Average size of Home Theater room?

beelzerob

Senior Member
Our house is being built, and we have to decide where some things go in the basement (plumbing roughin, mechnicals, etc). I want to make sure I leave a large enough, non-column-filled area for the eventual downstairs theater. But I have no idea how much room I should plan on.

My only vision at this point is to use a projector for the visuals, and to have 2 comfortable chairs for day-to-day viewing, and then also a raised platform behind those chairs for additional comfy chairs for when it's movie time and more people are there. So, seating for like 6 maybe.

One of the areas in the basement is in the 14 X 12 range. Ceilings will be 9 ft high.

For those with theaters, what is a good size to shoot for, for spaciousness but also coziness?
 
Loaded question :)

Borrow an open area, take some string, and "draw" in the room dimensions, comfy chairs, screen, extra chairs, etc. This is teh best way to know what you feel comfortable in.

There are pretty standard calculations for screen size vs. distance to seating. If you must have a 200" screen this would drive a different decision on sizing than if you'd accept any size that fits into your "comfy room"
 
Ya, certainly there are many unknowns at this point. I have no idea how big the projected area will be....doesn't that depend not only on the projector, but also the distance? So those are TWO unknowns for that alone! If I WERE able to determine screen size, then what are those calculations for comfortable viewing distance? Because with that, I could at least determine room depth.

The problem is I need to have an idea before I can string string....because the basement doesn't exist yet, but I have to decide where to put the bathroom roughin. I don't want to end up putting pipes in the one area that would have been the perfect spot. The basement is dotted with support pillars, so to keep them from being free-standing pillars in the middle of the room, I'd have to find some kind of wall layout that hides them in walls.

The largest open non-pillared areas are about 14 X 14. If that's large enough for MOST average theater layouts, then I should be ok with keeping the plumbing away from there.

Is there a good one-stop site for home theater pics? Because that might help with visualizing how much space I'll need.

Thanks for the help!
 
Couple of thoughts....The Theater size might have some context to the size of the overall house and your guestimate on how much you will be using this room, and how much a Theater means to you and your family.

Will it be dedicated theater, or a "family room" theater? If the latter, increases the utility but typically will loose some of the theater ambience, depending on design.

Poles can be removed if early in the design process. A larger beam across two poles can eliminate a pole in the middle.

Poles are less of an issue if in the back of the room...between the rear seats (if they can't be removed for economic reasons)? If there is a bar as example in the back of the room (behind the rear seats), the poles could be to put some demarking between the Theater space, and the bar space.

My theater (which is 80% "theater" / 20% "family" room) is about 25x20x10 (from memory). My seating is a couch with two recliners in front and an elevated rear deck with two individual swivel recliners. For Superbowl et al, we bring more seats in. This size has been pretty practical so far.
 
Great help, David, thanks! I'll talk to the builder about moving the posts....it's right down to the wire to do that (since they're pouring footer sooner) but worth a talk. Good point about them being at the back of the room.

My plan is to have the projector outside of the room, shining in through glass...like in a real theater. The main reason is just to keep the heat and noise out of the theater room. Does that limit how long the room could likely be?

We do enjoy movies, as well as football, so I could see using this maybe once a week fairly reliably. That's not a lot, I realize. I really can't say it's important to the family...the wife probably won't like being a floor or more away from the kids, and my oldest is 3 so really hasn't been clamoring to see a 6 ft high backyardigans....(yet).

Interesting idea combining it with a family room. I agree, it would increase the utility, but I definitely don't want any other use of the room to conflict with having the darkness and quietness needed for a good movie showing.

And thanks for the link, Brian! My reading list has just increased....
 
If you plan to do football, I'd plan for more than 6! We usually average 10-16 for a football game. Our existing theater (as soon as this season is over, we're redoing it) is about 25x20x12. We have a huge L-shaped couch that sits 8, and have additional chairs around for more people.

The cooler thing we started doing this season is moving the screen outside (using Samsung 50" RPTV, very light). We can easily fit same amount of people and for some reason just seems more appropriate to be outside (under our deck which is 15' high).
 
I would echo that which was stated earlier. It's a loaded, and subjective, question. The projector does not the room decide. In other words, the room dictates the choice of equipment. In your case, the family's goals should dictate the room. So you have some decisions to make before you lay out the room and that will then drive equipment selection. To allow equipment selection to drive the room dimensions will ultimately frustrate your entire family. What is the realistic expectation of the room. How will it be used? How much will it be used? What is the primary media (DVD, HD, listening, SACD/DVD-Audio, karaoke, entertaining, "cocooning", etc.) As for size of screen, what kind of "involvement" do you desire? Do you want to be immersed in the experience a la the front row at the Super-Duper-Mega-Rediculous-Plex or are you more comfortable viewing the entire display with out whip lash. Where do you sit in the theater when you brave todays ticket prices? Start with some of these basics.

Do NOT lay out a 14' x 14' room. It will excite bass modes in a huge way and you will constantly be attempting to correct sub issues (nulls and peaks) to no avail.

Also, the advice of AVSforums is OK at best. I participate there on a VERY casual basis because there is a great deal of bickering, idiocy, self important, pompous and FLAT OUT WRONG advice given. Take it all with a grain of salt.

Just one misfits $.02...
 
Do NOT lay out a 14' x 14' room. It will excite bass modes in a huge way and you will constantly be attempting to correct sub issues (nulls and peaks) to no avail.

Just one misfits $.02...

Do you mean you're advocating a non-square room? Or was it the 14' in particular that was bad? The trend here seems to be in longer rooms.

We're rather isolated where we live, so even football days I don't expect a large gathering. I'm not even sure really about watching footbal in the theater because it'll be isolated from the rest of the house so much....probably be watching it upstairs on the 58" TV instead.

So I guess it boils down to just movies. I'm happy with a cozy type theater...maybe enough room for 8 comfortably is a good goal.
 
Do NOT lay out a 14' x 14' room. It will excite bass modes in a huge way and you will constantly be attempting to correct sub issues (nulls and peaks) to no avail.

Just one misfits $.02...

Do you mean you're advocating a non-square room? Or was it the 14' in particular that was bad? The trend here seems to be in longer rooms.

We're rather isolated where we live, so even football days I don't expect a large gathering. I'm not even sure really about watching footbal in the theater because it'll be isolated from the rest of the house so much....probably be watching it upstairs on the 58" TV instead.

So I guess it boils down to just movies. I'm happy with a cozy type theater...maybe enough room for 8 comfortably is a good goal.

Not to speak for him, but yes, that's what he's saying - theatre rooms should have unequal dimensions. Rooms whose length and width are equal tend to induce standing waves and lead to muddy bass.
 
That's right, sqare rooms are a nightmare. The same can be said of any room where one dimension is divisble by another. 10' x 20' = no good. 11' x 20' = good.

OK, even better. I dug throught the office and found the "magic numbers" as I learned them. Three great equations that work...

C= ceiling Height

1. width = 1.14 x C
length = 1.39 x C

2. width = 1.28 x C
length = 1.54 x C

3. width = 1.6 x C
length = 2.33 x C

These dimensions are for progressively larger rooms with dimensions that will help "tame" or nullify room modes.
 
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