[ATWindsor]

I am making a new room for home theatre, it will mainly be used for this, but also partially as a scond living room. The room is 16 feet 3 inches by 12 feet 4 inches. I plan a 11.2 setup with a projector. Should i have the screen on the longest or the shortest wall? What are the drawbacks and upsides of the different setups?


AtW

 

[craig john]

How many rows of seats are you planning? What is the seating configuration? Are there any doors/windows that will limit seating and or walkways?


Why 11.2 and in what configuration? Are you planning any acoustic treatments?


Are you planning to use an Acoustically Transparent screen, placing the front speakers behind it? What size screen are you planning to use? Does the projector have any throw-distance limitations? Are there windows in the space that would throw light on the screen? Where are they located relative to the screen? Can you black them out?


There are so many things to consider in the design of a Home theater. You've asked us a very general question and given us very few details to work with. Can you provide a picture of the space and a diagram of the planned seating/speaker placement/layout etc.?


Craig

 

[hd_newbie]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18198432


I am making a new room for home theatre, it will mainly be used for this, but also partially as a scond living room. The room is 16 feet 3 inches by 12 feet 4 inches. I plan a 11.2 setup with a projector. Should i have the screen on the longest or the shortest wall? What are the drawbacks and upsides of the different setups?


AtW

Most people put it on the short end. This provides them with enough room for viewing, seating, and speakers behind the seating.

 

[kgveteran]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hd_newbie /forum/post/18199096


Most people put it on the short end. This provides them with enough room for viewing, seating, and speakers behind the seating.

yup

 

[ATWindsor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by craig john /forum/post/18198641


How many rows of seats are you planning? What is the seating configuration? Are there any doors/windows that will limit seating and or walkways?


Why 11.2 and in what configuration? Are you planning any acoustic treatments?


Are you planning to use an Acoustically Transparent screen, placing the front speakers behind it? What size screen are you planning to use? Does the projector have any throw-distance limitations? Are there windows in the space that would throw light on the screen? Where are they located relative to the screen? Can you black them out?


There are so many things to consider in the design of a Home theater. You've asked us a very general question and given us very few details to work with. Can you provide a picture of the space and a diagram of the planned seating/speaker placement/layout etc.?


Craig

I am sorry if my information is a bit on the light side, a bit of the reason is that windows and doors aren't there today, I am in early planning so I have pretty ok flexibilty set-up-wise. The only things in the room today is the concrete walls.


I am planning 1 row and some chairs, I would like to have 4 chairs in the row though.


I have attached a crude sketch wich indicates the room, and on which walls windows there are windows and doors. Exact placement on the the wall is not given yet. (the sketch presumes screen on narrow side)


11.2 will be standard 7-channel setup, and 4 added DSX-channels. Acoustic treatment will mainly be low freq absorbtion (membrane in corners i guess). Speakers will be behind screen (not decided if they will be in-wall yet though). Projector is not yet bought. I will setup windows so they can be blacked out


I hope this info can be of help, as you see, its all very early in the planning fase, and very little is final.


AtW

 

[craig john]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18198432


I am making a new room for home theatre, it will mainly be used for this, but also partially as a scond living room. The room is 16 feet 3 inches by 12 feet 4 inches. I plan a 11.2 setup with a projector. Should i have the screen on the longest or the shortest wall? What are the drawbacks and upsides of the different setups?


AtW

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18199234


I am sorry if my information is a bit on the light side, a bit of the reason is that windows and doors aren't there today, I am in early planning so I have pretty ok flexibilty set-up-wise. The only things in the room today is the concrete walls.


I am planning 1 row and some chairs, I would like to have 4 chairs in the row though.


I have attached a crude sketch wich indicates the room, and on which walls windows there are windows and doors. Exact placement on the the wall is not given yet. (the sketch presumes screen on narrow side)


11.2 will be standard 7-channel setup, and 4 added DSX-channels. Acoustic treatment will mainly be low freq absorbtion (membrane in corners i guess). Speakers will be behind screen (not decided if they will be in-wall yet though). Projector is not yet bought. I will setup windows so they can be blacked out


I hope this info can be of help, as you see, its all very early in the planning fase, and very little is final.


AtW

In a room 12' 4" wide, with the projector/screen on the 12' 4" wall, forget "Wide" speakers. "Heights" might be doable, depending on ceiling height, but the room simply isn't wide enough for "wide" speakers. You need 60 degrees of separation for each wide speaker:

Transferring the placements in the Audyssey drawing to your diagram, you would need to place the "wides" on the side walls just about where the side chairs are to get 60 degrees from the primary listening position.


If you turned the system so the screen is on the 16' 3" wall, you might be able to use "wides", but then you are sitting closer to the back wall and closer to the display, (probably too close if you're using an AT screen with speakers behind it.) I would not suggest that arrangement unless the wide channels are really important to you.


Also, realize that the *only* seats that will be advantageous for the wide speakers are the middle seats on the couch, (this will be true, no matter the configuration of the room.) The end seats on the couch and the side chairs will suffer from the "image" collapsing to the closest speakers. For example, the left-most seat on the couch and the left side chair will get most of their sound levels from the L main, the left wide and the left surround speakers. Any dialogue that is supposed to be centered on the display will probably be OK, but very little will "image" from the right side of the screen.


Frankly, I suggest you start out with a standard 7.1 system. (Wire the room for 11 if you like, but I wouldn't make a commitment to buying all the speakers until you see if 7.1 is enough in your room. (I suspect it will be.)

Craig

 

[ATWindsor]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I have som follow-up questions. How big of a problem is it that the widespeakers are on the side wall? They are supposed to emulate early side-wall reflections anyway, and if you are sitting 10 feet from the wall, you would have to have a room that is 35 feet wide to put them on the front wall, I would assume that is the case for very few people, so it would suprise me if the system is not designed with (possible) side-wall placement in mind. The closeness to speakers is a problem of course, but will it be worse than for the side and rear surrounds? People not in the middle of the room will sit closer to the theese speakers too? It should be noted that the chairs probably will be moved abit to the center if they are goging to be used for watching.


Question 2: you mention sitting too close, what (very roughly of course) is to close to a screen? And what makes the experience worse than sitting further from it? I have little experience with projector-based playback.


AtW

 

[craig john]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18201939


Thanks a lot for the feedback. I have som follow-up questions. How big of a problem is it that the widespeakers are on the side wall? They are supposed to emulate early side-wall reflections anyway, and if you are sitting 10 feet from the wall, you would have to have a room that is 35 feet wide to put them on the front wall, I would assume that is the case for very few people, so it would suprise me if the system is not designed with (possible) side-wall placement in mind. The closeness to speakers is a problem of course, but will it be worse than for the side and rear surrounds? People not in the middle of the room will sit closer to the theese speakers too? It should be noted that the chairs probably will be moved abit to the center if they are goging to be used for watching.

I would ask your questions in the Audyssey thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...95421&page=818

There are some very similar discussions going on there right now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18201939


Question 2: you mention sitting too close, what (very roughly of course) is to close to a screen? And what makes the experience worse than sitting further from it? I have little experience with projector-based playback.


AtW

Check out this viewing distance calculator:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html

The suggested viewing angles are the important pieces of information, especially if you are getting a 1080p projector. You can sit closer to a 1080p image because pixel structure is much less visible.


Sitting against a wall is discouraged for several acoustic reasons. First, the bass builds up near room boundaries. Bass can be boomy and muddy sitting close to a wall. Second, you get a strong reflection of the mid's and treble off the back wall , which can smear imaging and soundstage. If you must sit close to a wall, it is encouraged to add thick acoustic absorption directly behind the listening position.


Craig

 

[ATWindsor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by craig john /forum/post/18202493


I would ask your questions in the Audyssey thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...95421&page=818

There are some very similar discussions going on there right now.



Check out this viewing distance calculator:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html

The suggested viewing angles are the important pieces of information, especially if you are getting a 1080p projector. You can sit closer to a 1080p image because pixel structure is much less visible.


Sitting against a wall is discouraged for several acoustic reasons. First, the bass builds up near room boundaries. Bass can be boomy and muddy sitting close to a wall. Second, you get a strong reflection of the mid's and treble off the back wall , which can smear imaging and soundstage. If you must sit close to a wall, it is encouraged to add thick acoustic absorption directly behind the listening position.


Craig

Thanks again for the feedback, I will check out the audessey thread. About the screen, it seems like distance in itself is no problem (for center seat), as i can just use a screen of the appropriate size for the viewing angle i need. (if there is no "hidden problems" as projectors not working well on shorter distances or similar. Although people off-center will see the screnn from a larger angle if one is closer. When placed on the short wall the screen will have to be pretty tall to reach THX recommended specs. it will leave about 3 feets, is there a recommended minimum height above ground for a screen? (not counting problems when people are sitting in front of eachother)


AtW

 

[hd_newbie]



Quote:
Originally Posted by craig john /forum/post/18200610


In a room 12' 4" wide, with the projector/screen on the 12' 4" wall, forget "Wide" speakers. "Heights" might be doable, depending on ceiling height, but the room simply isn't wide enough for "wide" speakers. You need 60 degrees of separation for each wide speaker

What is the minimum width in your opinion for a DSX-based system to be viable?

 

[craig john]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18202803


Thanks again for the feedback, I will check out the audessey thread. About the screen, it seems like distance in itself is no problem (for center seat), as i can just use a screen of the appropriate size for the viewing angle i need. (if there is no "hidden problems" as projectors not working well on shorter distances or similar.

Some projectors do have limited throw distances. You will want to ensure that whatever projector you get has a throw distance capaility ti fit your needs. Projector Central has a calculator you can use to figure out whether a given projector has the appropriate throw distance:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATWindsor /forum/post/18202803


Although people off-center will see the screnn from a larger angle if one is closer. When placed on the short wall the screen will have to be pretty tall to reach THX recommended specs. it will leave about 3 feets, is there a recommended minimum height above ground for a screen? (not counting problems when people are sitting in front of eachother)


AtW

Recommended screen mounting height is:

Seated Eye Level @ 1/3 Screen Height.


For example:

Screen = 122" Diagonal (60"H x 107"W)

Screen Height = 60"

Eye Level = 38"


1/3 of 60" = 20"

38" Eye Height @ 20" from bottom of screen = Screen bottom @ 18" from floor.


Craig

 

[craig john]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hd_newbie /forum/post/18202864


What is the minimum width in your opinion for a DSX-based system to be viable?

Assuming your talking about "wides", it depends on the seating distance... whatever it takes to get 60 degrees from the center line. The wides can be mounted on the side walls, but they should be at 60 degrees from center.

http://www.audyssey.com/technology/dsx.html


Craig