When we were approached by a long-time customer in 2017 about building an ultimate home theater, we knew this was going to be a fun project. The client had a small theater we installed in 2010 and had upgraded a couple of times.
The couple was building a new garage and wanted to make the room above the garage a state-of-the-art theater with as big a screen as possible. Seating for up to 18 people was also on their wish list. They wanted to try and re-use some of their current gear in the new system. We took them to hear a JBL Synthesis home theater system we had recently completed in a large room and after that, there was no question, they wanted a JBL Synthesis system!
Audio Advice worked with JBL Synthesis, the client, and their architect to design a room with good dimensions from an acoustic standpoint that could also comfortably seat 18 people. After the room was laid out, we worked with Kinetics to design a complete acoustic package that was able to repurpose some of the panels they had used in their smaller theater.
The ideal room dimensions were 30 feet in depth by 19 feet wide with 12-foot ceilings. This size easily allowed for 2, 12” risers with 3 rows of seating. The slope of their lot worked out perfectly for walking in from the existing space to the rear of the theater and still leaving normal ceiling height in the garage below. We slightly offset the seats and the screen to allow for a wider aisle on the right side of the room in line with the theater door.
Since the couple wanted a very immersive video experience, we had them visit our Raleigh showroom to try out a few different seating positions in our biggest theater. This process allowed us to determine the right screen size field of vision for where the primary seats would be in their room. A huge 17 foot wide 2.40 screen is where the math landed. Now we have our great home theater design tool to help people anywhere determine the best screen size.
The couple did not want to see any of the gear or a projector in the room and by working with the architect, we were able to design a small closet that housed the gear and the projector directly centered on the back wall of the room. This outside area would have a small bar, popcorn machine, bathroom, and artwork in addition to the equipment closet.
However, they did want the interior of the theater to have somewhat of a commercial look with as many speakers visible as possible.