Building a new house!

[David Gaudreau]

Hey guys and gal's I'm building a new house and I need to know what would be the perfect size room and the perfect shape. Any Ideas? Please feel free and give me advice. So I can have something to give my builder.

Thanks

David G

 

[jaxvon]

Well, that depends on how much money in equipment you can drop into your dedicated HT room. That will determine the speakers you can buy, which will also determine the size of the room.

 

[Sheep]

How many people do you want to seat? How much money do you want to spend? How big can your speakers be (WAF)?

Many variables, we need the scoop.

RLA might know the best size room, give him a PM. Gene is just finishing a room (well house), maybe he knows a good size.

Sheepstar

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hey guys and gal's I'm building a new house and I need to know what would be the perfect size room and the perfect shape. Any Ideas? Please feel free and give me advice. So I can have something to give my builder.Thanks David G

One thing is for sure, you don't want a square room. If you want high quality reproduction, both video and audio, try to minimize windows and large opening. But, if this will be a multi use space, not very feasible. If you have windows, you want to have great light blocking capability, especially if you will have front projection video. Try to isolate from rest of house, if possible, to reduce sound transmission to other parts, especially the low frequency that is the most difficult to control. You may even want double walls?

 

[BMXTRIX]

How about floating a room within a room? This is one of the best ways to isolate the room from the rest of the house and to improve overall audio quality that I have heard of.

Takes a good bit of planning.

Throw in that you also should be thinking about the audio and video throughout the rest of your home as well so everything is wired up for use...

Yes, a square room is poor, but if you prep for a home theater, you can have the framing in square, then float a room inside the space about any shape you want.

 

[David Gaudreau]

I would like to have this room seat 11 people
3 rows 4-4-3
Here is my equipment list,

Front= Definitive BP7002
Center= Definitive CLR 2500
Side surrounds = Definitive BPVX
Rear surrounds = Definitive BPVX
Sub = Supercube reference
Receiver = Denon AVR-3806
DVD = Denon DVD-2910
projector = Sanyo PLV-Z4

Does this help

 

[bpape]

Well, lets do some quick math - assuming recliners.

3 ft from rear wall to back row
4-5' for each row = 12-15'
sit at about 40% of room length for first row so 15-18' = 60% of the length.

Room length is about 28-30'

Room Width:

4 seats wide, figure a minimum of 2-2.5' per seat so that's 8-10'.
Keep seats away from the walls and allow a minimum 30" walkway on each side (3' would be better) so that's about 16' minimum.

Height:

With three rows, you'll want 2 risers. Figure 8-10" for each riser (rough at 1' each for conversation) so a minimum of a 10' ceiling to leave you about 8' in the rear.

Ballpark size is now 16x28x10. If you want a BIG screen, you'll need to compensate accordingly to move the front row back for proper viewing angles so length will grow. If the room is 28' long, at 40% for first row, that puts this at about 11' back. That's about right for maybe a 110" or so screen (16:9).

Hope that helps.

Bryan

 

[Ethan Winer]

David,

> what would be the perfect size room and the perfect shape. <

Have a look at my Acoustics FAQ:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

In particular, see the section about room modes and also the sidebar that describes the ModeCalc program you can download for free. This program lets you easily try different dimensions and see the result on the room's response.

--Ethan

 

[Bryce_H]

I just finished my dedicated HT in the basement and did all the math for standing soundwaves and screen size (i.e. 30% horizontal viewing and 15% vertical viewing) and came up with the following

15'6 X 23 X 8'6

First row is about 12 ft back, second row is about 18 ft back. Second row on 10" riser. I have a spreadsheet that I got from a magazine that calculated everything. PM me and I try to remember and send it to you.

 

[majorloser]

Rough Estimate

Since you're thinking about a 4-4-3 configuration you need to consider what type of seating you will be using. Most of your dedicated electric home theater recliners will require about 30 inches of width each and at least 6 feet space for full reclining (feet hanging off the end).

With that said, 4 chairs wide at 30 inches = 10 feet plus add room on either side of at least 3 foot for aisles (x2) = 16 feet MINIMUM (20 feet to be safe)

With 3 rows of seating (I assume you want the back rows raised on stages) you'll need at least 18 feet of room for the chairs. If the seating you select does not recline this could be shorter.

For 3 rows of seating I would not go smaller than a 120" 16x9 screen. This screen would be about 60 inches in height. For high definition material they say the minimum distance is about 3 times screen height. The minimum distance to the first row seating would be 15 feet (60" x 3). Of course the distance is to the front row persons eyes, so you could subtract 3 feet to the front of the chair (12 feet).

12 feet + 18 feet = 30 foot long room

So you can see without considering any snack tables, speaker space on side walls or room decorations you'll need a room about 20 feet x 30 feet.

Now let's talk about ceiling height. With 3 rows of seating and the last two rows on 10 inch raised stages you'll need at least a 10 foot ceiling so a person standing on the back row stage is well below the ceiling and the projector mount.

Without taking into account any component area, wall thickness, room decoration or accoustic treatment the room I have figured here is 30 foot long X 20 foot wide X 10 foot high.

 

[jaxvon]

After looking at these proposed room sizes, I can guarantee you're going to need more sub than just one SuperCube. You might want to start thinking about SVS, or perhaps a Do-It-Yourself model, or another Supercube to supplement the bass.

Oh, and don't forget about tactile transducers! They'll add even more rumble to the low-bass experience

 

[David Gaudreau]

Okay,
Here is waht I can up with using a basic 3D Program. This is kinda what i'm
seeing in my head. Do you thing this room will sound good with the angled corners? See photos. Any comments please.

Thanks

 

[Sheep]

Okay,
Here is waht I can up with using a basic 3D Program. This is kinda what i'm
seeing in my head. Do you thing this room will sound good with the angled corners? See photos. Any comments please.

Thanks

I didn't know it was going to be outside! I keed I keed.

We can't give you any definate info until we have a budget.

Is that the eqiupment you have, or the stuff you want.


SheepStar

 

[David Gaudreau]

That is stuff I want. 12,000 Budget

 

[jaxvon]

Your budget is $12k for all electronics and theater equipment, correct? The furniture and building is separate?

 

[David Gaudreau]

Yes, 12,000 is just for all the gear

 

[mtrycrafts]

How about floating a room within a room? This is one of the best ways to isolate the room from the rest of the house and to improve overall audio quality that I have heard of.

Takes a good bit of planning.

Throw in that you also should be thinking about the audio and video throughout the rest of your home as well so everything is wired up for use...

Yes, a square room is poor, but if you prep for a home theater, you can have the framing in square, then float a room inside the space about any shape you want.

That is how the theater at Skywalker ranch is constructed. It was reviewed in Fine Home Building some time back. Had its own foundation as well. But, it is not cheap

 

[David Gaudreau]

So the shape of the room I made above is okay? It has angled corners.

 

[majorloser]

I see you added another chair in the back row. You're looking at QUITE a large room here. You might want to "kick up" your speaker and receiver selection. You have a lot of space to fill with sound. Definitely you'll need more subwoofer, you might even want to add another set of side surrounds. If not, the side surrounds should be about even with the middle row of seating.

Two little things:
>Make sure the decking for the seating is built solid (heavy)
>Think about adding accoustic treatment into the architecture.

The angled corners can help break up reflections. You could even place the towers behind false front in these corners to hide them. Also, you can add fake columns or wall treatments to cover side surrounds and break up reflections. They also look nice when you wire them for wall sconce lighting. If you are putting in electric chairs make sure you put floor recepticles in the decking. Don't want cords all over the place. Might even want to think about tactile subs for the seating. Don't need to buy it now but run the wiring in the deck (doesn't need to be great quality stuff) and to the component area. Save you the hassle later.

What size are you thinking about now? 25ft. X 30ft. or 30ft. x 30ft.?

My last note: You are going to EAT through $12K in equipment fast!

 

[Ethan Winer]

David,

> Do you thing this room will sound good with the angled corners? <

No, please do not do that! If you angle the corners you will remove the single best places to put bass traps. Leave the corners normal, then put bass traps there. If you like the look of angles, angle the side walls a bit so the room gets wider (and/or higher) toward the rear.

--Ethan