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Looking for home theater seat suggestions

5K views 32 replies 6 participants last post by  BIGmouthinDC 
#1 ·
We're looking for two rows of home theater seat and seeking recommendations and suggestions. I do not need LED lights for the seat but I do like power recliner if possible (depending on the price). However, the space on my riser is limited. The back row is about 7.5' long and 5' wide. The front row is about 5.5' long 4' wide. And then some ideas on mats or beanbags for the floor for kids who like to lie down while watching movie. For the back row, I like to squeeze at least three people if not 4 people. And for the front row, I like to have a loveseat or combinations of it.
 
#2 ·
Not sure about 4 seats, but definitely you can do 3 in the back row.

Deepening on the width of the chairs (specific style group), you can do the following:

I. IOIOIOI
2. IOIOOI or IOOIOI
3. IOOOI

For the front row again depending on the style and width of the chairs, you can do either IOIOI or IOOI
 
#3 ·
I'm assuming the 5' wide means the depth front to back of the back row. If so, you're going to have a hard time getting recliners back there. Or at the very least they won't be able to fully recline. The seats I have from Roman (which I give a definite two thumbs up to) are a bit over 64" fully reclined. Now, I'd say I never fully recline to watch a movie, but even just with the leg rest up and the back still pretty much straight, the seat takes up about 52". Add any reasonably tall people into the equation and there's nowhere for feet to go. I can't really use myself as an example being a complete giant at 6'7", but just for reference my feet hang a good 6" off the end of the recliner. My wife at 5'7" fits with her feet just about to the end.

So you could have a recliner that you could pretty much only bring the legs up, but something to remember is that means zero walking room so the people in the middle would need the people on the end to put their legs down to even get around.
 
#6 ·
What he said. :)

Fusion Jives are the seats I have. At 5' depth, you could put the footrest up, and recline a bit, but not fully. You really want a minimum of 6' depth to have recliners fit smoothly. You can get away with less, but just remember it makes the riser a bit difficult to navigate (what I mentioned about the people in the middle wouldn't be able to leave without the side person putting their footrest down, etc...).

Depending on how many people are using the theater on average, like if mainly just you and the significant other or something, you could go with overflow style seating and use theater seats for the second row. 5' depth is plenty for that. I went with a set of Fusion Jives for my front row as it's normally just 2 or 4 of us, then 4 theater seats behind for the bigger parties. Plus, on your topic of beanbags or the like, my brother got me 2 giant beanbags for Christmas and we LOVE them. They're similar to these :

https://www.amazon.com/Sofa-Sack-6-...89&sr=1-38-spons&keywords=giant+bean+bag&th=1

As I mentioned earlier, I'm ogre sized at 6'7" and currently back up to 360lbs, and I fit in them comfortably.
 
#7 ·
Your might check out our HT Design warwick seat line it's a spacesaver option but as the poster above said you need 72 depth platform or the seats will hang over platform when reclined.

Regards
Alan Hutchinson
HTmarket
 
#11 ·
Could you post a sketch of your floor plan? What is the total width of the room, and is a walkway needed because of door location or the like? Trying to understand how you could conceivably have more width in the front row vs. the second row.

Side note. On the stairs, you can get away with about an 8" vertical and not use stairs. Anything beyond that gets into uncomfy (and potentially dangerous) territory.
 
#12 ·
The size of the room is 10.83 feet by 33 feet. The height is 6.75 feet at the front and 7.75 feet at the back. The first row on the riser is 68 by 95 inch by but 30 inch is being used for inside stairs. The second row on the riser is 89 by 87 inch. I'm guessing the screen will be installed about 3-4 feet from the front wall. I will be putting speakers behind the screen.

There's a look at what I have so far.
 
#21 ·
Given the length of the room, the first row on the floor would be your prime seating. Since that's not really come up in conversation, I'm guessing you may already have seating in mind for that.

At this point, my suggestion would be to do some very careful measuring, or actually mock up a few seats. The reason I say that is it really looks like you're going to be dealing with visibility problems. By the picture, you're second row looks to be about 14" off the ground. Adding for seat height and an average torso, head height is going to be in the realm of 54-56" off the ground. Now your ceiling height up front is 78", you're going to want at least a couple of inches before the top of the screen, so let's say it starts at 72". You screen center at that point is going to be 46", so already the back row will be looking down just a bit. If reclined, that may be rather uncomfortable. Plus, at that angle, you've got a good chance that the love seat on the first riser tier is going to block the bottom portion of the screen.

Given the awkward dimensions you're having to work with, I'd suggest doing some mockups. Get a couple small PVC pipes and corner fittings to create a frame the same size as your screen and hang it in position. Then use something to mock up various seat heights and test the viewing angle and how much is blocked. Once you can physically see it, you'll have a better idea of what type of seating will work in the overflow. Recliners are great, but not if your neck hurts trying to watch the movie.
 
#22 ·
If reclined, that may be rather uncomfortable. Plus, at that angle, you've got a good chance that the love seat on the first riser tier is going to block the bottom portion of the screen.

Given the awkward dimensions you're having to work with, I'd suggest doing some mockups. Get a couple small PVC pipes and corner fittings to create a frame the same size as your screen and hang it in position. Then use something to mock up various seat heights and test the viewing angle and how much is blocked. Once you can physically see it, you'll have a better idea of what type of seating will work in the overflow. Recliners are great, but not if your neck hurts trying to watch the movie.
Excellent points. I wish a have a taller ceiling. I'll do some testing but at the end of the day, I can't do much with the room configuration.

Thank you for the input, much appreciated.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I hope @2Charlie doesn't mind, but I didn't want to start a completely new thread, plus it falls in line with the original purpose of this thread -- I'm looking for seat suggestions and I also have a narrow room.

As such, I'm looking for space-saving seats for my 12' wide room. I want a row of three (two rows actually). I think the best way to squeeze this in and leave room for a reasonably sized aisle (while still having some distance from the opposite wall) is to get a love-seat + 3rd seat option (i.e. |OO|O| or |O|OO|). This way, when the middle seat is centered in the room, the whole seat is slightly biased to one side of the room. This should yield more aisle width for the the opposite side (if even just slightly). Plus, I save the width of an arm, which gives me 5-6" right there.

Of course, another way to get there is to cut down on the seat width itself. Combine that with the love-seat arrangement and it's the best of both worlds. However, most seats that are slim seem to be custom and expensive (e.g. Fortress where I can seemingly spec them all the way down to 20" wide).

Having said that, there don't seem to be many options that list love-seat + 3rd seat as an option. I found a bunch of seats that I may like (e.g. the Palliser Stereo) but while it seems I can buy the individual pieces to create said option, I don't know if they'll actually "hook together" properly.

Can anyone advise? Thanks!

P.S. Another benefit would be a lower back so the rear channel audio isn't blocked by the seat-back.
 
#28 ·
I found a bunch of seats that I may like (e.g. the Palliser Stereo) but while it seems I can buy the individual pieces to create said option, I don't know if they'll actually "hook together" properly. Can anyone advise? Thanks!
Having set up numerous seat configurations from various vendors as a rule the seats simply sit next to each other and really don't move around. The one vendor chairs that did come with connectors (Jaymar), I took them off. This holds true for two arms, one arm and no arm chairs. Some companies offer connectors for an added fee. Unless your floor is really slippery, save your money.
 
#29 ·
I hope @2Charlie doesn't mind, but I didn't want to start a completely new thread, plus it falls in line with the original purpose of this thread -- I'm looking for seat suggestions and I also have a narrow room.

As such, I'm looking for space-saving seats for my 12' wide room. I want a row of three (two rows actually). I think the best way to squeeze this in and leave room for a reasonably sized aisle (while still having some distance from the opposite wall) is to get a love-seat + 3rd seat option (i.e. |OO|O| or |O|OO|). This way, when the middle seat is centered in the room, the whole seat is slightly biased to one side of the room. This should yield more aisle width for the the opposite side (if even just slightly). Plus, I save the width of an arm, which gives me 5-6" right there.

Of course, another way to get there is to cut down on the seat width itself. Combine that with the love-seat arrangement and it's the best of both worlds. However, most seats that are slim seem to be custom and expensive (e.g. Fortress where I can seemingly spec them all the way down to 20" wide).

Having said that, there don't seem to be many options that list love-seat + 3rd seat as an option. I found a bunch of seats that I may like (e.g. the Palliser Stereo) but while it seems I can buy the individual pieces to create said option, I don't know if they'll actually "hook together" properly.

Can anyone advise? Thanks!

P.S. Another benefit would be a lower back so the rear channel audio isn't blocked by the seat-back.
1. With 12' wide room and minimum 2' requirements for the isle, you will be left with 8'=96". There are quite a few options that will allow you to have a straight set of 3 with the arms in between. If you check our Fusion Collection Seating line, the Lagoon-1011, Jive-1013 and Tribute-1015 will fit this requirements. Even with the Streamline-1017 that is 97.5" wide for that set you should be fine. And of course any of these and Escape-1019 can be done in chair/loveseat, loveseat/chair configurations if you wish for wider isles.

2. Having a very low back recliners may result in achieving a great surround sound, but getting no head support whatsoever. You want to find the chairs that will give you both - nice head support without blocking your surround sound.
 
#32 ·
Okay, so I have four of the HT Design recliners. I like to put stuff inside the armrest on the side. The issue, there is no light. I couldn't see inside when the theater is dark. What's the best option to light this armrest pocket so that when I open the lid, there will be a light that turns on? Inside this armrest pocket, it has two USB ports charging. So, if anything, the LED light can be wired to charge from the USB charing ports.
 
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