New Home, Prospective Theatre Room

[TommyboyCAN]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I thought I would put a post out there and see if I can get some opinions from some home theatre veterans.

My wife and I are building a new house (well the developer is) and I want to make the room over the garage our home theatre. I pushed the builder to allow me to run wiring, he wasn't to keen on that, but will allow me to run conduit, which I'm fine with so I plan to run flexible conduit in the room before the walls go up.

Attached is a picture of an initial sketch I have done of the room.



My plan is to have the first row of seating be at about 11' and the 2nd row at about 15'. What do people think about that in 22x15 room? By calculations would the sweet spot for screen size be 106" or 120" ( I was thinking around 106" - 16:9 screen)

I'd love some advice on the room setup as well as the wiring.
-Would I be best to do in ceiling and in wall speakers for the 7.1 setup?
-Is my room setup ideal or should I look at a different orientation?
-Anything to watch out for?
-For running the conduit, aside form the conduit and gang boxes what should I be looking to purchase?
- Looking at a conduit run for the speaker wires around the front and back of the room as well as a larger conduit room to the projector mount.
-This room will have a ceiling fan and I'm concerned about the projector mount. What are some good reasources to look at for the projector mount distance. Also at the mount location the ceiling will 10' and will have to be mounted lower then the fan, is that an area of concern?

Thanks for what I'm anticipating great feedback. As you can tell I'm quite excited about this project.

[tonyvdb]

Welcome to the Shack,

For your size room a 106" screen is about as large as I would go otherwise the people sitting in the front seats will have the far left and right sides of the screen outside there field of view.
Also keeping the rear seats about 3 ft from the rear speakers is the best but sometimes is not doable. also if possible avoid in ceiling or in wall speakers as it is difficult to get decent sound from them and also they tend to localize the sound to much so if your not sitting directly by them you wont get the desired effects from them.

[Prof.]

Welcome Tommyboy...

Yes, I agree with Tony on this..However, I should point out that your screen position is not ideal..
Your right speaker is going to be in a corner, and the left speaker in free space, when the door is closed..
Also you are not going to be able to have effective bass trapping in that configuration..

I think orientating the layout 180 degrees might work better for you..
With that layout, you could also have the bigger screen if you wanted to..

You could then utilize one of those window bays for equipment storage and lose the window..which you would have to cover up anyway..

[TommyboyCAN]

Thanks for the quick replys.

I have done some thought about the 180 switch but was never totally confortable with that since I still want to be able to use the theatre room as a multi purpose room during the day. And I'm still debating with the wife if I can cover up the windows, as opposed to just have dark retractable window coverings, so I think I would still put the equiptment in the closet.

If I do the 180 switch would you center the screen on the other wall. Would looking into a retractable screen in that situation would be an acceptable solution or is it preferrable to use a fixed screen. Are my speaker positions about right except for that uncentered problem with the right vs left?

TM

[salvasol]

TommyboyCAN wrote:

... And I'm still debating with the wife if I can cover up the windows, as opposed to just have dark retractable window coverings, so I think I would still put the equiptment in the closet.

If I do the 180 switch would you center the screen on the other wall. ... Are my speaker positions about right except for that uncentered problem with the right vs left? TM

You will need something to cover your windows (you can see what the Prof. did to cover his http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...ut-window.html ) ... this will help you with your accoustics

Is okay to leave the equipment in the closet (for me it is ) ... don't forget that you will need some ventilation for that room

Is better to have everything centered in the room, but sometimes that is not possible ... but if you do the 180 you'll have enough space to do it

I suggest you to use fiberglass in the wall cavity, and if possible use two layers of drywall (ask the contractor how much extra he want to charge you or maybe you'll have to do it yourself to save money) ... this will also help you with the sound

I also agree about the speakers ... if you can avoid the in-wall and in-ceilings ... you'll have a better sound ... by the way, Do you have the equipment or Do you need to get it????

[Prof.]

TommyboyCAN wrote:

If I do the 180 switch would you center the screen on the other wall.

That would be the best way to go..
It's a pity that you have that door opening right next to the screen, as it's now shown, otherwise you would be able to centralize your seating as well..

Would looking into a retractable screen in that situation would be an acceptable solution or is it preferrable to use a fixed screen.

There's no reason why you couldn't use a retractable screen, and that's a personal choice..
Personally, I would have a solid screen..

Are my speaker positions about right except for that uncentered problem with the right vs left?

Generally they look about right..You will never be able to have an ideal speaker configuration, when things are offset..Symmetry is the key to good sound reproduction..

[Bent]

Almost full light control (just about 100% blackout) can be achieved by putting one set of blinds in front of another set of blinds in your windows.

Leave one set full open and retracted for most of the time when not watching movies and operate the second set for daily light control - but clsoe the second set as well for movie watching.

[mdrake]

Another option would be to 180 the room but move the windows to the far left and right and cover them with a curtain like the image below. You could then put the speakers in front or behind the curtain.

[bpape]

Regardless of the arrangement, there are a couple things that need to be addressed. Sitting at 11' in a 22'2" room is going to put your smack in the middle of the worst bass modes in the length dimension. I applaud wanting to keep the rear row away from the wall but the front needs to go back a bit.

If at all possible try to avoid in-ceiling speakers. Inwalls all around will give a much more believable surround field and a smoother transition front to rear during pans.

Bryan

[TommyboyCAN]

Thanks for the possible layout changes, there is probably still time to move the windows I would think.

So with a 22" room length where would you want the first row ideally? And putting it at the length would allow for what size of screen?

[mdrake]

This will give you a better idea of room modes and gives a visual of what happens to sound waves in a room.
http://www.mcsquared.com/metricmodes.htm

[bpape]

I like the room facing right in the drawing purely from the standpoint of better symmetry left to right.

Primary seating would either be around 13'4" or 8'7" from front wall to seated ear position. Which you choose is a function of how much of the room you're willing to dedicate just to this - and - your projector's brightness/resolution capabilities which will determine how big you can go with the screen and how it matches with the seating position.

Don't make the mistake of shifting seating around to fit a certain screen size. Pick one of the 2 locations listed and stick with either one of those. Minimum recommended THX included viewing angle is 36 degrees field of view.

Bryan