Ideal Size for my new HT

[KVS Setty]

Hello to all ,
I am a newbie here,
I am constructing my dream residence in Bangalore and planning for a dedicated HT in the second floor ( in a plan of Stilt+GF+2F on a plot of 30x40) ,Our Architect has provided a room of 9' 3''x15' for HT, will this be the right size for a family of 4 presently and may grow up to a max of 6 in future. please give some feedback or direct me to some threads which discuss this topic. thanks again to all.

KVS Setty

 

[Santy]

Hi Shetty
Welcome to HFV.

To be honest, the size is too small for a dedicated HT. I would advise a width of atleast 12 feet. Try to squeeze out some more space for your HT from the available real estate. Length can be 63% more the width ideally.

 

[piyush608]

3' r u sure??

 

[ranjeetrain]

Agree with Santy. Too small for a HT in my opinion too.

IMO (since you have the flexibility) you should plan to double that size. By the time HT is ready, you will feel it isn't really that big. And even wonder how could you even think of a dedicated HT room half that size.

 

[Thtpro]

I would go with
inner width of 12 feet and
depth of 15 feet and
height of 10 feet

I would suggest two rows of seating- 1st row around 9 feet, 2nd row around 12 feet. You will need to raise the 2nd row around 12 inches-- so that the people from the back can see-- the bottom of the screen

 

[ravidharap]

Setty sir, Your architect must have designed the HT room as per available Floor space Index as per local municipal rules, pls get it clarified, If yes, he may be right, if no, pls consider the valuable advices expressed by the members of this forum, my opinion : ask your architect to incorporate a curve or arc type wall for screen mounting, by this you will get that extra width of the screen in lesser depth of the room, if this is incorporated,the architect may be needs to change some facade elements to match his perspective, thanks all, pls advice further

 

[KVS Setty]

3' r u sure??

Hi Piyush,

I feel you misread dimensions ,it is 9'3''x15' , Aah ! a space makes lot of confusion.

 

[KVS Setty]

Hello to all,

Since two days I was going through some the discussions in this forum regarding an ideal sizes for dedicated HT, and found that what may architect suggested is too small for good HT experience so i am thinking of revising the size by adopting the golden ratio and i have come up with two options ,I would like to have opinions from the "Gurus" here in this field with pros and cons of each option. Two options attached here along with the original design by the Architect
http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/821/8e3v.jpg


Option 01 : 25x12 with no powder room. feeling that length is more if we go by golden ratio with 8' as height from floor to false ceiling .

http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/593/myqe.jpg

Option 02 : 25x12 with a small 4x6 powder room, to reduce the length.

http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/15/egq7.jpg

so, I request all the members to comment on my options and give some suggestions.
I can incorporate the same ,as it is in the planning stage.

Hope i will receive some positive feedback ,before i meet my Architect which is scheduled in a couple of days .

My images are apearing very small, Dont know why? though they are 800x600 pixels
Regards
KVS Setty

 

[mdharan]

Hello Setty,
Welcome HFV.
In your op2 try to give the entrance to your powder room from the lobby and construct a curved wall separating the HT room and powder room and interchange the seating area 12' x 19.5' will be good ratio for HT its my opinion, i think the experts will agree in this regard.
Try to put the entrance in mid way of the HT and go for single row seating or else you may require 12' x 21'' you have to go for small size screen.
My screen is constructed curved wall, with wall putty and painted with white emulsion paint it is good for me.

Thankyou,
Murali

 

[ravidharap]

Mr setty, Your Architect's original plan is seems to be very good, sir, you will have lesser property tax as per the plan, and if you do really need a powder room, terrace garden can be squeezed by say 45 sq.ft. The option 1 And 2 staircase passage with coffee table will not serve any purpose, anyway it's your money and and you should take decision

 

[KVS Setty]

Hello to All,

Thanks for the few replies I got and while going through the comments received,
got some doubts in determining the size of room according to golden rule.

One: In determining the length and width we need to consider height H, but which height floor to roof or floor to false ceiling, I am planning floor to roof of 9'6'' and false ceiling at a height about 1'6'' below the roof ( ie at around 8' from the floor, so to calculate width and length which height i need to consider ?
9' 6'' or 8' ?
my logic says 8' , anyway i want to get it confirmed the gurus here,you people rock here guys:clapping: please help.

@ravidharap, thanks for the idea, but to be true i dont want a powder room, I went for it because length available is more when i go according to golden rule, so i thought of powder room. Yes lot of space wastage in option 1 and 2 ,so planning to over come it with a different lay out ,I will let you know shortly.

Mr setty, Your Architect's original plan is seems to be very good, sir, you will have lesser property tax as per the plan, and if you do really need a powder room, terrace garden can be squeezed by say 45 sq.ft. The option 1 And 2 staircase passage with coffee table will not serve any purpose, anyway it's your money and and you should take decision

 

[KVS Setty]

@Murali thanks for feedback.
But need to know all this before i go for it
When do we go for curved screen? what should be the curvature?
What are the pros and cons of a curved screen?
If we go for a curved wall for the screen which one is right form the below pic?

Hello Setty,
Welcome HFV.
In your op2 try to give the entrance to your powder room from the lobby and construct a curved wall separating the HT room and powder room and interchange the seating area 12' x 19.5' will be good ratio for HT its my opinion, i think the experts will agree in this regard.
Try to put the entrance in mid way of the HT and go for single row seating or else you may require 12' x 21'' you have to go for small size screen.
My screen is constructed curved wall, with wall putty and painted with white emulsion paint it is good for me.

Thankyou,
Murali

 

[koushik]

my logic says 8' , anyway i want to get it confirmed the gurus here,you people rock here guys please help.

Your logic is correct, the height should be measured from false ceiling.

When do we go for curved screen? what should be the curvature?

The screen made curved to keep the distance from screen to eye uniform. This also increases the Field of View and uniform brightness as the distance from projector at every point is same (and equal to the radius of curvature). For a flat screen the center of the screen is closure to projector than the edges.
The curvature should be such that the center of the Arc should be your sitting position. This is ideal case, but in room that may not be possible as smaller radius would make the screen look like too curved.

 

[mdharan]

Hello Setty,
Mine is 1.25' i.e., 15" deep in the center for 13 feet screen you can go for few inches less..Almost every theater screnns are curved.Pros- Experts say that aquatic vision comfy for your eyes for bigger picture, as Kousik said field of view is uniform.
Cons- Picture will not be seen as a perfect rectangular, bottom corners will be little straight line from the bottom center.
Your second one is correct.

Murali.

 

[sdurani]

When do we go for curved screen? what should be the curvature?
What are the pros and cons of a curved screen?
If we go for a curved wall for the screen which one is right form the below pic?

Curved screens tend to be brighter (higher gain) because they reflect more light towards the audience. The biggest complaints I've seen are problems with geometric distortions for off-axis viewers and colour shifts across the screen.

IF you do decide to go for it, then curve your screen, not your front wall (will keep the sound from hot-spotting down the middle).

 

[KVS Setty]

Hello Muali,
Thanks for the Info.
Today I went through your HT build thread, Boss I salute you for that excellent setup you have. Did you got your AC put up? feel like visiting your place and take look at the massive HT you have :clapping:

But one. thing , which surprises me is that you have put a solid ply wood of 8mm after filling with rigid gloss wool and thermocol ,I think a better alternative would have been ply with holes, as solid ply reflects sound rather than letting into the absorbing glass wool and air gap behind it. Please correct me if i am wrong?.

secondly, You said if i go for 12'x21' length for my HT, I have to go for small screen why? not able to completely understand the part of you reply, can you please clarify that part ?

Hello Setty,
Mine is 1.25' i.e., 15" deep in the center for 13 feet screen you can go for few inches less..Almost every theater screnns are curved.Pros- Experts say that aquatic vision comfy for your eyes for bigger picture, as Kousik said field of view is uniform.
Cons- Picture will not be seen as a perfect rectangular, bottom corners will be little straight line from the bottom center.
Your second one is correct.

Murali.

Thanks for all the feed back and i need more help from you as i am planning for curved wall as my screen.

 

[KVS Setty]

Hello Sanjay,
Thanks for the input, yes you are right we need a separate wall for the curved screen. still in two minds to go for it or not .

not able to under stand what you mean by

will keep the sound from hot-spotting down the middle​

Curved screens tend to be brighter (higher gain) because they reflect more light towards the audience. The biggest complaints I've seen are problems with geometric distortions for off-axis viewers and colour shifts across the screen.

IF you do decide to go for it, then curve your screen, not your front wall (will keep the sound from hot-spotting down the middle).

 

[sdurani]

By hot-spotting I mean that it will make the sound noticably louder for listeners in the middle of the room compared to listeners sitting left of centre or right of centre.

Curved dishes (parabolas) are used when you want to focus a signal (like from satellite TV) or focus sound (like a field microphone used at sports matches).

A curved wall can do the same for the sound in the room rather than spreading it more evenly to all seats. So, no problem if you want a curved screen. I just wouldn't curve the wall itself. (see the first of your two drawings)

 

[mdharan]

Hello Setty,
Regarding Acoustic to a concrete wall, I was missing a thread from another forum were i found this idea, but it serves me ok , by the time of construction i was not that much active in this forum and i was unable to discuss these things but, i was a member earlier of my construction itself.
I said that if you are looking for 2 rows of seats you can go upto 21' length, and you can project your picture upto 10' width in the balance 2' you can place the speakers.
But Iam not an expert in all these things, You can look in many threads regarding HT.
You are welcome any time to my house in Erode.

 

[KVS Setty]

Hello to All,

Met my Architect two days back and asked to revise the plan so that we can have a slightly bigger HT ie around 13'x21' ,but he says it is too big for family of four and the whole plan needs to be revised as we have to shift ( re locate) staircase and so on.....

He gave an alternate option , in the first floor we have a family living of 12'x15' as soon as we climb up to this floor from GF ,he says we can have PJ and screen here to watch movies (as we are basically movie guys not much in to music )instead of going for a dedicated HT in a higher floor. In this floor ( i mean first floor) we only have my son's master bed room apart from this family living and my son agrees to go with this idea, as he is the one who is going to use this HT most of the time apart from me (occasionally), for me also, it seems ok as i need not climb two floors to watch a movie.
but one drawback is i will have to join him only when he is watching movies, otherwise i will be disturbing them. , so i loose some independence here....And most of the time he likes to watch English movies and i am more in to Hindi and Telugu .

My daughter-in - law ,likes to watch movies in multiplexes , more than that she needs to go out with her husband instead of sitting at home...

My wife not at all interested in movies... whenever we go out to watch a movie in a theater, she will take a good nap and i will have to wake her up in the interval..

This being the situation, what do you guys think about having a non dedicated HT in the family living of first floor instead of dedicated HT in the second floor. Note we have a big Living hall in GF for guests.

Your inputs and comments we will help me to take right decision, as i am little bit confused with this issue.Please give your true suggestions and thoughts about it.