More Space Planning
This page outlines the next steps (or those that should have been undertaken) for this home theater design. The steps discussed here focus on determining the room's general layout and seating positions.
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Primary Seat and Screen Size
Last Updated: 10/10/2024
Setting up the seating arrangement in a home theater can be an iterative process involving decisions about row placement, how to fit in one or preferably two rows, and optimizing the field of view for each row. In this design, the primary seating position was determined to be the back row, and the front row may require compromises.
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When designing a seating plan for this 13-foot by 17-foot home theater, several trade-offs were considered:
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The trade-off of distance to the screen versus screen size to realize a reasonably immersive viewing experience.
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The screen size was also affected by the need for space on either side for speakers, leading to an assumed screen width of 8-9 feet for this theater. (Note: Rooms that place the speakers behind an acoustically transparent screen would not have this concern.)
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The acoustic properties of the seating location within the room are important. Ideally, seats should be placed where the room's frequency response is relatively even or flat, which usually means not adjacent to any walls or near the center of the room. A position one-third or two-thirds the room length from the screen is typically a good location.
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Practicality dictates that the row location should not obstruct access to any other seats in the room, necessitating 2-3-foot-wide walkways around the seats, including one inside the door and to one or both sides of any rows.
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In this room design, if a single row of seating were preferred, it could have been placed such that the viewer's ears were approximately 11 feet from the screen. However, the primary row was adjusted to 12 feet from the screen to accommodate a second row.
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Figure 1. Proposed Primary Seating Location
Another consideration is the listening area, which is the area of the room where listeners are to be positioned and expect a good audio experience. The red seats in Figure 1 indicate the listening area. A seat against the sidewall is not likely to result in great audio due to boundary effects caused by the wall.
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Next, whether there is enough space to add a row in front of the primary row should be confirmed.
More Seating - Second Row
Last Updated: 10/10/2024
After setting one row's location, the second row must be positioned far enough in front of the primary row to allow both rows to recline without interfering. This can be accomplished by placing the front row approximately 6 feet in front of the primary row.
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The diagram to the right indicates the viewer's seating distance. The back row is intended to be about 12 feet from the screen, while the front row is planned to be 6 feet away.
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There is sufficient physical space for this arrangement, but a question remains whether the seating distance for the front row will provide a satisfactory viewing experience. Sitting too close to the screen can be uncomfortable, yet sitting too far can diminish the immersive “theater experience."
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An aspect of adding a second row is that the listening area (assuming we want good sound for the front row) is now expanded to encompass the front row and most of the back row.
To reach a final decision on this setup, it is prudent to evaluate the field of view from each row to confirm that the positioning will provide a good experience.
Figure 2. Placing the Front Row in The Room