Shaira Kate P.

Calderon
BS ARCH
Home Theater

Optimizing the room

A quick acoustical test: clap your hands. Do you hear "ringing" afterward? That means your
room is "live," reflecting too much sound, which can spoil the surround effects.

You can do a few things to help:

 If you have hardwood floors, try placing some area rugs directly in front of the speakers.
 Close the drapes when you're watching or listening.
 Use bookshelves — with books — to help tame reflections.
 Set up a clear line of sight from speakers to listening seats.
 Have some people over. Physically speaking, we're great absorbers.

If you're lucky enough to have a room dedicated to your home theater, you have a lot more
control:

 Balance hard and soft surfaces; for example, compensate for a hard ceiling with a
carpeted floor.
 Pull your front speakers further into the room than your TV.
 Experiment further with speaker placement.

Consider specialized room-tuning components, such as wall diffusers and bass absorbers.
Although most are not visually attractive, they can work wonders for your sound.

Types of home theater audio systems

There are four basic types of home theater audio systems:

 Home-theater-in-a-box system: Usually five surround sound speakers, a subwoofer, and

a disc player/amplifier. These are sold together as one unit and include all wiring.
 Sound bar: A long, thin bar containing several loudspeaker drivers. Many models include
a separate, usually wireless, subwoofer.
 Component system: An audio/video receiver, speakers, and any source components
(such as a disc player).
 Component separates: Component systems that replace the receiver with a separate
preamplifier/processor and power amplifiers.
Traditional surround sound setups

Typical surround sound setups have either 5.1 or 7.1 channels. A 5.1 system has left, right, and
center speakers in front, with left and right surround speakers. 

A 7.1 system adds left and right rear surround speakers. The ".1" in these designations is for a
subwoofer (sometimes called the low-frequency effects, or LFE, speaker) for the lowest bass.
Our speaker setup guide has all the details on placement.   

Building a home theater room can often be the true endpoint of home remodeling. Once you
have concluded the more utilitarian work of fixing windows and installing floors, it's time to
reach deeper into the bank account and lavish attention on your entertainment needs. After all,
who doesn't need a home movie theater room?

But a home theater room is more than just a sofa and a screen. Certain requirements, like
controlling outside light and the ability to cast a large enough picture, should be met in order to
call this a proper home movie theater. Requirements apply both to video projectors and
screens as well as to large, flat-screen TVs. 

 01 of 15

Locate the Home Theater Room in a Dedicated Space

A dedicated home theater room is a room solely dedicated to watching videos on a big
screen. This means that little else happens in that home theater except for screening-
related activities. And today, screening means far more than it ever did, with streaming
services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, BluRay movies, video gaming, and
conventional cable TV.  

When the home theater shares space with other activities, the cinematic experience is
lessened. When the non-dedicated home theater shares open floor plan space with the
kitchen, cooking sounds and smells invade. When the theater is the living room, kids run
around and light is difficult to control. 

Spare bedrooms work fine, but they do need to be long enough so that viewers can
maintain a proper distance from the screen. This is especially important with video
projectors. At the extreme end, a projector needs roughly a 14-foot throw distance in
order to cast a 150-inch diagonal picture, though short-throw projectors are available.

 02 of 15

Control the Ambient Light

 Ambient light means light from sources outside of the theater, such as from other
rooms or through windows. With most home remodeling, you're always trying to add
more natural light. Home theaters are spaces where you want to limit ambient light,
whether natural outdoor light or light from other rooms. Light-bleed kills video
projection images and it even makes flat-screen viewing less than enjoyable. On the
video projector side, you will need a projector with a high lumens rating if you have
some ambient light that you cannot control. But the best way to deal with ambient light
is simply to stop it before it starts, by choosing a space that already has little light, such a
basement. If you cannot do this, limit the light with light-blocking curtains and shades.  

 03 of 15

Control the Ambient Sound

Ambient sound is the unwanted sound coming from outside of your home theater. Even
if you do manage to find a dedicated space for your home theater, sounds from outside
of that space often ruin the viewing experience. Dishwasher, kids in other rooms,
kitchen noises, plumbing noises, and sounds from outside the house are just a few
examples of ambient sounds that can crash in and destroy your home theater's audio.

Establishing a dedicated space is the first step to controlling outside noise. But you do
need to take it a few steps beyond that:

o Soundproof your room by adding a second layer of drywall or replacing it with a

special sound-reducing wallboard like QuietRock.

o Replacing your hollow-core doors with solid doors also goes a long ways toward
soundproofing your home cinema.

o If you do have windows in your home theater, put up thicker curtains that both
block light and absorb sound.

 04 of 15

Build a Proper A/V Component Rack

The audio-visual component rack, or A/V rack, is the central point for your source
components. Consider the A/V rack to be the central brain that controls all
entertainment-related activities in the theater.

Source components such as a BluRay player, cable box, network media streaming box
(like Roku), and home theater tuner will operate from here. This should be located near
an electric outlet and you should be able to bring in an Internet source wire. 
 05 of 15

Properly Ventilate the A/V Rack

The A/V component rack should be well-ventilated since components create heat and
can be damaged if the heat build-up is excessive. Metal A/V racks are available for
purchase that are open-air in front and back. You can build your own A/V rack, as well.
The rack needs to be sturdy enough to hold the electronics. It also should be open in
front, back, and even the sides, if possible. Finally, using metal grid as a platform for the
electronic devices will help promote ventilation.

 06 of 15

Make the Home Theater Look Like a Cinema

What is your vision of a home theater? For some homeowners, it's the classic movie
theater with red velvet walls, sconce lights, tiered seating, and a popcorn maker. For
others, it's a drastically scaled-down version of this. And for another group of people
who didn't grow up going to movie theaters, it might mean something completely
different. 

Older commercial theaters have sloped floors and contemporary ones have elaborate,
steeply tiered seating. Home cinema seat tiering is relatively simple to build with a
framework of joists of two-by-six or two-by-eight boards set on edge. Half-inch interior
grade plywood forms the top, and carpeting goes on top of the plywood.

 07 of 15

Plan a Robust, Flexible Lighting System

Cinema light control means the ability to turn lights on and off or to graduate that light
within the cinema space. Soffits, rope lights, dimmers, and recessed lights form the
backbone of many owner-built home theaters. Soffits are long trays near the ceiling that
run around the room's perimeter and are often inlaid with rope lights. Additionally,
small recessed lights may be added to the bottoms of the soffits or in the ceiling to shine
downward to form the classic home theater look. Try to keep the majority of these
lights behind the viewer to avoid degrading the viewing experience.

 08 of 15

Limit Reflective Objects

Anything that isn't the screen itself and which reflects light back at the viewer should be
minimized or avoided. This means that your paint should be kept to flatter sheens,
 preferably matte or flat. Shiny doorknobs, hinges, light fixtures, recessed light trim kits,
countertops, and fireplace inserts should all be avoided in the crucial zone between the
screen and the viewer. If you do have reflective objects, consider reducing their
shininess by spray-painting them with dark-colored matte paint.

 09 of 15

Plan for Proper Viewing and Seating

No one in the theater should have their view of the screen blocked or be too close or
too far away. Tiered seating is a true luxury and one that can only be accomplished in a
dedicated cinema space. The problem of blockage is solved by raising rear seats on a
platform. Even a modest 6-inch boost can be enough to clear the sight lines.

Distance from the screen is determined by room size in conjunction with the size of the
picture you want to display. For flat-screen TVs, your small converted bedroom space
might be able to accommodate up to a 55-inch screen before the closest row of viewers
begins to feel overwhelmed.  

Seating does not need to be specialty home theater seats costing thousands. Any
comfortable seat that faces forward, without a high back to obstruct viewers behind
you, will do the job.

 10 of 15

Control Sound Within the Home Theater

Home theater audio bounces around the walls, ceiling, and flooring. Limiting that
bounce is key to achieving perfect home theater sound.

o Even if wall-to-wall carpeting isn't your thing, you'll love it for your home theater
since it reduces audio-bounce.

o Draperies and other soft materials can be installed on the walls.

o Soft, cushiony seating absorbs sound better than furniture with hard elements.

 11 of 15

Plan for the Flow of Signals

Your entertainment experience depends on the flow of data. This data is carried by
wires and through the air.
 The days of the entirely self-contained home theater are gone. You may retain your
BluRay player to show disks. In fact, since few of the older shows are being transmitted
in 4K or HD streaming formats, the only way to see them in crystal-clear resolution is on
BluRay.

Still, more and more entertainment is delivered through hard-wired connections and wi-
fi signals. Wires need to be hidden as much as possible. Wires that extend to the front
and sides of the home theater can be hidden in the soffits. Some home theater audio
systems throw signals to the speakers wirelessly.

 12 of 15

Add a Drop-Down Movie Screen

If you have a video projector, one perk is that you can tuck the screen away when you
are finished watching your show. Flatscreen TVs, on the other hand, cannot be hidden
away.

Movie screens can be manually lowered and raised. Or you can invest in an electric
movie screen that lowers and raises at the touch of a button.

 13 of 15

Keep Your Home Theater Room Simple

Avoid the temptation to load up your home theater with curios and tchotchkes near the
screen. You may have purchased those movie posters at auction and want to display
them, but they are only a distraction when they are mounted near the screen. Instead,
keep them behind the viewers.

 14 of 15

Suspend the Projector

To protect your expensive video projector purchase, suspend it from the ceiling rather
than place it on a flat surface. Generic suspension kits are available that attach to most
video projectors. One benefit of suspending, too, is that many suspension kits have a
lock and key that allow you to keep the projector safe from theft.

 15 of 15

Use a Dark Paint for Walls and Ceiling

 Home theater lighting can be controlled by using a dark-colored paint for the walls.
Home theaters even benefit from darker ceilings near the screen. White is usually the
color recommended for ceilings because it reflects maximum light. But in home
theaters, light reflection is not desirable. So, consider toning down the color of the
ceiling with a gray or another neutral paint color.

Decide What Type Of Screen

Step one is deciding which of the two aspect ratios you want for your home theater. The two
aspect ratios are 16:9 and 2.40. For most people, it's going to be a 16:9 aspect ratio. This does
mean that you’ll see some black bars on a widescreen movie, but all flat panel TV’s and the
good majority of front projectors are a 16:9 aspect ratio. For more information on what
widescreen is all about and why you want it if you are building a high-performance theater,
check out our article Widescreen Explained.

Get Out Your Tape Measure

The next step is to measure the distance from the screen to your main seating position. If you
have the ability to change your seating position, this is good, you might move closer to the
screen for what feels like a larger image. Make a note of your distance and get out a calculator.

We suspect you already know your personal preference of where you like to sit in a movie
theater, that is if you had your choice of exactly where the distance felt great to your eyes. We
find that a lot of people choose the middle of the theater, while a smaller group likes to sit
closer to the front row. We’ll go over the math for both of these choices.

If you like to sit near the middle row in a commercial theater, for a 16:9 ratio screen, most
people feel a 30-degree field of vision is perfect. For 2.40 widescreen, a 42-degree field of vision
is chosen most of the time.
For those of you who like to get closer to the front row, a 36-degree field of vision is the best
choice for 16:9 and a 48 degree for a 2.40 screen will be awesome. We are actually in this camp
for our personal theaters as we feel this size gives you a more immersive experience.

Do the Math

So how do you use this to figure out your ideal screen size? Well, rather than make you go back
to 10th grade geometry, we did the math for you.

If You Like Viewing in the Middle Row

For a 16:9 screen and a 30 degree field of vision, simply take the distance you will sit from the
screen in inches and multiply it by .6723 to get the screen diagonal. In this example, if you are
sitting 7 feet away from the screen the formula looks like this. Translate the 7 feet to inches,
which gets you 84. Multiply 84 times .6723 which equals 56.47, so in that situation, a 55”
diagonal” TV would be great. At 12 feet (144”) it would be 144 times .6723 which equals 96.81
inches so a 92-100” sized screen would be good at that distance.

For 2.40 widescreen, you use .83 as the multiplier. In this example, if you were sitting 10 feet
from the screen a 99.6” diagonal 2.40 screen would be perfect.
 84 x .6723 = 56.47
55" is ideal for 30-degree viewing angle

30 degree field of vision

If you Like Viewing Towards the Front Row

To get a 36-degree field of vision with a 16:9 screen use your distance from the screen, convert
it to inches and multiply it times .746 to get the suggested diagonal size. For example: if you
were 84” away from the screen you would multiply 84 times .746 which equals 83.25” so an 82-
85” screen would be great for you.

With a 2.40 screen to achieve a 48-degree viewing angle, it's your distance times .963. This
means if you were 10 feet away from the screen multiply 120 times .963 which equals about
115” for the 2.40 diagonal size.

Audio Advice Tip: Once you have done the math to figure out the ideal screen size, get some
painters tape and tape out what the screen or projected image size will be to see how it will
feel to you.
Bigger is Better

As you can see, to get that immersive theater experience, the screen needs to be pretty large.
This is why most people opt for a front projector over a flat panel TV when they are sitting more
than about 12’ away as when you go over 85” for a flat panel they get quite expensive.

As projector technology has improved it is easier to go with larger projector screen sizes. The
one caveat about a front projector is that you do need to think about its light output as you go
really large. Some projectors are not capable of lighting up a 2.40 screen larger than a 150”
diagonal.

Summary

 4K has made bigger screens more popular

 You can find your ideal screen size by referencing where you like to sit in a movie
theater
 You can use a tape measure and calculator to see the results.
 Bigger is usually better for an immersive home theater experience
CONCEPTS

Most likely, you know where you'll locate your set-up. It might be the main living area, a spare
bedroom or a basement movie palace complete with a popcorn machine. While each of these
spaces has special considerations in terms of comfort and sound quality, there are many
common factors.

• Room shape. Square rooms tend to produce odd harmonic distortions. If you have the choice,
opt for a rectangular room, and plan to place your display screen and main speakers along a
short wall for best sound projection.

• Windows. The fewer, the better. Windows are a double bugaboo: They're hard surfaces that
reflect sound-causing audio distortion, and they admit light that can produce reflections on
your viewing surface.

Heavy curtains and shades help, but that means closing blinds or drapes every time you turn on
your home theater system. If you must, opt for blackout-style window treatments that track
tight against window jambs to seal out light.

• Walls. If you're tempted to staple inverted egg cartons all over your walls to muffle sound,
relax. Regular drywall is a decent surface appropriate for home theater walls. However, break
up large flat surfaces with furniture or drapes. Don't add framed art with glass — it's too
reflective of sound and light.

Concrete or concrete block is simply a no-no. If you're setting up in a basement with concrete
walls, consider installing studs and drywall.

Other options include acoustic wall panels designed specifically for home theaters. These
panels are called "sound absorption" panels, and they help modulate low and high frequencies,
preventing echoes. Panels come as 1' x 1' or 2' x 2' squares costing $4 to $20 per square foot.

At $2 to $4, peel-and-stick carpet tiles are the budget-minded alternative. You just don't want
to end up with a room that looks like Lloyd and Harry's shaggy van from Dumb and Dumber.

Remember sound abatement cuts both ways. Controlling the sound in your home theater room
means peace and quiet for the rest of your house.

• Flooring. Wall-to-wall carpet, with a new cushy pad underneath, absorbs ambient sound and
contributes to coziness. Kids like to sprawl on the floor to watch stuff, and you never know
when some romantic comedies might get you and a loved one rolling on the carpet. With
laughter, of course.
• Wall/room color. Paint your walls as dark as you can stand them: Bright colors reflect light
that's especially distracting when there's a brightly lit scene on the screen. Stay away from gloss
or semi-gloss sheens, choosing reflection-fighting eggshell or flat paint instead.

Go with neutral browns, tans and olive. Stronger colors, such as red and blue, will give an odd
cast to any ambient light and may affect the colors you see on your screen.

The Sound

iStock

This striking media room features sloping red chairs and burnt orange walls.

Speaker technology is wonderfully advanced, and competition among top speaker

manufacturers has helped turn home theater sound reproduction into a fine art. Which means
a system you choose for your home theater is likely to be of very high quality.

Most home theater speaker systems (and movie soundtracks) are designed to provide specific
sounds from specific areas of your listening environment. When a train goes thundering
through a scene, you hear the sound move from one side to the other. However, speakers
labeled as bipole or dipole aren't compatible with this essential feature of home theater, so
check before you buy.

• Speaker placement. A typical home theater features 5.1 surround sound, meaning there are
five full-range speakers and one low-range specialist, the woofer. You'll place three speakers
and the woofer toward the front of the room, and the two remaining speakers on either side
and slightly behind your viewing position. Keep speakers at least 20 inches from walls.

Let's not forget that each room is unique, and the best sound for you may come only after
experimenting with speaker placement. Fortunately, speakers are moveable.

• Ideal distance. In a perfect world, your ears would be equidistant from each speaker. Given
that your ears are on opposite sides of your head, it's safe to say you won't ever achieve this
kind of perfection. Nevertheless, come as close to the goal as you can.

Some speakers — certainly your woofer — will have individual volume controls you can tweak.
More sophisticated speakers provide millisecond adjustments, called delays, that time sound
projection from each speaker so that everything arrives in your ears at precisely the same
instant, a handy feature for large rooms with speakers at various distances.

Audioholics Online A/V Magazine even gives a formula: a 1 millisecond delay equates to 1.1 feet
of distance. A speaker 5.5 more feet away from your head than your other speakers would
require an advance setting of 5 milliseconds.

• Playing center field. Of all your speakers, your center front speaker is perhaps the most
influential. It bears the responsibility of projecting sound directly from the screen. This is
especially important for dialogue — you don't want to see the actors talking in front of you
while the sound of their voices is coming from the side.

Sometimes overshadowed by a pair of sexy tower speakers flanking it, the center speaker
shouldn't be downgraded in your home theater budget. Spend time adjusting your center
speaker so that dialogue seems to come directly from your display.

• Woof, woof. Your woofer goes up front, but there's only one, so you have to decide which
side. The low bass ranges reproduced by a woofer will permeate the room, so angle is less
important than with other speakers. A corner location helps distribute your woofer's sound
evenly but, as with all components, experiment with different positions before settling on the
ideal location.

Viewing
iStock

The crown jewel of any home theater set-up is a high-definition display screen. The temptation
is to equate size with increased viewing pleasure, but there are limits. You want an immersive
experience, but not a display so big you're swinging your head from side to side in an effort to
take in all the action. You're looking for the right combination of display size and viewing angle.

Optimum angle. HDTV manufacturers and home theater experts place the best viewing angle
between 30 to 40 degrees. Meaning, if you would draw a triangle from the edges of the display
to your nose, the angle of the apex (the angle that points at your head) would be 30 to 40
degrees. This lets you take in all the action with minimal, comfortable eye movement.

Note that if you stay the same distance from your display but move off to the side, the viewing
angle gets narrower. If you plan to have multiple seating, make sure all chairs have an optimum
viewing angle.

Optimum distance. Ideal viewing angle can be expressed simply as distance, too, usually 1.5 to
2.5 times the diagonal width of your screen. That means you should sit no closer than 7.5 feet
from a 60-inch-wide TV, and no more than 12.5 feet away. A viewing distance calculator can
help when math skills falter.
This formula works in reverse, too. If you know your viewing distance — say it's 8 feet — then
you can select an optimum display size. Eight feet is 96 inches. Divide by 2 (a nice round
average of 1.5 and 2.5) and you'll get 48 inches. So a good HDTV display for your viewing
distance would be about 48 inches wide (measured diagonally).

Viewing height. The best viewing height is to have the center of the display screen at eye level.
While that might seem elemental, some folks are tempted to elevate the display so that it lords
above their theater set-up. If you do elevate your display, tilt it so that it faces your seating
area. If your seats recline so that you're square to the display, so much the better.

And don't forget to elevate your center speaker, too. When Bogart says, "Here's looking at you,
kid," you don't want it to seem as if he's talking out of the side of his mouth.
DIMENSIONS OF MATERIALS
MATERIALS

EastPoint Sports Masterton Billiard Pool

Table Epson Home Cinema 3800 set

Mizerak Donovan II 8' Billiard Table

opto
ma projector screen

Cr
oydon Leather 4 Seater Modular Recliner
Home Theatre Sofa
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