Home Theater Room Design Basics (3):
The Dedicated Home Theater Room

Setting up your own dedicated home theater room can be a truly rewarding yet challenging experience. It is the ultimate in any home theater design - a room specifically designed for watching movies, videos, TV, and more. 

Space Requirement

We have already touched upon the issue of available space in the first in this series of home theater design guides to see how this impacts on your eventual implementation of a home theater.

In this article, we see how to arrive at the actual space required to fit your dream home theater.

Floor Space:

Whatever you will consider for your home theater room conversion - an under-utilized room, attic space, basement, etc., the primary consideration should be to determine the room space needed to house your dedicated home theater.

The 'average' dedicated home theater room is normally designed to take some 4 to 6 large comfortable seats - possibly more depending on available floor space. 

It is the required number of seats you will want to put together, in conjunction with the size of your big screen TV, that will eventually determine the space needed to house your dedicated home theater room.

Alternatively, if space is a constraint, you may have to work backwards in that first you will have to decide on the maximum number of seats that will fit in. You will also have to determine the screen size most suitable for your room.

A guiding parameter here is to allow for at least 3 feet by 3 feet floor space per seat; allow for a further two feet clearance between rows. In addition, leave some 3 feet clearance between the seats and the surrounding walls of your home theater room. 

This means that if you plan to put two rows of 3 seats each, your home theater room width should be approximately 15 feet.  For more information on home theater seating design requirements, please check our Home Theater Seating Guide.

Combine this with the viewing distance to screen size requirements as expressed in our TV Viewing Distance guide, and you will end up with the required floor area for your dedicated home theater room. 

Remember however that the TV viewing distance as detailed in our viewing guide is the distance between the front of your big screen display and the viewer. In other words, if your big screen is a large rear projection TV, then you should also allow for the dept of your big screen TV. This may easily add a further 2 feet even with today's slim styled sets. Do not account for this during your home theater room design and the front row may well end up too close to your big screen. 

No such considerations are necessary when using the latest flat-panel LCD or plasma displays, as well as with projection screens, as long as these are mounted in close proximity to your front wall.

What about the required Home Theater Room Height?

This issue would probably crop up only when you plan to install a front projection setup in your home theater room, in which case, the required height would depend on the size of your home theater screen. It is unlikely that you would come across concerns of room height with direct view and RPTV displays due to their relatively limited size.

As already expressed earlier on, the optimum screen size is directly related to your available floor area. In our TV Viewing Distance guide, we have gone into the necessary detail to show you how to arrive at the best screen size for your home theater room. The issue here is how this will impact your home theater room design - in particular the screen placement and the required room height.

There are a number of  guiding parameters here that can help you in the process:

• When planning your screen placement, take into consideration the display aspect ratio to determine the screen height. A bit too obvious but if you will be making use of a video projection set-up for your big screen, it's best to base your design considerations such as to accommodate the 4:3 aspect ratio - this in view that for the same screen width, a 4:3 display would require more headroom than the 16:9 widescreen format. If on the other hand, you have already decided to opt for a 16:9 home theater screen format, then proceed accordingly with your calculations.

• The ideal screen position is such that the eyes of the viewer should be level with the center of the screen. In those instances where this is not possible, ensure that your vertical angle of view do not exceed the maximum of 35 degrees as recommended by the SMPTE guidelines.  Beyond this angle, the viewer will be subject to an increased neck strain - rendering extended viewing tiring and uncomfortable.

• Ensure that all parts of the screen are easily visible by all viewers. In particular, make sure that the lower part of the screen will be visible from all seats. If there is the need, the rear set of seats should be raised on a 6 to 12 inch high platform for better viewing. 

This means that in home theaters with one or two rows, the lower part of the screen should usually be set 30-inches to 36-inches above the floor. Indirectly, this will also limit your maximum screen size.

Based on the above guidelines, an 8ft wide home theater screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3 would require approximately an overall height of 9 feet.

Floors, Ceiling, and Walls

You cannot have a dedicated home theater room without thinking about how you will be finishing those walls, ceiling and flooring.

Here comes into play two of the basic considerations we have already covered in substantial detail in this series of home theater guides - room acoustics and home theater lighting. There is also the issue of home theater room decor, a topic that is being covered under a different article in this series of design guides.

Therefore, at this point, we would only summaries upon a few basic issues which are fundamental in any dedicated home theater room design; for more details, please check out the respective design guides detailed above.

Flooring: Carpeting wall-to-wall is recommended for the floor - surely it is essential especially between the front speakers and the listener to absorb the first sound reflections.  For best acoustical performance, a wall-to-wall fitted carpet with a good underlay should be employed. The use of a home theater themed carpet would even help contribute to an improved environment and better suited atmosphere.

A selection of Home Theater Themed carpets from 4seating.com

Ceiling: No acoustical paneling is required here as long as there is enough absorptive material on your walls and flooring. Rather, the hard surface structure of your ceiling will help transfer the surround sound across your home theater room. 

The ceiling should however be painted using a dark color - preferably black, to help reduce any light reflections from your big screen. This is particularly important if your big screen size is such that the upper part of your screen is close to the ceiling. 

In addition, any ceiling lights should be on dimmers while the use of fiber optic and LED ceiling lights would do a lot to further to enhance your home theater. 

Walls: A substantial part of your wall surface area should be covered with curtains and other soft furnishings or acoustic wall paneling to obtain an acceptable level of sound absorption in your home theater room.

As a rule-of-thumb, 50% of all your home theater room surface area - ceiling, floor, and walls - should be absorptive.   

Following on our previous considerations, namely that all floor area should be carpeted and that the ceiling should preferably be 100%  hard-type surface, would imply that 50% of your wall surface area should include some soft furnishings, curtains, or acoustic absorptive panels. 

Do not over do it however; remember that the presence of any room furniture and in particular your home theater seats, will further contribute to reduce sound reflections.  

Achieving an appropriate balance between absorptive and reflective surfaces is important as the presence of too much absorptive material in the room may lead to an acoustically 'dead' home theater room; on the other hand, too much reflective surfaces will lead to echo and extremely poor sound quality. 

For more information on home theater room acoustics, please check our article on enhancing room acoustics and soundproofing.

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