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Perfect size movie room
#347542 05/08/11 07:46 PM
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what is the perfect room size for and decnet inhome theatre ?
also, is it better sitting facing the long wall or the narrow end. I know it is best to make it with a non-denominal factor but for a 92" screen wonder what the best size would be. Also, my centre position is the important one as for speaker placement lol

I am thinking 15.5w x 21L x 7h
I would sit 11ft from the fronts which would be 10' apart. With a 92' this would be about 7ft. allow 1.5ft space on either side of the screen to the mains. and about 1.5' to the side walls from the L/R. another 1ft spacing between the Main and the sub. about 2 ft for the sub and 1.5' from the wall. I am thinking you would have no other way. It would be pointless to run dual subs if they are in the middle side by side.


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Re: Perfect size movie room
axiom_man #347545 05/08/11 08:06 PM
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dual subs is never pointless :-)


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Re: Perfect size movie room
Nashvegas Rocks #347550 05/08/11 08:21 PM
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I would always try and sit facing the narrow wall. With your room dimensions and sitting distance having the room 15' wide and 21' deep seems ideal.


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Re: Perfect size movie room
avjunkee #347559 05/08/11 10:09 PM
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There is no perfect room as each room has it's own issues due to it's size. You would want your mains to be as far apart as you are sitting away from them and you do want ample room to have space to the side and behind the seating area for surround speaker envelopment, the more space the better suited direct radiating speakers will be, the closer confines allows the QS series to shine, at least with my experiences.

The center speaker, if it is a horizontal design, is best near ear level but I have also had very good luck at any postion above or below the screen with the speaker angled down or up towards the seating postion.

It sounds to me like your room should work quite well, I would just watch that first reflection point from the side walls as the mains will be quite close to them.


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Re: Perfect size movie room
avjunkee #347561 05/08/11 10:26 PM
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There isn’t going to be any “perfect” one-size-fits-all room for all situations. For example do you plan on one or more rows of seats? How many seats across? Why restrict yourself to a rectangle? How many speakers, (wide and multiple surrounds can accommodate longer rooms better)?
With only one row of seats placing the screen on the long wall is a viable option since a wider room allows more flexibility in placing the mains and with greater standoff of the surrounds you can get a more even surround sound field over you entire seating area than if the surrounds are very close to the side seats.

Based on the rooms I’ve used so far I would make the length and width such that the standoff distance to the nearest seat from a side or rear wall is proportionally greater the more rows/columns of seats I have. So say for one row of 4 seats across I would want a minimum of 5 feet to the sided and back walls from the closest seat. I would add a few feet in each direction for every row/column of additional seats. This creates a more even surround field for all the seats rather than just the sweet spot.

I would also want to be able to place the mains outside the farthest L/R seats, also proportionally farther the more columns there are, while always keeping at least a 3-4 foot standoff from the speaker to the wall to allow some flexibility in placement to create the best front soundstage.

Also, just because you don’t want length walls to be equal, doesn’t mean that a square listening area doesn’t work great. The most seamless 360 degree soundstage I’ve had was in my apartment where the room was 16 feet long by 12 feet wide. By building a curtain wall in the front I turned the listening area into a 12x12 which allowed me to place my speakers in a perfect circle around my seating. This created a perfectly seamless soundstage with only 5.1 while maintaining the advantage of a rectangular rather than square area for standing waves.

Additionally by having more distance to the side walls while also sitting closer to the screen it greatly cut down on reflected light from the screen bouncing off the walls (both my apartment and present home theater had/have black curtains, floor and ceiling). But even with total blackout some light reflects off the side walls making it harder to suspend disbelief in my present home theater than in my apartment where the screen just seemed to hang in empty blackness. So don’t assume that only acoustics are affected by room size/shape.



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Re: Perfect size movie room
grunt #347566 05/08/11 11:27 PM
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I am just trying to figure it out for the draftman.
I don't want to in a year or two wish I did this or that different.

I plan on Two rows of seating most likely four across. And if the fronts are 11 ft apart then I will sit close to 11 ft away if 13 ft apart then I will sit 13ft. The last rom will be about 5ft behind to the wall. 32" for the couch and another 24 inchs of walk way in front. This will put me 5 ft from the rears. if my room is 15.5 then I guess I will be 7.75ft from the sides.
My biggest concern is, 92" or 102" Front projection or 60" Plasma. I want to sit in the sweet spot were it seems I am right in the movie. I don't want to see side walls nor do I want to move my eyes to see the sides of the screen. I guess I will have to experiment in sitting in front of a project or 60" tv's and measure.
However if I have two M80's a VP180 and Two EP500's how much space across the front do I need with out cramming them in. If I am sitting 11ft away then that means my speakers are 11 ft apart, therefore 2ft from the walls. I do not want the subs against the wall but maybe a ft away that in itself takes up 6 ft of floor space. Can I place the M80's butt up to the subs or should I allow a ft between sub and M80.Actually I have my M80 planned at 4.5ft from the side walls if I place it along the 21 ft wall. if against the 15.5 then things are going to be tighter.


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Re: Perfect size movie room
axiom_man #347569 05/09/11 12:32 AM
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Quote:

I plan on Two rows of seating most likely four across. And if the fronts are 11 ft apart then I will sit close to 11 ft away if 13 ft apart then I will sit 13ft.

Unless you are willing to move seats around between single and multi-viewer seating you will not have any one seat in the sweet spot, equilateral triangle with the mains. Also if you plan on mostly HT and not as much 2ch music then the equilateral triangle becomes less important though not totally irrelevant as you add more speakers. If you want to optimize for multiple viewers then you would want the apex of that triangle falling in the middle of your 4 center seats or even a little farther back IMO. The reason I say that is that in my experience I’d rather have the mains a little wider rather than a little narrower if I had to pick between the two.

Quote:

My biggest concern is, 92" or 102" Front projection or 60" Plasma.

IMO and that of THX, a 60” plasma will look tiny at 11-13 feet.
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html
The THX ideal seating distance for a 102” diagonal 16:9 screen would be 11.4 feet. Obviously this isn’t a hard and fast rule but a good place to start from. However, the larger the screen the more light you’re going to get reflected around the room. OTOH the smaller the screen the less “movie-theater-like” the presentation and the less it will draw you in because it will fill less of your field of vision. I hate reflected light but IMO the immersion of the larger screen more than makes up for it.

Also since you plan to have your main speaker 11-13 feet apart a larger screen will keep the picture and soundstage in sync. With a 60” plasma and speakers 11-13 feet apart some of the on screen action will sound like it’s coming from several feet off to the side, something I find very distracting. I find that keeping the mains within a foot or so of the edge of the screen works best.

Quote:

Can I place the M80's butt up to the subs or should I allow a ft between sub and M80.Actually I have my M80 planned at 4.5ft from the side walls if I place it along the 21 ft wall. if against the 15.5 then things are going to be tighter.

As long as the subs aren’t blocking the M80s drivers I wouldn’t worry about that. Hell you could even put the M80s on top of the subs to see if you like how they sound elevated. It might go well if you plan on having the second row of seats on a riser. However, the advantage of using two subs is to even out the bass response of the room which is often best achieved by placing the subs opposite each other. So if one is in the front left corner the other might work best in the right rear corner. Opposite centers of each side wall and even the front and back wall are also generally superior to left and right front corner placement for bass flattening. If you don’t plan to use the dual subs for bass flattening then I would save my money and only get one. IMO using two, unless in a very large room, is a waste if you just want it louder, and then if it’s louder you want a single EP800 would probably do better than dual EP500s.


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Re: Perfect size movie room
grunt #347573 05/09/11 01:06 AM
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My HT/family room has a 58" Panasonic S1 and my seating is ~12' back, my mains are ~11' feet apart and I think everything sounds great. I do wish the 58" was at least a 70", not that the 58" looks tiny bit you really don't get the movie theater experience and I think the 70" would still look a little small for an HT experience but it would work very well for the general use I put my system through.


Jason
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Re: Perfect size movie room
jakewash #347599 05/09/11 11:59 AM
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Originally Posted By: jakewash
There is no perfect room as each room has it's own issues due to it's size. You would want your mains to be as far apart as you are sitting away from them and you do want ample room to have space to the side and behind the seating area for surround speaker envelopment, the more space the better suited direct radiating speakers will be, the closer confines allows the QS series to shine, at least with my experiences.

The center speaker, if it is a horizontal design, is best near ear level but I have also had very good luck at any postion above or below the screen with the speaker angled down or up towards the seating postion.

It sounds to me like your room should work quite well, I would just watch that first reflection point from the side walls as the mains will be quite close to them.


Good advice!

Re: Perfect size movie room
davidsch #347611 05/09/11 03:44 PM
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One other consideration is using a cinema scope 2.40:1 instead of the anamorphic 1.78:1 used by TV's. The 2.40:1 can cost more if you mount an anamorphic lens in front of the projector. Most people are perfectly satisfied with the 1.78:1. Myself, I'd rather go with the wider screen and watch 1.78:1 with the bars to the left and right of the screen, than to watch the 2.40:1 with the bars at the top and bottom of the screen. That way I get more of the theater effect.

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