[armaraas]

Hello. Well, everyone is pretty helpful here and I have found a lot of useful information as I began to work on finishing the basement and doing research. I was hoping maybe I could get some feedback on the layout I am contemplating and see if any one has any ideas or suggestions that might work better than what I am planning. It will not be an extravagant theater/media room, quite small with probably seating for 4, with an adjacent larger family room with a pool table and such. I have included a drawing of the proposed layout (man, I hope that works). I was planning on the media room originally as shown, with an 8' double doorway (ceilings are around 8' high give or take with the duct work). My thought was originally to put a TV against the B wall, and I figure I could fit a 3 seater of Berkline 88s right in front of the doorway flush against the C wall, and a single seater against the A wall, which would leave about 26" of walking space to get in thru the doorway. I figured TV could be watched easily while playing pool in that location, but I am not sure of aesthetics of the location with seating right in the doorway. I would use a curtain in the doorway when exclusively viewing movies.


Option 2 would be to put the TV against the A wall, and seating across the C wall, leaving the entry mostly open. However, I am not sure if either of these ideas are better than the other, and I have a feeling neither may be anywhere near ideal for quality surround sound? So any input as to whether I am trying to get a nice silver egg out of a lame chicken would be appreciated.


I guess a 3rd option would be to put the TV out in the pool table area with seating, and seeing if a pool table could fit further down the room in front of the wet bar. The wet bar is in it's location because it is halfway between a waterline and the drain, so hopefully easy plumbing. Also, the ceiling is one height in the proposed media room, so it would easier to finish and double sheetrock. The rest of the basement has ductwork down one side. Also, since we paid extra to have a beam and a double doorway put in the media area, I may catch a little grief if I suddenly do not have a use for it. Apparently displaying exercise equipment there would not be making good use of it.


I have no equipment yet for the theater area, and am just dry locking the walls. Will start framing this weekend. So I thought I would throw this out and see if anyone has any suggestions before I do anything that would be a pain to undo...


Any help for the inexperienced is greatly appreciated.....

 

[SoapySmith]

Am I reading that right that wall A is 9-6 and wall B is 13-8? (that's opposite of what the drawing looks like; is it to scale?) How big of a screen are you going to go with? If your room is only 9-6 deep, you're going to be sitting pretty close to any substantial screen size IMHO. Assuming I read your dimensions right, I would definitely go with option 2 with the TV on wall A and the seating along wall C (can you get 4 088's in a 9-6 space?) As for surround sound, you've already made the decision to go with an open room. I'm not one of the acoustics guys on this forum by any means, but it seems to me that having the opening there will be fine.


The caveat to all of this is that if you can put your TV on wall B and put seating in each rear corner of A and C, leaving a "center aisle;" and do it without having the seating too close to the screen, I'd might go that route, although it may diminish your surround sound experience. Depends how important sound is to you compared to aesthetics. (If I misread your dimensions and wall A is the one that's 13-8 and B is 9-6 -- are more in line with your drawing -- then I'd for sure vote for this option.)


Just my opinion. In the end, go with what looks and feels best to you. As long as you're not going with the third option, you have a little time to decide before anything permanent ("pain to undo") has to be done, right?

 

[armaraas]

Thanks for the response. You are correct in how you were reading the dimensions. I should have added that my drawing was not to scale. I didn't realize quite how bad that room was until after I was done.


The TV I am thinking would be in the 42" range. I do not remember what the rule of thumb is for TVs, but I am thinking the viewing should be 3-5 times the TV diagonal size? So viewing on the 9'6" wall might be a bit close.


According to Berklines theater builder, I could fit a loveseat with a chair attached on each end. The 88's would be 108" (114" is the wall width when finished), and the 93 series would fit too at 111". Not sure what the difference is between those series, or if it is a good idea to fit them in a place that tightly, but they fit.


For the third option I was thinking the wetbar could be moved to wall C in the media room pretty easily since the bathroom is on the other side. If anyone else has any advice feel free to let me know.

 

[SoapySmith]

The rule of thumb is usually 1.5 to 2x the screen width (although I personally like to be just a bit closer at about 1.4-1.3. ) Although is that only for FP? I was thinking it applied to TV's too? Someone who knows more than I might remember the rule of thumb there if it's different. (?) Depending on whether your 42" diagonal is widescreen or 4:3, if the same rule applies, I think that puts your width at roughly 36 and 33," respectively. Using 36", then, your optimum distance (screen to eyeballs) is only 54" to 72".


That leaves you with lots of options. Even if your TV is 2 feet deep, you still have room such that the back of your berks is right at 72" (eyeballs a little closer b/c of the chair back) and you would have 20 inches to get around them behind, and 25 inches on each side (right?)


Another option to consider, although it might not be the best for sound, would be to put the TV in the corner of A and B and put the Berklines at a diagonal. Don't know whether this would even fit or not but just an alternative.


Honestly, if it were me... I think I might center the TV on wall B and just put a nice leather couch in front of it with a loveseat on the side. When I picture it in my head the berkline arrangement seems perhaps a little long and intrusive in the room. Although this could also be dealt with by just getting a loveseat/loveseat configuration. Actually what I'm planning on doing for my front row is exactly what you're planning (chair-loveseat-chair) except I'm planning to use a chair-and-a-half in the middle instead of a loveseat. Only 36" across the seating area (on a 090, that is) so I can use it myself (I'm already referring to it as my "throne") but it's still big enough to snuggle up with the wife in. Best of all it makes that row skinnier.


It looks like your set up is going to be pretty sweet regardless of how you do it -- that's a nice open pool room and the media room should be a great touch either way. How to set it up is not a bad decision to be faced with Good luck!