[Sembiance]

Hello!

My wife and I are moving to a new house, and will be creating a new theater room!

In our current house, we have a theater room that looks like this:

It has a 120" 16:9 screen (104"W x 58" high, bottom of screen is 21" from floor).
Distance from our eyeballs at primary viewing location to the screen is 149" and our eyeballs are 36" from the ground.

Here is a 'first pass' at the new house and new theater room:

All the exterior walls are already in place. So I can divide up the interior in any way I see fit.

We like our current theater room screen size as it relates to our current viewing distance.

Based on the distance to the screen in this proposed room (15' 3"), it looks like a 200" 16:9 screen will yield about the same 'feel' screen size to viewing distance wise as our current theater room.

I imagine the projector could sit in the little AV room at the bottom right. On top of a utility rack, with a hole in the wall for the projector light to shine into the theater room and onto the screen, kind of like a real theater. This way the projector noise can be kept at a bare minimum. I can't think of any downsides to this idea. Are there any?

The current space has a concrete floor, but of course I'll be putting in carpet in the new theater room, but does sound/subwoofer work better if the floor is wood? Should I have the whole room raised up a bit on a wood floor?

I plan on having the second row on a riser up a bit higher.

I still have a LOT of things to figure out, like type of construction for the walls, acoustical treatments and all the gear (speakers, projector, AVR, subwoofer, etc. etc)

I'd love to get some initial feedback as to my first pass on the theatre layout. Anyone see any big issues or problems? Should the room dimensions be different for better sound?

Thanks!

 

[drunkpenguin]

That's very similar to my room size, 22x17. I think you're plan is fine. You're going to want some type of ventilation in that closet if the projector is in there. It will warm up fast. I think with a throw distance of 24' you're gonna need a bright pj tho. I personally have mine ceiling mounted just behind my first row of seats, so maybe 15' from a 120" 2.35 screen. Once the movie starts I have never heard the fan on the pj, but I have 10' ceilings so it's up there a ways.

 

[Silva741]

What's your budget for the projector?
200" is a really BIG screen, no moderately priced projector can fill such size properly.

I'd move the seating closer the screen. For that reason, but also because sound wise the second row shouldn't be so close to the back wall.

 

[Sembiance]

What's your budget for the projector?
200" is a really BIG screen, no moderately priced projector can fill such size properly.

I'd move the seating closer the screen. For that reason, but also because sound wise the second row shouldn't be so close to the back wall.

Great points! Also, after discussing the size of the room and the screen with my wife, we also agree that it's too big.

Here is a revised layout with a 140" 16:9 screen:

I've moved the seating forward, the rear seats are now about 4' 6" from the rear wall. The room dimensions are now 16' 5" by 24' 0".

As for projector budget, I was hoping to keep the projector under $5k

 

[Sembiance]

That's very similar to my room size, 22x17. I think you're plan is fine. You're going to want some type of ventilation in that closet if the projector is in there. It will warm up fast. I think with a throw distance of 24' you're gonna need a bright pj tho. I personally have mine ceiling mounted just behind my first row of seats, so maybe 15' from a 120" 2.35 screen. Once the movie starts I have never heard the fan on the pj, but I have 10' ceilings so it's up there a ways.

Thanks for the info. I've revised my screen size from 200" to 140" and the room dimensions are now about 24x17. I'm afraid I don't know the ceiling height, but it's pretty high from memory. I guess I'll see when we move in. Also thanks for the tip on the ventilation for the AV closet. I'll have to do some research on that.

 

[drunkpenguin]

What I did was put a vent on the wall or door very low to draw air in from another room. Then up high put a fan in the wall that blows back out into same room. This works very well.

Something like this...
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Suncourt-ThruWall-7-5-8-in-Transfer-Fan-TW108/100047556

 

[Tedd]

What's the purpose of small closet space in the back? Could it be considered for the av rack
and as the entry point where you could accommodate riser steps? And maybe you could
work in ventilation needs there also. Four seats wide in 16.5' feet would keep seating off the
surround speaker and allow for a really nice surround sound field.


That's a really nice space to have. But why push the seating towards the side walls with tables in
between? Ever consider an acoustically transparent screen. It won't push your center channel down
low and allow for the front row to block the center channel. It would also allow for improved LR
mains speaker positioning.

 

[Boomassiv]

If I had that space I would go AT screen with false wall and access for sure. I also agree with the seating as Tedd mentioned above.


ETA false wall up front would also move the screen back toward the projector some.