There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to a home theatre room. There are a few basic considerations to keep in mind and your perfect blend of customisation may be based on these.
Now that you have decided to create a theatre room in your home, your first step is to assess the space you have. Understanding the best dimensions for a home theatre room will help you get in the right seating options, sound and lighting systems and make your space a much sought after one in your friend and family circles.
While there is no single perfect size for a home theatre room, the rule of thumb is the larger the space you can allocate, the better. For the best viewing experience, a room should ideally be rectangle, approximately 6m long by 4.5m wide and with high ceilings. But considering that most family rooms are typically around 3m square, these can be made to work just as well.
There are a few primary factors based on which you make a choice of room size for your home theatre.
The best shape for your home theatre
You may not really be able to reshape a room completely, but in a few cases, you may be able to use drywall and change the configuration of a room slightly. In such cases, here is a look at some of the ideal room shapes to consider:
The Golden Trapagon: This is a cuboid which has one short side longer than the other or a ratio of 1.272:1. What this shape does is push all the sound emanating from the systems in your direction, while reducing the reverb and echo.
The Golden Cuboid: This is where the room is around 3m high, 4.8m wide, and 8m long. Speakers placed within these dimensions will enable sound to be carried around and will be clearer. The Golden Ratio is 1.618 and this is what will help you. Begin with height as your smallest variable.
The Normal Trapagon: Is the same as its Golden counterpart, except it does not use the perfect Golden Ratio.
Viewing distance and screen size
There are a few things to work out when it comes to getting the viewing distance correct. With HDTVs and their pixel ratio, the further away you sit, the better the viewing experience to a certain extent. If you are bringing in a TV, a 40 inch TV will require that you sit around 2m away and for an 80 inch TV, you will need to be around 13.3ft away.
Because projectors come work on a 16:40 aspect ratio, for a screen size of 80 inches, you need to be around 2.4 to 2.6 m away and this goes up with larger size screen.
Ideal acoustic treatments
If you have a space that follows the Golden Ratio, then consider yourself lucky. Especially in large home theatre rooms, the sound needs to travel correctly to produce the best quality soundtrack and dialogue. A rectangular room does this best.
Good acoustic treatment is not just about sound-proofing but also to have the walls absorb sound to reduce resonance and vibrations. Besides acoustic panels that you will have to bring in, you can also include
- Bass traps to help reduce base frequencies that cause reflection of sound.
- Diffusers, especially for larger rooms to scatter-reflect sound evenly across the room.
Hire the experts to help create the perfect size home theatre
There is no one perfect size for a home theatre. There are numerous factors that go into making a choice, the most important are listed above. There is also the budget you have to work with, the number of people you want to accommodate, what kind of customisation you may want to bring in and so much more.
The best way to make a start is to list down all your expectations from a home theatre room and then work towards that. This way you will be able to assess what is needed to bring the room from a dream to reality and work from there. The good thing is that there are always options to suit every kind of budget and every kind of need. All you need to do is figure out what works best for you.
If you don’t understand sound physics and light refraction, it’s a good idea to call in the professionals. Make an appointment with Wavetrain to figure things out together and soon you’ll have an amazing brand new home theatre room to indulge in.