[Tuck MacRae]

I am currently in the process of buying a home in Brussels, Belgium. I plan to build a home theatre but have no idea what to look for. All the homes here are built with concrete floors and ceilings. The walls are constructed of a fine grain 6 inch thick solid cinder block. Given this, I have a few questions I hope you can help me with.


1. What would be the optimum room height, width, and length for a seating capacity of 10 people and a screen size of 15 feet wide and 6.4 feet high?


2. What type of additional wall construction will I require given that the building is basically all concrete? Will I still need to build sub-walls with studs, insulation and drywall?



Any guidance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bwolff]

Well the 10 people isn't a big deal if your room is going to be wide enough to accommodate a 15ft wide screen. Isn't the block they use for construction the autoclaved stuff. I am not sure of the acoustic properties on that stuff but would assume it would be the about the same as concrete. How close are your neighbors going to be? That stuff should stop a lot of base but you still get leaks at windows and such. I would think you would still need to do something to get good sound in the room even if it is just attaching acoustic panels to the walls. You will need to have enough height in the room to accommodate a riser for your second row of seating. I would think the room should be a minimum of 18x23x8. But that is gust a guesstamate, and I am just a guessing guy. This is just one oppionion hope for more.

 

[Dennis Erskine]

Just some very quick calculations here: (I'll use feet/inches since that's what you're using)


You minimum room width would be about 19' wide.

Your first row of seating would be in the area of 18'-6" from the screen. The last row of seating would be in the area of 27' back from the screen.

If you use a 1' high riser for the second row and place it 22' from the screen, the top of your screen will need to be 8'-7" from the floor.


None of this takes into account the resolution of your projection source, it's throw distance nor light output. Nor does it take into account your personal view preferences ... some prefer to be closer, some further, from the screen. At 15' in width, you're in the territory where a curved screen will make some sense.