I've recently started to look around for a bigger home, also with the intention of commandeering a room for a dedicated home-theater setup. (sound treated, stepped seating, projector, etc.)

What are the best qualities to look for in a room like this? Are there certain shapes, sizes or surfaces that are best? What's a good height? Are there certain traits to avoid at all costs?

I know some of you have built rooms like this for yourselves and I'm wondering if you've learned what some of the tips or pitfalls of this sort of space might be.

SG, one of the more obvious points that you may be already aware of is to avoid equal or near-equal room dimensions, e.g., 8' x 8' x 8', terrible. Also dimensions being even multiples, e.g. 8' x 16' x 24', should be avoided. Various authorities on room acoustics have suggested specific ratios, e.g., 1:1.25:1.5 for a small room, 1:1.7:2.5 for an average room, etc.

There're other items, such as avoiding large openings to other rooms, and not having the room either too "live" or too "dead", either from furnishings or room treatments.

Regardless of anything, however, the room along with the speakers will continue to have a major effect in altering the recorded material, while things such as players, amplifiers and cables have little or no effect. So, there really ain't no such thing as a "perfect" HT room.

I'd heard to avoid the even dimension spaces. Those seem pretty rare anyway. Is the reasoning that it's hard to control the echoes and phasing (and the ever popular standing waves?)

I'm sure I'll have to treat any room, but I guess what I'm fishing for is some things to look out for that might make a project like that a little easier if I'm walking through houses and scouting for a good area. I'll start googling those dimensions you mentioned as well to see if I can find photos that can help me eyeball the general style that seems to work best.

I suppose I should have said something more like "ideal" or "optimal." (perfect is probably out of my price range :P )

I just spent 6 months searching before I found what I was looking for based on my limited experience with my apartment theater:

1. Symmetrically shaped rectangular walls - makes placement of everything easier to optimize especially speakers.

2. Fairly large - allows more flexibility in placement of everything. Helps improve soundstage all around. I settled on 13x21x8-12 foot vaulted ceiling.

3. Construction - basements and brick (outer walls) allow a lot less sound in and out than wood-frame stucco.

4. Light control - Even with a HDTV this incredibly improved PQ everything was more vivid. It even enhanced sound quality in movies buy reducing visual queues that would otherwise degrade my sound systems ability to trick my brain about where sounds were coming from.

5. High or vaulted ceiling - I just like the openness this lends to the sound. Also ceiling height at the screen wall will determine how tall a screen you can use depending on your front speakers. Big factor for me because I wanted total freedom of placement for 3xM80s up front under the screen. I also think higher ceilings create a more movie theater like atmosphere.

6. Adjoining closet or space - I like having my equipment separated from my room by something to eliminate noise and clutter.

These were the main things I was looking for.

Cheers,
Dean

I wish I could check more of those off. I imagine I'll never be happy, though.

Thanks for your list. Did you end up finding all that in your room?

Basements are probably unlikely as I'm still shopping around southern California.

Am definitely considering adding brick or cinderblock to the walls tho.

They’re a rare commodity here in Phoenix too.



One end is partly open which I will enclose with a screen wall otherwise the size and dimensions are great. Unfortunately, the house is wood frame stucco which could be a tough one if noise becomes an issue. The light issues are easily managed. The ceiling is vaulted and at the screen wall it’s 9 1/2 feet so I can fit my M80s under a 142” diagonal 1.78:1 screen. There is an adjoining den/office destined to become a media room for all the equipment and source material. It also has a gas hookup in the garage for a dryer I mean NG converted brewing setup, and it’s in a great location. Plus for the price and outstanding condition of this house I couldn’t pass it up.

Good luck in your hunting.
Dean

You brew too? I've also been eyeing ones with larger concrete patios (some with outdoor ranges already installed) in the back for that stuff.

I love homebrewing. The only thing I like to DIY more is growing my own…aaah…hops that’s it hops.

Outdoor would be cool. You could brew, drink homebrew and barbeque at the same time.

I plan on setting everything up in the garage. Buying or making a Brewtree

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/brewtree-building-39095/

And buying or making a couple of these:

http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=16584&cat=809&page=1

I figure 8 different beers on tap is at least livable. I love having beer on tap and hate bottling though I’ll probably still bottle some beers like Trapist ales, triplebocks and barley wines etc… since they age well. When I used to live in Madison WI my roommate and I typically had 10-15 different homebrews bottled at any given time. I could sure get use to that sort of variety again.

Any particular beers you like to make the most? Originally I focused on recreating expensive foreign beers but realized that every style tasted better homebrewed. I’ve pretty much given up on commercial beer except to try new ones especially local beers when I travel overseas.

You might find this article, re: "The Golden Room", helpful. (Might not )

If you'll google "home theater building," you'll find a plethora of info, probably more than you could want.

Thanks for the link Ajax, that one looks handy.


Grunt, I'm not sure I have a particular style as I like to experiment with a lot of stuff. I tend to stay away from lighter styles like wheat beers, kolsch, etc. Have brewed browns, porters (with and without coconut), ipas, stouts and barleywines. I still definitely go through a lot of commercial microbrew stuff as well, I have too much access to great stuff here.

One more thought for room dimensions; for music listening I prefer higher ceilings, but for movies I find that making the room wider seems to be a big help. Bipolar or quadpolar surround speakers help to make the room seem wider, but pushing the walls a bit further apart definitely helps too.

Also, having something other than a concrete slab for your floor makes it easier for the subwoofer to shake it. As a corollary, people who enjoy peace and quiet should not be encouraged to live above or below your HT room

Finally, at some point I'm hoping to move my HT out of the loft into a purpose-built room in the (currently unfinished) basement. When I do, I will be angling the wall where the screen is located in order to get away from parallel side walls. That is definitely not essential but if you're thinking about a purpose-built room it's something to consider.

Finally, take a look at some of the sample rooms in the Rives Audio site to get an idea of what is possible - some of those rooms are spectacular and I don't think the changes really added that much to the cost. Depending on budget, you might want to consider getting Rives involved.

My Pleasure!

Dang, that Rives company makes some mean designs. Definitely bookmarked.

The Rives information is slick, I used their 1/5th main speaker placement ratio distance by placing my 80's 5' from the back wall in our 25' long room. I believe it helped.

I wish my room would allow me to try their ratios. I'm not sure, but I think putting my seating area 3 cm from the speakers would sound strange? Perhaps I can take over the Master Bed to gain the room I need to try those ratios...