself comes directly 'from the image'... so, sound comes the actor/actress 'mouth' on the screen, vs being able to hear it come from 'under' the screen. I love my AT screen... I THINK I can hear the voices are coming from the screen vs below it, but that could be placebo effect and just wanting to hear what I want to!
 
#38 ·
Thanks for the advice. The primary seat will be in the first row. I'll make sure to put the bottom of the screen at 3 feet or less rather than 4. With an 16 inch riser, that ought to be more than high enough for the second row's viewing angle.

As I've posted previously, I've been leaning toward putting the center channel behind an AT screen and leaving the side channels in the room just to the side of the screen. This will allow me to tinker with toe in angles and also move the sides around based on whether I'm showing 2.35:1 or 16:9 content. However, the builder's error is an issue. My wife really doesn't want me to make him move the entire HVAC unit, including pipes and ductwork. But it has to be done for me to use an AT screen -- I need to build the shelf into the unfinished space to avoid losing room length that we need for seating. I'll have to revisit the issue with her.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Draft Room Plan

I worked on a draft plan for my theater tonight using Haverty's online tool. The seats are depicted as fully reclined for space planning purposes.

The screen as depicted would be 150" wide (163" diagonal) 2:35:1. According to this guy's spreadsheet -- https://carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/ -- my front row is not too close (barely) with the viewers' eyes at 9 feet and the back of the chair at 10 feet. I will mask it for 16:9 content, like Kevin's Cinema-Nati theater, a design I'm copying extensively. Kevin, you should have applied for a copyright while you had time.

One possibility I'm considering is going with a slightly smaller screen -- 140 wide and 152 diagonal, still 2.35:1 -- and pushing my front row forward six to twelve inches. That would give me a little more breathing room in the back. Again, based on the calculator linked above, this would work.

On the left wall when facing the screen, I've added what looks like a cabinet (where the wall jogs) with a side surround attached to it. This actually will be an extension of the wall, framed floor to ceiling, dry walled, and stuffed with insulation between the interior and exterior drywall layers. I probably will put my equipment there. I instead could put the equipment in the unfinished room behind the screen. However, to get the surround speaker in the right place, I think I need to extend the wall where the room jogs regardless of where I'll be putting the equipment. If I'm building it, I might as well use it as an equipment closet unless that's a bad idea for some reason I'm overlooking. Or unless there's a better use for that space.

Are my side surrounds too far forward?

Lastly, I think 25" may be too small for a side walkway. I'm looking at narrower chair options or possibly dropping to only four chairs per row.

I would appreciate input and criticism. Thanks in advance, all.
 

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#41 ·
One possibility I'm considering is going with a slightly smaller screen -- 140 wide and 152 diagonal, still 2.35:1 -- and pushing my front row forward six to twelve inches. That would give me a little more breathing room in the back. Again, based on the calculator linked above, this would work.

If I'm building it, I might as well use it as an equipment closet unless that's a bad idea for some reason I'm overlooking. Or unless there's a better use for that space.

Are my side surrounds too far forward?

Lastly, I think 25" may be too small for a side walkway. I'm looking at narrower chair options or possibly dropping to only four chairs per row.
I would NOT go with the smaller screen, and don't worry about pushing your row forward. Chances are your bar seating in the back will be the least used. Don't sacrifice screen size for breathing room in the 'cheap seats.'

Unless you plan on having equipment that will generate a lot of heat and/or noise, I think that little side bunker would be the perfect place. Easier access.

Those side surrounds are in pretty much exactly the location I have mine, and I think it's pretty much perfect. My primary seating is row 1.

25" is narrow. However, in my room (which is way too narrow, but it's what I've got), my walkway past the front row is probably around 24". It seems really spacious compared to the walkway past the second row, which is really only about 14". Looking at your plans, it looks like the surrounds fall right about where the footrests are coming up. That's actually a good thing, as it will make your walkway feel more navigable when the footrests are down. The surrounds sticking out are what will make it feel narrow, but with a little space to shift away from the surround it will feel better. If you can go with the second seating plan, it will definitely be better.
 
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