Some Tips On Your Home Theater Layout
You can never get enough advice from people who know and when it comes to your home theater layout I believe I can help. There are some subtle things you will need to keep in mind and some pretty major things that can be overlooked if you aren't careful. Remember that consulting a contractor or theater expert for your home theater layout may be a great idea but if you cannot afford that then just read a lot of books and use your own common sense. If you have been to the movies enough then you know how to do home theater layout, you just don't realize it yet so take some time to pull out a pad of paper and a pencil and start planning your home theater layout with your own personal touches in mind of course.
The first rule of any good home theater layout is to make sure all chairs are pointed at the screen. This may seem really obvious, and it should be, but some people start to forget that they are doing a home theater layout and start planning the theater like it was a regular room instead of a theater. All seats, chairs, couches or whatever you are putting in there should be pointed at the screen and if someone wants to sit but they don't want to watch the movie then they can use the exit door which will be easily found in your home theater layout. Theaters are for watching movies in and lobbies are for hanging out. If you want a hanging out spot design a lobby.
Down In Front!
You have to lay out the chairs so that the ones up front do not interfere with the view of the people in the chair behind them and there are two ways of doing this. If you notice in a regular theater the seats are in a sloping layout that allows the seats behind to see over the seats in front of them. If you haven't noticed this then you need to clean your glasses. You can employ this method in your home by making multiple tiers with seats on them tall enough so that the people in the back can see and are not blocked by the people in the front. It may take some planning but this is a pretty important part of your home theater layout.
Another approach to seating is a checkerboard approach where there is no one directly behind anyone else so that there are no blocked views. Looking at this type of a set up from above it would look like a checkerboard. This is almost useless in a home theater layout because you could just as easily put everyone in one row but if you don't feel like building tiers then you will have to take this approach.
