Hey guys . Well I finally pulled the trigger on a new house. Closing is supposed to be June 15. It is a three bedroom with a pool. YAY!

I was wondering, what is the smallest size room (dimensions) you would recommend for a dedicated home theater? I have always wanted a room separate just for this. The bedrooms(other than the Master) are average size (maybe 10x10 or slightly larger) Is this ok? Or would I be better off just hooking it all up in the family room which is considerably larger and open?

I'd say it depends on your personal tastes.

In our last house, we had a room that was probably about 12 x 15 and more or less used exclusively for TV. That worked out pretty good because I was able to have the couch far enough forward that the surrounds and rear were actually behind my listening area, not parallel or directly on top of it.

In this house, we didn't have the same setup (though God knows I tried to find a place I could set up a dedicated room) so the theater is also the main living room as well. This room is much bigger with a lot more space behind, but there's a giant open area in the right rear of the room which I can do nothing about. Apparently my wife would like to keep having access to the dining room and hallway. :rolleyes:

I like having the bigger space better. Yes, I would like it more if I could completely enclose it, but overall I'm happier with it. I feel like the locations of the speakers are a little less defined while the sound field is a little more defined.

i think you should go for the family room,with the size of your entertainment center and floor-standers,front and rear,you would be hard pressed to get it set up in a 10x10 room,although it could be done,personally i think too much would be lost or wasted!i'm in a room in the basement,'bout 8x12,with stand mounted speakers,and not alot of power(just quality) my biggest complaint is with the sub,it sounds great,but, those loooong bass waves don't wanna develop until the top of the stairs!(cool neighbors),my ideal setup would be in the garage with the sub in the basement and use the stairway for the bass port it wants to be

Painttoad raises a good point - larger tower speakers often sound their best when they have some space between them and around them (ie not tucked tight into the corners of the room). A 10'x10' room would be a bit cramped - it would require some delibrate speaker selection and furniture placement. Staying with a 7.1 setup such as you have currently would get a bit cramped in such a small space, and if you set the couch on the back wall (as would tend to be the case with a large RPTV like yours), the surround back speakers would not blend as well as if there was more room for all four surrounds to work together. Also, I seem to recall hearing on a couple of occasions that perfectly square spaces are particularly problematic acoustically.

gonk i heard that too,but it was in the case of perfectly cubed sub enclosures,sealed,with one driver.i, in my case put that myth to rest!not sure about the square room,though.

Wingnut, if you really want to have a dedicated home theater go for it. The size of the room may not be ideal, but you can probably overcome many of the problems with acoustic treatments. Enjoy.

I found out it is a 10 X 11 room. I just don't think it will do 7.1 justice....looks like the family room but I will check it out again.

Wingnut, I'm as happy for you as I am envious...
As a reference, Home Theater mag ran a series for several months about a year ago called "Home Theater Rx" that dealt with echos/reflections and making the best of unusual spaces for a dedicated HT. It was very informative, and I won't presume to do it justice by paraphrasing.

If you can get a hold of the back issues, they would probably be of great help configuring your space. I'd volunteer mine were they not lost in the big overflow of '04 (sniff).

I've also found some good setup advice here if you can stand the barrage of ads:

http://www.revolutionhometheater.com/howto/main.html

Hope it's everything you wish for!

i took this from one of "sluggo's" links:

Sound and light act a lot alike above 400Hz, so you can use a mirror and simple geometry to find these unwanted reflections. Invest about $30 in a 2’x2’ plastic mirror (no frame). You can get one at a plastics store. Have someone sit in the listening position while you hold the mirror absolutely flat against the sidewalls and ceiling. Slide the mirror all around to see if the listener can see the speaker components (not the side or top of the speakers) in the mirror. Every time the speaker is seen in the mirror, that is a first order reflection point. You will want to put a treatment in that place. Remember that you must keep the mirror perfectly against the boundary surface while doing this test. It’s just like billiards; the geometry needs to be exact. You will probably be able to outline one large area on the sidewalls that shows the reflection of all three front speakers.

is it safe to assume,that if,you can't see the drivers,in the mirror,you have good sound?
no i wasn't referring to my rear view mirror!
i'm kinda curious.

Thanks Sluggo. I read and he recommended a 12 X 13.5 minimum so I am way under.

The mirror idea is great , Painttoad. I will try that no matter which room I end up going with.

I may have an option to look at another house (with bigger rooms!) as I am having a little technical difficulty with the appraisal on this one. The pool was just so awesome. We will see what happens.....

Hope you can score the bigger rooms.

Not sure if this was in the links from my earlier, but if you can configure a room, the perfect theater is wider at the screen end than in back, and the floor rises in the back to make it shorter, as well. This has both sonic and visual benefits for the room. An overhead view would look like a partially open folding fan.

While you'd think this would be a reconstruction job, I've known a guy who put progressively deeper "columns" along the walls front to back (in 1st order reflection areas). Also enclosed the equipment closet in one back corner, and enclosed an entry foyer in the other. Really made a difference - but it's still some work.

Also knew someone who had his wife "upholster" some plywood sheeting and hung it on the wall to deaden reflections, a very cheap and easy way to improve the area.