[npc2396]

I am looking at building a dedicated theater and have two options for the room.


Option one is 20'2" wide by 16'4" deep with a 15" screen wall. This configuration will sit 6 wide with a 120-130" 2.35:1 screen. The Projector will have to be mounted on the back wall at 6'4" tall to miss a beam at 6'6" that crosses about 3' in front of the projector. The rest of the cieling is only 7'2" The main viewing distance could be anywhere from 12-16' since it's just one row. I would enter from the side with no affect on seating.


Option two is to turn the same room with 17'7" wide and 18'11" deep with a 15" screen wall. This option will only give 4-5 seats. The entrance to the room is in the middle of the back wall which would interfere with a possible second row of seats. The low ceiling height also makes a raiser unrealistic. There is a 10" beam running down the left third length of the room that would interfere with a screen wall and give an asymetrical feel to the room. I would be able to mount the projector about 8" higher since the beams is parrallel to the projector not across it as in option one. I could do bar seats behind the recliners but I've never found them comfortable to watch movies.


I'm leaning towards option 1 as I can fit more prime seats with a wider screen. If I use a 120-130" wide screen how wide is too wide for the seating? My seats will be about 200" wide so the last two will be completely off the screen. I plan on using berkline recliners with a straight love seat in the middle flanked by two curved singles on either side.

 

[npc2396]

Here's some PDF's


The chairs shown are narrower than the ones I'll be using so I can't fit all six in the long model as shown.


The panels next to the screen are the manual masks for 16:9. I'm looking at Seymour and SMX screens.

 

130 long screen wall.pdf 12.255859375k . file

 

Long Model (1).pdf 45.421875k . file

 

130 wide screen wall.pdf 11.8935546875k . file

 

Wide Model.pdf 45.0986328125k . file

 

[fotto]

Hmmm, I'd be gnashing my teeth on this decision as well. I think I'd be inclined to go with option 1 if you only plan on one row of seating due to the following:


1) Squarish rooms like option 2 aren't the best for acoustics.

2) More prime seats.


Although I'm leaning in that direction, I feel like there's some space being wasted. Also, seems like you may be around 14' or less net projector throw distance to screen for option 1 set-up. You may be getting close to the minimum throw distance of a projector based on 120-130" (wide?) screen size. Something to check out if you have a short list of projectors in mind.


I'm sure you'll get some other opinions, but that's my 2c.

BTW...nice to see another Ohio build here!

 

[npc2396]

Thanks, I have been going back and forth for on this for months and I'm starting to put studs up and need to make a decision.


For projectors I'm looking at 8700UB, AE4000, and JVC HD250. All have minimum throw around 14'.

 

[edfowler]

I kind of had the same situation as you initially wanting to go with a wider room. An expert advised me to keep the room deeper than wide for acoustic reasons. I ended up making it approx 14 1/2 wide and 23 or so deep.


You can make the room less wide to get away from the squarish dimensions and still utilize a 120-130 wide or even wider screen. If you use an acoustically transparent screen you can run it to within a foot or so of either side wall. I made a 12' wide 16x9 screen for my latest theater build and it is on the 14 1/2 foot wall.


You can fit a second row in the deeper room without building a riser you know. You could use high quality bean bag furniture in the front and still be able to see the screen from the recliners in the second row.

 

[edfowler]

we have had bar seats to get an extra 4 seats but realistically they would be just for overflow with big parties. 95 percent of the time we only use 2 - 4 seats anyway.