9.1.4 layout with 3 center speakers , left speaker and right speaker

[William Lemmerhirt]

I would agree that most HT's are below 20x20 in size. I don't believe most homes are/were built with extra rooms that size. Unless you were to find a house with an unfinished basement and design something yourself. Or build a home from scratch. You could also add-on to a house. I have seen pictures of people adding on structures to their house specifically for HT. I wouldn't say it's the most attractive looking structure from the outside..hahaha doesn't flow very well.

Good speakers, well placed acoustics, a solid projector with matching screen and a good processor will go a long way. You can save a lot of money by either building the theater yourself, making all the theater accessories and not spending an arm and leg for movie poster frames, special lighting, seats, cables, etc...

Also agreed! The unfinished basement seems to be the most likely place to build a quality home theater in a preexisting home. But like you, I’ve seen conversions and additions to accommodate them. Just depends on what you CAN and are willing to do. Hell, I’ve even seen people convert sheds and outbuildings into theaters to great effect!
But of course. Buying good quality equipment, and proper placement are the foundation of a great theater.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The sky is the limit…

That’s basically the point.

Whether it’s $500K or $5K, 40ft x 25ft or 20 x 15, many people like having a lot of speakers - whether it’s good or bad.

So it’s surprising to me that they’ve made AVR’s with 13 surround speakers, but only 3 main front speakers.

Heck, everyone keeps saying the CENTER channel is salient. So they gotta put their money where their mouth is and make ATMOS AVR’s with the OPTION of having 3 front MAIN CENTERS like SDDS.

Maybe that’s the NEXT chapter - SDDS. Or ATMOS-3C.

 

[Trebdp83]

Yeah, SDDS is dead and few of the movies that used it made use of all eight channels of the 5/2/.1 format. Theaters with five speakers across the front will need them to adjust for fixed height screens. Moves at 1:85:1 will bring curtains in and the LT and RT outer fronts won't be needed like they would be for 2:39:1 presentations. Not sure if upmixing is used for LTC and RTC or if they are off when using outer LT and RT in that case.