How would you set up this small theatre room?

[wakeboardandy]

Hi,

This is my first post and hopefully first of many as this looks like a great forum.

I am building a house down here in Australia and have managed to squeeze in a small theatre room (a small theatre room is better than no theatre room! ).

My room will be 4.140m long and 3m wide (13.58x9.84 feet). North is to the top. There is one small window on the east side that I will block out. I put sliding doors at the back of the room so I could have the seating as far back as possible as I will put the screen on the south side.

I plan to have a 7.1 setup and am not really sure about which projector I should get but a decent quality 1080p like a sanyo z3000 or similar.

For seating I am thinking of either two sofa chairs at the back of the room just off centre so you can walk in to the room between the chairs. Or a 3 seater home theatre recliner (but then it would have to be about 80cm into the room so you could walk around it to get into the room). What do you guys think?

And as far as screen size goes, I worked out 100inch gives a pretty good viewing angle from the main seating location but if put some bean bags in front of them or some cheaper ikea chairs (poang ones.. not sure if you guys have them over there) then the viewing angle might be too large for them.

Anyway I appreciate any advice given to me as house has not started construction (hopefully in the next week or so), so will also love any advice on prewiring.

Below is a picture of my theatre room from the house plan.

Cheers,
Andy

[The Prof.]

Hi Andy and welcome...

Originally Posted by wakeboardandy

I plan to have a 7.1 setup and am not really sure about which projector I should get but a decent quality 1080p like a sanyo z3000 or similar.

A 7.1 set up is not necessary in that size room..
Get a 7.1 AVR by all means, but use it as a 5.1 system..

My cinema room is 15' long, and I only use 5.1 and it sounds fine..

For seating I am thinking of either two sofa chairs at the back of the room just off centre so you can walk in to the room between the chairs. Or a 3 seater home theatre recliner

A 3 seater across the room probably won't leave any walkway, so I would go with the 2 seats..

And as far as screen size goes, I worked out 100inch gives a pretty good viewing angle from the main seating location but if put some bean bags in front of them or some cheaper ikea chairs (poang ones.. not sure if you guys have them over there) then the viewing angle might be too large for them.

A 100" screen is going to be really big in that size room..
One of the problems with such a size screen is going to be speaker location..
If you're planning on having L&R speakers at the side of the screen, then they are going to be very close to the corners of the room..Not a good location..
If you have them under the screen, then you will have more room to keep them out of the corners..and be able to use that size screen..

Anyway I appreciate any advice given to me as house has not started construction (hopefully in the next week or so), so will also love any advice on prewiring.

Any chance of making the room a bit bigger?

[wakeboardandy]

Thanks prof for your reply.

My speakers are 1m high.. which is just over 3 feet in the old language. I'm not sure how high my screen would be off the ground for a 3.9m viewing distance. I would think it would be at least 1m.

Also a calculator I did online showed that for 3.9m viewing distance I should have at least a 94inch screen based on SMTPE recommendations. THX recommends at least 114inch but that would be wider than the room!

So maybe 100inch might be the way to go with speakers underneath.

And no I can't make the room any bigger.. I wish I could but that is all that can fit ... but it does make me feel better seeing people on here with 3mx2m 10feetx8feet theatre rooms!

Also I have bought a 7.1 setup so I might as well use it, even if it isn't effective in that size room

[ashcurrie]

Hey Andy,

Looks good, I think you have got things pretty much spot on. Our rooms are pretty much exactly the same size. Check out my build thread to see what i have done which is fairly similar to what you are planning.

I went for a 104" 2.35:1 screen. Works beautifully in that size of room for viewing distance. I have placed my speakers underneath the screen due to width restrictions as well and it works fine.

I went for 5.1 as it is a rather small space but also because i am stand mounting my speakers so I didn't want to clutter the floor space. So it would prob be an idea to just wall mount your rear speakers if you can.

I placed my equipment in the back of the room in a tall cabinet and that works fine.

I think a two seater sofa would be be recliner of course That is eventually what I plan to use, at the moment I have to single seaters and I don't really like the look of them being separated but thats my own preference have a look and see what you think!

It's exciting stuff!!!

[wakeboardandy]

Thanks Ash,

Just checked out your room and it looks awesome. I would love a scope screen but didn't want to spend a fortune on anamorphic lens.

What is your viewing distance from your chairs to the screen?

Due to my doors being at the back of the room I was going to just put the equipment under the screen as I probably don't have room at the back.

Cheers,
Andy

[ashcurrie]

Well man with the Panasonic PT-AE3000 you don't need an anamorphic lens because it has a motorised lens and memory function built into it meaning you can enjoy both 2.35:1 and 16:9 content at just the touch of a button. Although remember you will have black bars either side of the screen when watching 16:9 content however i rarely do so i don't mind It's an awesome option when you don't have huge a amount of money to use on an additional lens and scalers!

What are the prices like over there in Aus for projectors?

My seats are sitting around 3.5m, which makes the screen feel really immersive but not too big to become over powering!

Sounds like a good plan to have a cabinet at the front then, you could possibly integrate the centre speaker into it or just set it on top.

What speakers did you go for? What is the rest of your kit list looking like?

[The Prof.]

Originally Posted by wakeboardandy

Thanks Ash,
Just checked out your room and it looks awesome. I would love a scope screen but didn't want to spend a fortune on anamorphic lens.

Andy,

A scope screen would be ideal for your room..
Since your screen is going to be about a metre above floor level, to accommodate your speakers, a 16:9 screen is going to very high up on the wall..
The lower profile scope screen will give you less height to the top of the screen..

The projector Ash mentioned is a simple way of providing 2.35:1 full screen images, but I think you'll find that's it's more expensive than the Sanyo..if it's even available in Australia..

Mark Techer of CAVX makes a very fine anamorphic lens (which I have myself) and he's based in Queensland..
They currently sell for about $600.00 AUD..

Due to my doors being at the back of the room I was going to just put the equipment under the screen as I probably don't have room at the back.

That's how I had my equipment set up originally, but I've now moved all the gear into another room, and use IR extenders..

This is my front screen wall..There is a door at the bottom left where the equipment used to be..
The room is only about 6 inches wider than yours..
That's a 106" scope screen..

[ashcurrie]

looks like 2.35:1 it is andy lol

[wakeboardandy]

I didn't know there were projectors that could do scope without any extra lens... The same PJ as yours is $5400 here which is about 2400pounds in your money.. How much did it set you back?

I have a Yamaha 863 and Yamaha speakers (EF series. NS 555 for fronts. NS-444 for centre. And NS-333 for the 4 rears). Also a Yamaha YST-RSW300 for the sub. And then I have a PS3 for blu-ray and Foxtel IQ (HD pay tv box).

My viewing distance will be about 3.9m so that size screen might be a good size.. what size is your screen when it is in 16:9?

[ashcurrie]

Originally Posted by wakeboardandy

I didn't know there were projectors that could do scope without any extra lens... The same PJ as yours is $5400 here which is about 2400pounds in your money.. How much did it set you back?

I have a Yamaha 863 and Yamaha speakers (EF series. NS 555 for fronts. NS-444 for centre. And NS-333 for the 4 rears). Also a Yamaha YST-RSW300 for the sub. And then I have a PS3 for blu-ray and Foxtel IQ (HD pay tv box).

My viewing distance will be about 3.9m so that size screen might be a good size.. what size is your screen when it is in 16:9?

I got mine for £2000 which was a decent deal (bit of haggling), they retail for around £2200 so its a little bit cheaper in the uk. But i think it is definitely worth it, especially when you compare that to the cost of an anamorphic lens!! and what PROF says makes sense allowing you to lower your screen.

You would then get a 16:9 image just over 80" roughly, which i think for HDTV viewing and gaming ain't to bad but the set-up will really shine when watching movies

[The Prof.]

Originally Posted by wakeboardandy

I didn't know there were projectors that could do scope without any extra lens..

It's not anamorphic scope..
All that the Panasonic projector is doing is zooming the lens to preset aspect ratio's, at the press of a button..

My viewing distance will be about 3.9m so that size screen might be a good size.. what size is your screen when it is in 16:9?

You can actually sit closer with a scope screen, and I sit at 2.9M. from the screen..
The 16:9 image is only 82", but about the only thing I watch at that aspect ratio is TV...
You will find that with a scope screen, you'll try to avoid 16:9 movies as much as possible..

[wakeboardandy]

Originally Posted by The Prof.

It's not anamorphic scope..
All that the Panasonic projector is doing is zooming the lens to preset aspect ratio's, at the press of a button..

This may be a stupid question but what is the difference between that and the anamorphic scope?

[The Prof.]

The basic difference is there is no zooming of the image in anamorphic projection..
The letter-box image from a 2.35:1 movie, normally appears on a scope screen with large black borders top, bottom and sides..
33% of the pixels are lost in the borders, so when you zoom out the image to fill the screen, the black borders are just moved off the screen area..Therefore, you've lost 33% of your total pixels..

With an anamorphic set up..That letter-box image is firstly stretched vertically, by your projector control, to fill the screen top and bottom..and then the image is stretched horizontally to the full width with the lens..restoring the correct geometry..
Your image has now extended into the black bar area of the image giving you the full pixel count of the image..

In reality, the image is quite breath-taking, and anyone who has converted to anamorphic projection, would never revert back to the zoom method..

[ashcurrie]

Panasonic PT-AE3000 LCD Projector Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews

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