Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Looking for some feedback on HT room design.

Hi all, been a while since I've posted. I've moved into a new home (had twin baby girls) and am starting my design for my new HT room in the basement. I have two design options right now. The fundamental issue I have is deciding how to address seating. This room is going to be multipurpose as to what we use it for... movies, music, TV shows, sports, games. I'd like to get regular seating for about 8 people, if I have a party and need more, well those folks will need to use folding chairs or lay on the floor! I can't spend a ton of money on the furniture (would be no money left for the electronics!) so at first I thought I could use regular recliners, couches, love seats etc but as you can see from my (crappy) drawings I don't think those would work very well. So that leaves HT style seating.

HT Narrow
HT Wide

In the wide arrangement I would need to put all 8 in a row arching around the TV. The narrow arrangement I'd need to have two rows of seating. This was my original plan but I'm starting to like the wide design better as figuring out how to configure the 2nd row raised area with seating seems to be very difficult and it's not as symetrical as the wide design. My (crappy) drawings are to scale, I'd say accurate to about 4 inches or so.

I'm not looking to buy seating today but I need to know what's out there so I can build the room and then get seating that will fit it. I've only come across one 8 person seat and it was $10k which is way too much. Most of the stores I find have per person seating, usually around $500 a seat which would make it $4k but usually only in 3-5 person configurations.

I've valued the opinions of folks on these boards in the past and am looking to see what feedback and suggestions you might have. I am planning on using Axiom speakers again as I love the ones I currently have (M3, VP150, QS4).

I'm in the same situation with a similar size room I am looking at doing. I'm planning on the narrow config, so that everyone is straight on looking at the screen (doing front projector). I haven't looked into seating yet, as we are still getting estimates and finalizing the exact layout of the floorplan. It's possible some of the seating will be what we used to use in the family room, which got slip covered and put in the living room when we moved, although that would mean new living room furniture that would never (almost) get used. We have a sofa and loveseat in there now, and they are super comfortable. Recliner seating is another option we'll look at too though.

Seating can be rough. Right now I just have a sofa with a chaise longue (not lounge, though those seem popular--ha ha) end on one side, but I'll definitely be changing seating when I move my system. I want to see the state of D-BOX at that time and see if there's a financially viable way of incorporating it into at least the front row. I'm planning two rows of seating, with three seats in front and four in back, making it so no heads are directly in front of other heads and making the center seat in the front the ideal sweet spot. As far as brand and exact style of seating, I'm at a loss, so I'll be watching this thread.

I would start by deciding what use you want to prioritize the most which IMO will dictate the better seating arrangement.

I think the narrow setup will work better for HT as all seats will have a more direct angle to the screen and the screen. Especially important should you upgrade to 3D. Also this will make the screen the primary focus. I’d consider moving the surround speakers back a little bit to get better coverage of your back seats. Maybe ceiling mount the right surround farther out off the wall if that corner is an issue.

I think the wide setup will work better for sports and more informal GTGs as all the seating is facing in lending to better interaction between viewers. I would just make sure your screen does well with off angle viewing. I would also consider moving the back speakers off the wall and ceiling mounting them further out in the room if that corner is an issue for the left seats.

If I were in your shoes I would prefer the wide seating. I think it would be better all around for the uses you plan.

As for the seats themselves good luck that was the hardest thing for me to find since I wanted to be able to actually sit in the seats before buying them. If you haven’t already just do a search for “Home Theater Seating” to see what’s available but the minute the label HT goes on something the price goes way up.

Clearly sectionals off greater flexibility but at an increased cost especially if you get the “wedges” to fit between seats. I found a great deal on a HT sectional at “The Room Store” 4 seats (reclining or chaise) with 2 wedges for about $1,500. However, they weren’t firm enough to support my bad back.

A combination of couches and say love seats would probably get you more seating cheaper and probably work well in the wide setup. With some ottomans or coffee tables for people to put their feet it could work pretty well.

It took me 9 months to find the right seats for me. On thing I found was that the local furniture stores tried to rotate their inventory quickly so I hooked up with a reliable sales person at each nearby store letting them know what I was looking for and to call me if something like it came it. This helped save a lot of time running around to furniture stores every few weeks.

Cheers,
Dean

Have you also explored the possibility of having your screen mounted diagonally across the top right corner, and using a right angle sectional facing it, having the focal point of the "V" opening/facing the top right corner leaving space at each leg end of the sectional as a walk around? as Dean mentioned, for optimal placement of the surrounds, you might consider ceiling mounting if side/back placing proves unacceptable.

I've recently bought some top notch sofas and chairs at Sears Outlet for roughly 30 cents on the dollar. They had quite a few sectionals on the floor, at all the outlet stores I went in, you just have to keep your eyes peeled for that "one day 40-50% off already reduced sales" that come up quite frequently(here).

One idea I've been toying with for seating is using comfy office chairs. The one I have at my computer at home I can sit in for hours with very little fatigue so I've been searching for something better. Occasionally I buy one, only to return it the next day because of the comfort issue. Somewhere out there there must be office chairs comfy enough to support hours of sitting.

The advantage of this system is you can roll chairs in and out to support any seating arrangement you need at the time at a much lower cost. Plus have one with better back support for friends with back problems.

Another advantage is they should absorb lest sound having less impact on the overall SQ of the system. Leaving that to specific room treatments if desired. I also looked at that option but never found anything that I could sit in for any length of time.

Some great suggestions here, I really appreiate it. I agree that the wide setup is more appealing to me since movies aren't the only function of this room. I don't think I'd personally go the route of rolling chairs thou. I'm starting to really dig the idea of HT seating, but price and availability will be the ultimate factor there.

Ben, I don't have any worthwhile seating suggestions, but I'd like to congratulate you and your wife on the two new additions to the family

I was going to say... twin baby girls *and* a new HT, it doesn't get much better than that

EDIT - I tried a few additional configurations including various angled arrangements, and the best I could come up with was your "HT Wide" layout flipped vertically, assuming the main entrance is the in-swinging door at the bottom center.

That would make access to the sets a lot easier.