[gnolivos]

Hi All,


Here is my first attempt at designing a HT in my basement, which has some space constraints given the location of the frurnace/AC system.


I would like the more experience builders out there to help me with this. Your advice/critique is very much valued, thanks!

 

[gnolivos]

some more:

 

[pmeyer]

Can you give us the dimesions of the main rectangular area with the screens/seats? How big a screen are you planning?


Just glancing at it, I'm wondering why you didn't go two rows of three. Maybe offset to the right a bit to give more of an aisle on the left side.

 

[gnolivos]

pmeyer:


The far wall where the screen is located, will measure 13' 9" (almost 14 feet).

The screen will likely be a 8ft diagonal, or maybe a little larger depending on what PJ I end up buying. I currently have a 4805 that I will upgrade for this new HT room (likely a 1080 pj).


The idea of shifting the seats to the right is awesome. Would give a proper aisle on the left, just like a real movie theatre has... good job, I did not catch that!!!


Anyhow, here are some more details:

 

[gnolivos]

Im sorry, I just realized what area you were talking about: It measures 13' 9" x 22' 7"


That's almost 14' x 23'

 

[gnolivos]

Anyone have any comments on this layout?

 

[stylinlp]

I have a great idea for you. I dont have the website address on me but this custom home theater company builts $100k rooms and have incrediable portfolio to look over for idea's. The rooms are called Nile, Kiev, Tuscun, etc.

One idea is to build a snak bar. I would build it where you want to place your fridge and videogame. Looks like a perfect spot for it. Make a mini lobby entrance. It would be really kewl if you did it right.


About your seating. Acoustically they say that listeners need to sit either 38% from the front wall or/and 38% from the back wall. thats your ideal two rows of seats right there. If you are off those marks your bass response will suffer. Never ever ever sit dead center of a room. Worst bass response. You can read all about that on Acoustic treatment websites.

 

[gnolivos]

Wow, thanks. Their Apollo theatre is very much my style...!

 

[gnolivos]

OK, so it appears that the right side of the room has HVAC ducts that cannot be relocated. They run along the same direction of projection, and take up about 1/4 of the total width of the room.


So, I am considering offsetting all my setup to the left, and make the right side more of a 'corridor' ... much like you would see on a real theatre.


Here's the basic idea. Can someone tell me if this is a bad idea for some reason? i.e., the assymetry of speaker setup etc etc, room acoustics, etc...?


I really have no other option!

 

[pmeyer]

I like the look: the angled walk behind to the aisle on the right works. One question, though: why exactly did you shift? How low do the HVAC ducts come? Presumably not that low, as you have the aisle under them. Do they block screen visibility?


It's hard to tell without seeing it, but you might prefer to have more headroom and more feeling of spaciousness in the aisle and a the ducts over the seats. If they are only 3-4' wide, thats just a big soffit, depending on how low the ceiling is under them.


As for moving the screen: where did that door come from? Exactly how do the ducts impact the screen wall? My leaning would be to shift the seats wherever you need to, but leave the screen centered.


Can any HT audio experts comment on off-centering the screen?

 

[McCall]

In my theater I had a pre-existing stage with a closet on the Left side as you are facing it, the theater entrance door is also on the left side but from the back so it was natural to have that side be my aisle. So as you enter the seating is to your right and the screen is centered in front of the seating. Done this way it looks great as there is actually a stage and proscenium area that the screen is centered in. I think if the seating were to the right but the screen was centered on the room it would be weird, or if the screen were centered on the seating but there was nothing to the side of it but open wall that would look weird as well. So I disagree with Paul about leaving the screen centered but moving the seats.

 

[gnolivos]

Well, to answer some questions:


The ducts are about 4 feet wide. They will cause the ceiling to drop because of the sofft that will be placed around it. It makes more sense to me to put the seats under that higher ceiling because I plan on having an 8" riser for the rear row. If anyone stands up on the riser, they will absolutely bang their head on the soffit! So there is no option but to use that whole corridor as an aisle. where you can esily walk without hitting the ceiling (probably about ~6' 7" high altogether, because of the drop.


The door to the right is really just access to the electrical panel. We might make that just a smaller door panel, but either way, access to the electricals needs to be there. I hadn't thought of this before.


Any comment on the fact that with this arrangement, the posters would only be on the aisle side? I decided to remove them from the other side, because it seemed awkward to be sitting right next to these recessed boxes ont he wall... too much clutter and distraction.

 

[gnolivos]

OK, day 1. All plumbing and framing. THis going quick or what?!

 

[McCall]

If those are for posters they are going to distract and reek havoc with your acoustics. Have you thought about those areas?

 

[gnolivos]



Quote:
Originally Posted by McCall /forum/post/0


If those are for posters they are going to distract and reek havoc with your acoustics. Have you thought about those areas?

I'm not too conerned. Visual distraction? They are way far from the field ov view. The seating is towards the left. The area under the soffit (where the posters are) is a corridor , or an aisle...


Acoustics? Not concerned with that either. I guess I am not as particular as many people are here! It will sound 'OK' to me, and it won't take away from the experience...

 

[Dream1]

Looks great so far, man!

 

[gnolivos]

I updated the final plans. SOrry, this changed quite a bit and forgot to update the thread. First post has the FInal Plans!