Heeman - Dedicated HT Room?

[Zing]

Keith, there is a lot of good information to be gleaned from this thread on S+V as it relates to your impending room build. The pictures have been removed but if you'd like to see them I can either email them or post them.

Also, my current room and your future room won't be terribly dissimilar in size. Batman, PaulyT and No-L are all forum members who have been in my room. I won't put anyone in an uncomfortable position so I encourage you to PM each of them and ask for their candid opinion on their time here. While I'm embarrassed about the current appearance of my room, I feel no shame whatsoever regarding its performance. My point being, small rooms can be made to sound good regardless of layout and orientation. This is the importance of the dedicated aspect I mentioned earlier.

 

[heeman]

Zing,

Thanks! I will comb through the 57 page thread from the old forum sometime over the weekend. I did look at the layout that John did for you and yes, I get the idea.

Pictures please!

Your current room, with the swans, if I recall is long and narrow and open at the back???

My door configuration in my current 12' 6" x 11' x 8' kills me with speaker placement if I use the 11' as the depth.

More to follow...................

Participation Please!

Keith

 

[Batman]

I don't know the floor plan in relation to the house, but my initial impulse is to advise you to go with the larger room if you can swing it. Either will be a fairly large expenditure, but nothing sucks more than to shell out a ton of cash and NOT be happy. Over the long-term you'll probably be better off and happier. But as others have stated you can make either set-up work. If you feel you will be putting the room to good use, then the more I say it is worth putting everything you can within reason into it and don't look back or you WILL have regrets. As far as room use, I'm quite the opposite of Jammy, in that I have ample opportunities (nearly on a nightly basis) to fire up my system. I go out of my way to use it because of all the hard work and effort I put into it... I do understand that everybody's situation is different.

 

[heeman]

My suggestion, which was lost in my previous post, is to make the room the best you can, within your budget, for the 2 of you (99% of the viewing). If more people are needed, cram some folding chairs in there....but I wouldn't drop a lot of extra money, or sacrifice audio quality, for 1% of the time.

I did hear that loud and clear and appreciate your input!

 

[heeman]

I don't know the floor plan in relation to the house, but my initial impulse is to advise you to go with the larger room if you can swing it. Either will be a fairly large expenditure, but nothing sucks more than to shell out a ton of cash and NOT be happy. Over the long-term you'll probably be better off and happier. But as others have stated you can make either set-up work. If you feel you will be putting the room to good use, then the more I say it is worth putting everything you can within reason into it and don't look back or you WILL have regrets. As far as room use, I'm quite the opposite of Jammy, in that I have ample opportunities (nearly on a nightly basis) to fire up my system. I go out of my way to use it because of all the hard work and effort I put into it... I do understand that everybody's situation is different.

I will be studying the structural and cosmetic aspects of the 12' 7" option tomorrow with an architect business friend of mine. This particular room is in the front-hand right portion of our home looking at it from the road.

The 11' option is at the left-rear and has less cosmetic impact with roof-lines and from what I can see, structure. Who know's Mario (architect) may see something that we don't see............

Stay Tuned!!

 

[heeman]

Does an 2.5' jog on the right hand wall looking at the screen, 8' back from the screen wall on the right hand side hurt or help?

This is not symmetrical, so may not have a positive effect on audio.....not sure.

I drew this in Excel, however do not know how to attach the file.

 

[heeman]

How does the overall depth of the room impact the sound.

This is what I am thinking and I think a lot these days about this........obsessive.

To go deep does not impact my overall cost like trying to modify the front room, so if the 11' x 12.5' is the back of my room and I make the addition 13.5' wide by 11' or 12', does this help me significantly?

In other words the room would be 23.5' - 24.5' long with the front (screen section) 13.5' wide and behind that 11' wide.

So the screen would be on a 13.5' wall and that will go back 11 or 12', then it will narrow to 11'.

Impact to the overall effect? Good or Bad??

 

[Towen7]

A lack of depth ( or just sitting close to a wall behind you ) means that you will have to deal with reflected sound from behind your head. Like any reflection it can muddy the sound but can also contribute to a "confined" feeling. You can treat the room with difusors and/or absorbers.

 

[heeman]

So if I increase the dept of the room to have a front portion of 13.5' wide x 11' deep and behind that a 11' wide x 12.5 deep, the extra total depth of the room should be a benefit.

In other words the total depth of the room will be 23.5' deep.

 

[jamhead]

Sitting too close to the rear wall can present bass problems as well, so absorption would be required...4 or 6" panels would help. Diffusion is good on the rear wall when you sit away from it (over 5 feet or so).

 

[Towen7]

Yes. I believe that the added total depth word be a benefit. You introduce a little corner or two where the room transitions from 13.5 to 11, but the net result should still be beneficial.

 

[CMonster]

Chuck,

Thanks for your participation in my thread!

...

One way or another, there will be a dedicated room.

Sounds like you have project going on or will start one soon! Good luck!

Keith

I think we need to make a return trip to Arkansas to kick yromj in the balls and loot his wallet since I'm guessing his HT was the catalyst for our respective projects...

 

[Zing]

Zing,

Thanks! I will comb through the 57 page thread from the old forum sometime over the weekend. I did look at the layout that John did for you and yes, I get the idea.

Pictures please!

Your current room, with the swans, if I recall is long and narrow and open at the back???

My door configuration in my current 12' 6" x 11' x 8' kills me with speaker placement if I use the 11' as the depth.

As you can see, this room was made for just 2 people. I used to call it my Personal Theater. Even rotating it and using the narrower dimension for the depth of the room, I was able to keep the seating just over three feet from the rear wall, which put me about seven feet from the 65" screen.

All things considered, to this day I miss the hell out of this room.

Yes, my current room (which is 11.25'W x 18.25'L x 8.5'H) has a four or five foot opening on the rear wall (where this pic was taken from). On top of that, I have a six or seven foot opening on the right wall.

 

[mzpro5]

First chance to really read this thread. There are many here that are more knowledgable but the one thing Ivan contribute is the 90 degree flip suggested by some could be a good idea. When I first did the LR setup I was hung up on using the length of the room for determing viewing thus my ridiculous setup of covering the fireplace. Sound was pretty good.

But then I changed it to utilize the width of the room. Viewing was not effected but there was a great improvement in SQ. Setting the room up w"width wise" it is definitely worth considering in my humble opinion.

 

[heeman]

Okay, my architect friend was over last night for dinner and drinks and to review the add on options for the dedicated HT Room.

Just as I thought, it will be very involved and expensive to add on to the front bedroom (the 12' 7" room).

The 11' wide office will be the easiest and inexpensive way to go.

We are set on putting the screen on the 11' wall.

So now there are a couple of options.

The current room is 12' 6", how long should the addition be? We were thinking since the room is narrow we will need space at the back of the room for CD/BR storage. The narrowness does not allow us to have these at the sides were there is seating.

We are thinking to add a minimum of 11', that will give us a total room dept of 23.5'.

To Jog or not to Jog? Are there big advantages to jog out the addition with width? Should be make the addition 13 or 13.5' wide and 11' deep. This will put the screen on a 13 ish wall, however the back half of the room will be 11 x 12.5??? To build this was does not have a major impact on cost.

 

[Towen7]

How will the added width be done? Will there narrow back half be centered on the wider front half, or be set to one side?

 

[Zing]

Considering this is right up his alley, Flint has been suspiciously absent in this thread. Until he chimes in with his knowledge of proper room ratios, I'll say that you should likely be guided by prime numbers. An 11-foot width is a good start. So your length should be 17, 19 or 23 feet. The height is going to be a stickler because in keeping with the prime number theory, you'd then want a 7-foot ceiling.

As for the jog, I'm certain that will impact the sound, I'm just not certain to what degree nor whether it will be a positive or negative impact. If you have to have it, I might suggest rounding the outside corners. I don't mean a 1-inch radius bullnose either. I'm talking 6 or 8-inch hand-made radius.

 

[heeman]

If I understand your question correctly............

The Screen will be centered on the front 13' wall. The front row will be centered with the screen and the room and the back row will be in the narrow back section of the room, however centered with the screen.

The left hand side of the room facing the screen will be 23' long. The screen wall will be 13'. The front right wall will be 11'. Then there will be a jog in, 2.5' and the back right wall will be 12.5'.

So the back part of the room will be 11' x 12.5' (this is the existing room) and the front part will be 13' wide and 11' deep.

I hate typed words for things like this.... :angry-tappingfoot:

 

[Zing]

I hate typed words for things like this.... :angry-tappingfoot:

Yeah, they're making my head hurt trying to "see" it. Can't you whip up something in MS Paint like this? It doesn't have to be AutoCAD quality, just something to visualize better.

 

[heeman]

I am trying to attach an excel drawing and it tells me that the xlsx is not allowed.

Any ideas?