Room size for Home Theater?

Thanks for the responses....helpful stuff.

The room will have just a love seat for me and my wife, so seating isnt a problem.

Thanks again!!

This room is not that small - you will just be limited to 3-4 seats. I would recommend a front projection system since this will give you the best theater experience and it will allow you to maximize the distance from your seats to the screen. If you put the screen on the short wall, at a 12-13 feet seating distance you can use an 6-6.5 foot wide 16:9 screen fairly comfortably (seating distance is approx 2x the screen width). Most front projectors have throw distances that will accomodate this. The Sony VPLHS20, which I have, set at a throw distance of 12 feet, to allow for projector and cable depth, will accomodate this range easily. Projector Central has calculators for several projectors that allow you to determine if a projector you like will work at a particular distance.

As others have recommended, monitors and a sub will work the best in a room this size. It may end up being fairly live sounding so some absorptive panels on the side walls at the first reflection points will probably be beneficial. With a 6 foot wide screen, and seating at 12 feet away from the screen, I would set the front speakers about 8 feet apart (on centers) and 2 feet away from the front wall. This will allow for good imaging and won't block any of the screen for viewers off axis.

Your primary room modes are at 40 and 47Hz. By crossing over the sub at 80Hz you can deal with any room boom by reducing the sub level and by experimenting with sub placement. I doubt you'll need bass traps.

I have a friend who did a 7.1 H/T set-up in a 12' x 9' room. You have to go out of the room to change your mind on which DVD to watch!

I also have a room with very similar dimensions (13" and 11").

I don't think it is "too small", but I think you may have a "boomy" bass if you are not care. Some kind of bass trap is probably needed. Otherwise, a large overstuffed fabric sofa may help. Book shelves are great diffusors - I have the left and right wall covered with books. You should not try to cover every surface with acoustic foam. If you do, your room will end up sounding too "dead" Instead a good mix of absorption and diffusion will give you better results.

Specific room treatments is very dependant on your particular room. Without knowing your layout and what else you intend to have in the room (eg furniture, etc), it is difficult to give more than general suggestions. In general, I would suggest you try to unclutter the front, ie projector onto a screen works better than a large TV in front.

For equipment, I use 5 identical hi-end mini-monitors. The LCR are stand mounted while the surr. are wall mounted. All set to "small". The power amp I'm using is an overkill for these speakers, so the control is very tight. With some acoustic treatment and careful speaker placement, I do not have a boom problem. I had the same set up in a large room (20" by 16"), it did sound better (bigger!), but I think a small room is highly "do-able".

I am still looking for a subwoofer that will not overwhelm the room. I agree with Gunbei that anything bigger than 12" would probably be too much. A single 10" is probably more than sufficient for most people/taste. Some may suggest that you can lose the sub in such a small room. I disgree, the nature of HT track is too punishing for normal speakers alone. You will need the dynamic ability and power of a good (does not have to be big) sub for the low freq.

Good luck !

My room has the same dimensions and it probably has a ton more stuff in it too, but I've gotten my home theater to sound pretty good despite the obstacles.

All my HT speakers are wall mounted and set to "small" in the processor so I don't experience any boominess from their close proximity to the walls. The 5 channel amp I'm using is rated at the high end of the recommended amplification for these speakers, so it controls them quite well. I'm using a single 12" subwoofer which for this room is plenty. Anything bigger would probably be too much, and could be more difficult to integrate. A single 10" might suffice.

As for room treatment, that would depend on the specific needs of your environment. Curtains over windows is a good start, and anything like books on shelves to reduce reflections might help. It's tough to recommend room treatments without knowing what else you intend to have in the room with your gear and furniture.

Having no experience setting up a home theater in a large room, I think a small room is easier, as long as there isn't anything in there to throw off the symmetry of the layout.

Good luck!