Is a 8' 6" w x 9' 6" l x 7' 6" h room too small?

1434 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by victor-eyd, Feb 14, 2010

CGRemakes

Discussion Starter · Feb 11, 2010

I'm attempting to design a dedicated home theater room. We have a small room that's only ~ 8' 6" w x 9' 6" l x 7' 6" h. It's really too small to make a bedroom, so I was able to convince my wife to make it a theater room. I'd like to put a row of 4 actual theater seats. It should physically fit, but I don't know if a room this small is practical for this purpose. I plan on using a ceiling mounted projector, and if I put it towards the back, I should get somewhere between 80" - 100" screen, depending on the projector. I'd like it to comfortably fit those 4 people, with an occasional 2 - 3 extra that could sit on the floor with bean bags. I know it isn't "ideal", but would this be an acceptable size room for this purpose (accoustically, as well as comfort and viewing)?

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Imageek2

· #2 · Feb 11, 2010

I just finished setting up our home theater in a room 10' x 10'. I am projecting a 92" image. My projector is actually hanging in the closet of the room in order to give me enough throw room. I could have gone a bit bigger with the image but I already had the screen (High Power) and projector from our previous place. We have two seats in the room. I prefer to call the room our "screening room" rather than a "home theater"

Is it acoustically ideal? No, but at the moment I am running computer speakers through my home theater pc, so it doesn't matter much. Does it give us a great "movie" experience? You bet.

Only you can decide what is acceptable for you, but I say go for it!

P.S. You might want to look through this thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=996973

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CGRemakes

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 11, 2010

Quote:
Originally Posted by Imageek2 /forum/post/18113460

P.S. You might want to look through this thread

I'll take a look. Thanks for the reference. Yeah, I know the questions I'm asking are somewhat subjective, but I wanted to get somewhat of a feel from those that have built them previously to see if it was going to be practical BEFORE going to the trouble / expense of completing it for nothing.

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imjay

· #4 · Feb 13, 2010

You're in a tight space.

Rule-of-thumb re seating distance from projection screen is 1.5 times the diagonal image size.

100in. diagonal image would require 150in distance for optimum viewing or about 12.5 feet eyeballs to screen.

Our room is small for projection but we do have 14ft wall to screen with a net lens to screen throw distance of about 12 1/2 feet.

Our projetor is shelf mounted and we sit along the wall under it so we have about 12 1/2 feet eyeball-to-image and it works well but if I try to sit closer it is visually uncomfortable and much closer we begin to see image degradation (minor). Not enough eyeball-to-screen distance will reduce the quality of the image that your eyes can process.

As much as I believe that current model tvs can't deliver a true Theater in the Home experience that belief is dependent on a room that will support a Theater sized screen with enough distance for good viewing and in your size room I would probably buy the Mits 82in TV.

Best of Luck with the room

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Imageek2

· #5 · Feb 13, 2010

Try and borrow a projector, any kind of projector that you can hook to a video source, and try it in the room. I think that will help you decide if it is worth it.

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Fabricator

· #6 · Feb 14, 2010

ANY H/T is better than NO H/T. so do it. you just have to be more carefull selecting components.

it seems to me those chairs are going to be to big.

how about pics of the room.

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Johnsteph10

· #7 · Feb 14, 2010

You definitely have some room dimensions suggesting that you may want to go with a large LCD/plasma.

At 9'6" long, with most projectors you are likely going to have a difficult time throwing more than a 80 inch satisfactory image..especially since you will be losing another foot with the projector itself..so 8'6" from lens to screen wall (most conservative estimate).

Other than dedicated theater chairs, I don't know of many HT recliners that are narrow enough to fit 4 in your 8'6" width. 3...maybe.

A 55 inch LCD would be more than enough for that room...and you can have the chairs slightly off the wall and have somewhat decent surround sound.

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victor-eyd

· #8 · Feb 14, 2010

If you do go fp, try to maximize the space as much as possible. Limit # items that you can take "space" from the room, so that you minimize the cluttered look. So what I would do is go inwalls/ceiling for your speakers. Move all stereo/video playback equipment in the closet. Do what you need to keep the room feeling open.

This would probably work if you used a flat screen also.

Victor

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