My "real" job is as a college professor in the interior architecture department at the local university. A class I'll be teaching the design students next fall is about home automation, home theater, and designing FOR these technologies.

Just as a short survery, can you please tell me what type of seating you use in your main viewing room? I've got a nice sofa, and have a wonderful view of the TV when laying on it. Of course, if my wife wants to watch too, we both have to sit up. ;-( Sitting up, however, puts me closer to the center of the sound field and makes for a truer audio experience.

What do you sit on, and do you sit upright, lounge back, or lay down?

Thanks,

Dave

David,

I use a leather Seally wall reclining loveseat for my main veiwing position. In it I can sit up or lie down(it reclines really well). Since it seats two perfectly, I can also get cozy with that special lady when she picks the movie(chick flick). But it doesn't extend past the top of my head so I can hear all the surround sound effects when I pick the movie(Hollywood action blockbuster).

Unfortunately, my living room configuration allows me only to sit approximately 9' away from my home theatre. My RCA 46" TV sits on a cabinet about 30" up. Earlier this year we purcahsed a 5 + 2 piece sectional system. The five are recliners and the two are pie-shaped lamp tables. When arranged, REC, LAMP, REC, REC, REC, LAMP, REC, they form a quarter moon shape facing the TV. Of course I recline in the sweet spot for the optimum audio experience. My bride prefers to read in one of the corners (w/ a light on) but when she watches, she is happy in that spot.
In a nut shell, five people can SIT and enjoy my home entertainment, however not all recliners can be opened at the same time.

I have my seating arrangement set up as follows:

Love seat in rear of theater 2' from back wall (surround speakers are in-wall type behind love seat)

Sofa is to the right of love seat along wall and forms an "L" configuration

Leather chair and ottoman to the left of love seat, approx. 5'. Not the best seat for surround but comfortable. This is where I like to read.

The armoir with TV is located... you guessed it.. in the front along with my L,C & R speakers. All the rest of my A/V equipment is located in a closet off of the theater room.

I/we usually watch movies while sitting in the love seat as it is the "sweet spot" in the surround setup. I used a sound level meter and adjusted the settings for this.

Best of all, my wife loves all this Home Theater stuff! She wants to now get a rear projection system. Maybe one day...$$$

I've got two leather La-Z-Boy loveseats, both are full recliners (can go totally horizontal if you wish). Very very comfortable. One of them is at an angle off to the side, the other is in the "sweet spot". There's also a loveseat-sized fold-out bed off to the other side against a wall; it's there because it's too heavy to move out of the room and, well, I've got the space. There's a little floorplan of my room in my Pronto's CCF under lighting; honestly I had a very awkward room to work with.

My theater is 13' wide by 11' deep. I have a Barcolounger sectional that is shaped kinda like this: \_/ but the \ and / are not so sharply angled. The whole sectional is about 11' wide. The area behind the \/'s are taken up by pedistals with surround speakers on them, angled in and back towards the wall. The \/'s are also recliners. The center section is big enough for two, so we can easily sit 4 for a theater experience. Entry is from the left wall.

Dave,
For your best "bang for the buck" go for Matching Rocker Recliners, (..or three or four or...) You can pick a color, style, and size, and still be about $2-3,000,00 ahead of custom seating.

Guys,

Have you taken the time to carefully space and place your speakers, then calibrate them?

Do you use transducers in your system? If so, where are they (in floor or in seating)?

How big is your primary TV? Direct view, Rear or front projection?

How wide is the surround "sweet spot" in your system? Do you have any advice for letting a "whole room of people" enjoy the same surround effect?

Thanks for all the responses, guys. Keep em coming!

Dave

Interesting side note...

I have be debating whether or not to convert my mud room to a dedicated HT. Currently my HT is in the great room which is a horror to setup. Cathedral ceilings, odd shape, fireplace that throws a glare and difficult positioning of seats.

The problem has been that the mud room is only
12' x 15' and I was afraid it was too small. I want to house my Mitsu 36" flush in the front wall with the center. Mains are floor standing NHT's as is sub. I want to use transducers and dipoles.

Here's the question...What size are your HT rooms? and are they dedicated room or shared living spaces. That said what are you seating and ancillary decorating choices...?

Leather Lazy-Boy Recliner...has back massager, Phone w/caller ID in right armrest, and small fridge in left..no joke. Best $1000 dollar piece of furniture on the block if you ask me!

Chester, What is the advantage of angling the surrounds towards the wall? I have rather small Sony surround speakers attatched to the wall in a manner which would allow me to do that. Will the unfortunate(those not in my sweet spot) enjoy the audio more? Care to explain here? TIA Dennis

If you ever look at Audio Video Interiors, most of what you see will be movie theater seats. For me having a sofa and chairs puts the "home" in home theater. My setup is just one GIANT L shaped sofa(it didn't look that big in the store) with no room for other chairs. When I was single I put a chair right in the middle of the room. My screen is 10 feet wide so I felt like I was at an IMAX. I have Tannoy studio monitors that I used to move in as close as possible because they are near field monitors. It was Awesome. But now that I am married I have something even better than home theater. We sit centered on the sofa about 15' away from the screen. I have an 18" Bag End sub behind the sofa that shakes the sofa much like a transducer would. The sofa is so big that with the foot stool in front of us we can recline or sit up. We can also move over to the corner and lay down to watch. As far as the Sweet spot goes I just calibrated the speakers to middle of the sofa.

Jay M.

My Room is 15 x 45 feet. With a 30 year old restored pine bar at one end. The HT takes up the whole 15 ft. of the opposite end. 2 Leater Wing chairs with 2 Lazy-Boy Sofas leave enough room for everyone. Even room for my computer to play games or surf while watching something.