Everyone has a different concept of home theater room sizes, shapes, and dimensions. Home theater rooms are designed at home for entertainment. These rooms have audio and video systems to create an environment similar to cinema.
Best home theater room sizes and shapes include square, golden trapagon, golden cuboid, and normal trapagon. For an awesome experience, 18ft long and 16ft wide room size is best with a ceiling-mounted projector.
Usually, a room of your house is converted into a home theater. You can never have a perfect or ideal size home theater room.
You can use any wide area to rebuild the home theater, like Tv lounge is the best option that can be converted into a home theater. This can be reconstructed using walls of any material suitable for the home theater. In this article, I am going to discuss some of the best sizes, shapes, and dimensions of the home theater room.
The shape and size of the room, which is going to be a home theater are essential in every aspect. A room that can accommodate all the system of a room theater and viewers is not probably the best home theater. These factors are essential, although when deciding the shape and dimension of a home theater.
If the shape and size of room theater are not enough in space, then it not only harms the system, but I make you uneasy.
The perfect size room should have the ability to accommodate some people or at least a family member altogether in a space. All the viewers should sit comfortably and at a safe distance from the TV screen or projector. Otherwise, it can affect the eyes of viewers. The seating arrangements depend upon the dimension of the room.
Best Home Theater Room Sizes and Dimensions
The shape and size of the theater room are also important regarding the sound system of the home theater system. An improperly shaped room is unable to confine the sound within the room. A small size room will also produce a muddy sound, and harmonic distortions are produced.
The shape and size of the home theater room are selected based on the acoustics of the theater system. The dimension of the room decides how sound travel within the room.
Another factor that highlights the importance of the shape of the room is the lighting in the room. A Properly shaped room should not reflect light and should be constructed to produce a dark impression.
Best shapes for a home theater room
As I have described earlier that the best room for the home theater is difficult to get in our houses. The ideal ones are always preplanned for a big villa.
The golden Trapagon
The golden trapagon is the most preferred dimension for a home theater room. This shape and dimension for a home theater room are suitable in all aspects. The golden trapagon shape is widely used in commercial cinemas and large room in big villas. The golden trapagon has a rectangular shape.
The shape of the golden trapagon is such that the front wall is a golden rectangular, and this wall progresses to the back wall, which is a larger wall. This shape eliminates the problem of parallel walls.
|
Golden trapagan |
length |
Width |
Height |
Viewing angle |
|
Dimensions |
26ft |
16ft |
10ft |
30 |
The ratio of height to width is 1:1.27. This ratio is ideal for the acoustic of the room. The golden trapagon shape has rare chances of producing low frequencies of pressure buildup. Here in the room of such size and shape, reverberation never appears. The listener and viewer have a clear sound, and picture quality is good.
You can have the idea of this shape by imaginary measurements. If the front wall behind the speaker is 10×16 ft, then the room will be 26 ft. The background will behind the listener be 13x20ft. This golden trapagon shape acts as a funnel and directs the straight sound towards the audience.
The golden cuboid
The golden cuboid is another acceptable shape for the home theater room. This shape is excellent for converting an ordinary room into a home theater room. The dimension of the golden cuboid room is 10x16x26.
The golden cuboid shape work on the principle of the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is the sequence of numbers where each coming number is the sum of the previous two numbers.
The golden cuboid shape differs from the golden ratio. But the size and dimension of the golden cuboid can be converted into a golden ratio with a slight change in measurements. Following is a simple chart of dimensions of the golden cuboid.
|
The golden cuboid |
Length |
width |
Height |
Viewing angle |
|
Dimensions |
20 |
20 |
10 |
36 degree |
The demerit of this shape is that in this room, sound control will be a problem. The sound waves travel outside, and sound will be heard far away. You have to use concrete walls to insulate the sound. The bass walls are another excellent option. The sound quality within the room will be crisper. Speakers of big size a subwoofer cannot be installed in such rooms.
The normal trapagon
The normal trapagon is the same as the golden trapagon. The difference is that it has the same length and width of the front and back walls. The difference between length and width is so negligible that it is not recommended for commercial theaters.
The normal trapagon does not follow the golden ratio. The acoustic of this room can be disturbing. Following is a chart of dimensions of normal trapagon.
|
The normal trapagon |
Length |
Width |
Height |
Viewing angle |
|
Dimensions |
26ft |
16ft |
10ft |
36degree |
The low frequencies pressure buildup and reverberations are in excess. The normal trapagon has one advantage that it can adjust the Tv or screen of big size. This is ideal for a 5.1 channel speaker system.
Seating arrangements can be made with sufficient gaps. Ideally, a one-foot difference should be between both front and background walls. This difference will funnel the straight sound towards the audience.
Square rooms
Square rooms are designed to have equal width length and height. The walls are equally spaced. The square room is the least recommended for the home theater room. These rooms tend to be smaller in length as compared to rectangular rooms.
These rooms measure approximately 10x10x10. Due to the small space, the viewing distance from the screen will be shorter. Square shape rooms will be deficient in space for big speakers and projectors. You can use both active and passive soundbars with these dimensions.
The short viewing distance can cause both difficulties in properly watching images and may result in headaches. Square rooms also have the issue of low frequencies pressure buildup and reflections from boundary surfaces. The sound can travel within the room and resonate inside. This resonation will make sound unclear and noisy. Following is the chart of dimensions of square rooms.
|
Square shape rooms |
Length |
Width |
Height |
Viewing angle |
|
Sizes |
20ft |
20ft |
20ft |
32 degree |
Golden ratios
Golden ratios are theoretical ratios for the room that are used for perfect acoustic treatment and balanced sound in the room. These ratios give natural and straight sound in all parts of the room. These ratios are named from the Greek scientist Phidias. These ratios were developed and researched by L.W Sepmeyer.
The ratio of width height and length are designed to achieve optimal sound effects. These ratios are based on the height of the room. According to the golden ratio, the width is 1.6 times the height, and length is 2.6 times the height. These ratios result in fewer reflections from boundary walls and eliminate the issue of reverberations.
A simple chart of the golden ratio is described here. There are three basic golden ratios.
|
Ratio no |
Height(H) |
Width(w) |
Length(L) |
|
A |
1 |
1.14 |
1.39 |
|
B |
1 |
1.28 |
1.54 |
|
C |
1 |
1.6 |
2.33 |
A room within these dimensions is more suitable for the home theater room. These ratios are developed by using the sound of different frequencies and how he travels within the room. What effect these frequencies produce in the theater room. Golden ratios will give you the best acoustics and soundtracks of all audio and visual displays.
Here I will share some examples of these ratios. These examples will help you ascertain the actual size of the home theater room.
Ratio A
Height=8ft 8×9.12×11.12 and cubic volume of 811.32ft
Ratio B
Height of 10 ft=10×12.8×15.4 and cubic volume is 1971.2ft
Ratio c
Height of 10 ft=10x16x23.3 and cubic volume of 3728ft
How small or large can a home theater room be?
Ideally, the home theater room should be as large as much as possible. The dimensions should be such that it has a large area and walls and ceiling. The smallest size of home theater should be approximately 10 to 12 feet.it should be between 1000 to 1200 cubic squares in the area.
The small size room has its own merits and demerits. A small home theater room requires less powerful speakers and visual magnification. Small theater rooms are comfortable to design, and their layout is simple. But a tiny room can give difficulty in accommodating a large number of people. You can mount a pico projector with these settings.
The seating arrangement can be a challenge for you. Sitting too close to the Tv screen can damage your eyes. Another drawback of a small room is the size of the screen or TV. You have to think about the size of the screen. A small size room has not enough space for projectors.
When we ask how large a home theater should be, then the answer is a wide area approximately 1900 to 2000 cubic square. It should be 15 ft long and 9 to 10 ft wide. This area is too large to be present in ay home.
Such a large home theater room is constructed on demand in big villas and mansions. At home, you can use a basement or garage as a substitute for such a large room. A large home theater room has various merits and demerits.
A large room can have enough space for big speakers and woofers. Projectors can be installed in such big rooms. The seating arrangements are proper and comfortable.
They can be hidden in the background. The sound quality is better in the large room. The drawback of a large room is that it is very costly. Not everyone can afford such a luxurious place for entertainment. Such large rooms can be financially draining.
Factors to consider
The shape and dimension of the home theater room can be a tricky decision. Most of the time, we do not have that much big room to convert into a home theater.
Then we are left with the option of garage launch or basement while we are building a home theater in these places, we have to consider some factors.
Viewing distance
Viewing distance is the most critical factor when we are deciding the dimension and size of the room. Viewing distance is the distance from your sitting position to the screen. This distance should be accurate. Too small distances can cause eye and headache problems.
Considerable distance causes difficulty in viewing the images or video on the screen. The size and dimension of your room depending upon the viewing distance.
Viewing distance can be estimated according to the screen size. First, you measure the size of the screen and then multiply it with 1.5 to 2.5. This is the general and rough estimate of the viewing distance. The room should be approximately 2 to 3 folds of the viewing distance.
For a TV screen of 40 inches, you need to have a 2 to 3-meter distance. The size of the room is somehow should be 6 meters long and wide if you have a square shape room. For a rectangular room, the length should be 10 meters, ideally.
If you are planning a projector in your theater room, the expected distance should be 2.5 to 2.6 meters. For such a long distance, you need a room with bigger dimensions.
Viewing angle is the maximum angle on which the eyes can easily take the view of all the images and videos on screen without moving. The recommended viewing angles are 30 and 36 degrees. As the viewing distance and viewing angle show, the projector room can be built in large spaces. These rooms have to preplan before constructing the luxurious villas.
Acoustic of space
The acoustic of the room is greatly affected by the size and dimension of the room. The small room has an impact on acoustics that are different from the large rooms. For ideal acoustic treatment, we need a certain ratio with dimensions.
The small room dimensions are such that these rooms produce low frequency and high-pressure voices in the room. The small room length width and height should be adjusted accordingly to minimize such low-frequency pressure buildup. These low frequencies produce acoustic distortions in the room.
These low frequencies are also called room modes. These pressure build-up low frequencies are not fitted into the room. Such low frequencies can blur certain frequencies of audio. These low frequencies do not correspond to the room dimension. The wavelength of these frequencies does not relate to wall length.
The large dimension rooms are preferred because they have large space for these low frequencies to die on their own. Large size rooms do not have room mode issues. The considerable distance between boundaries allows the sound waves of larger wavelengths to spread quickly. The low-frequency waves die as soon as these are produced. These low frequencies, if survived, can travel without striking the walls of the room.
The size and dimensions are also important because of the reflection from boundary walls. Like small apartments or rooms of inappropriate length and width can cause such issues.
These reflections intermix with the straight sound; it is the energy from the speaker to convey all the audio to the audience. These reflections, when intermixing with straight music, it affects the sound clarity and causes staging.
Some large rooms which do not have accurate dimensions cause increased reverberations. Reverberations are reflections of sound from room boundary and ceiling. These increased reverberations also superimpose on straight sound and produce a muddy and unclear sound.
Screen size
Screen size is another important factor regarding the size of the home theater room. The size of the screen solely depends upon the area we have for the home theater. A small sized room is not sufficient for a big screen. For a big-screen TV or a projector screen, we need a large and wide room.
These rooms are constructed on different aspect ratios. The aspect ratio is screen size to viewing distance ratio. The size of the room can affect the number of seats and seating arrangements, a small room will have fewer seats as compared to the large room.