Advice on room layout please!

[gaja]

Hi I'm both new here and to home cimema - great forum!

I want to create a home cinema setup in my front room that will only be used for movies etc and will be as unobtrusive as poss. I am limited by the shape of my room and furniture and have come up with the following proposal;

The screen size will be roughly 2000mm x 1200mm and this fits with the distance to the projector and the projector I've got my eye on (Benq PE5120). The projector will be mounted on the ceiling.

My main concern is the viewing position and my dining table. As you can see the sofas face each other so to view the screen in the bay you will have to sit sideways or put your feet up. Is this bad?

The screen is not obscured by the dining table or chair backs but will they draw the eye and detract from the viewing?

Finally, the distance from the screen for the viewer will be appx 5500mm about 2000mm behind the projector, is this too far away?

Thanks

Gary

[davehk]

IMO your seating is a bit too far away to get the full cinema effect (assuming you like to site about 1/3 the way back in the cinema). I'm guessing that the overall length of your room is about 8m? I have a 92" diagonal 16:9 screen, which is 2030x1140, and I find around 4m is an ideal viewing distance.

Also, you need to thinkabot where you place your surround speakers if you have the sofas in that position.

I tend to move things around for a serious film evening.

[IronGiant]

Is there a good reason not to put the screen on the opposite wall?

Then watching with your feet up looks ideal. Or you could swivel 1 sofa through 90 degrees for movies if you wanted to sit.

Better yet, swivel them both through 90 degrees for that authentic "can't see a thing 'cos the bloke in front is too tall" full cinema experience Ok scratch the flippant remark

Dave

[gaja]

Thanks for the comments.

There are french doors and curtains etc on the opposite wall so mounting here would mean that the screen would have to be visible when not in use which is something I really wanted to avoid (in the bay it will be mounted on the back side of the drop beam and will be hidden).

I guess I could work out a removable mount for the screen that hooks over the curtain rail or something. Being distracted by the dining table shouldn't be a problem then either.

Anything else I need to consider?

[IronGiant]

Do the French doors go all the way up to the ceiling? Could you put in a pelmet (or a false one) to hide it behind? on that plan I'd definitely try and put the screen at the right hand end if at all possible.

Otherwise I have a cunning plan to completely reorganise your living space...
If I have time tonight I'll rework your picture with the idea.

Dave

[IronGiant]

I was thinking along the lines of this:
EDIT: assuming a ceiling mounted projector...

[davehk]

Originally Posted by Regmarch

I was thinking along the lines of this:
EDIT: assuming a ceiling mounted projector...

Now that's pretty much how mine is set up. For a serious movie session I move the table to across the back of the room and have two rows of seating