Is a 10x16 HT too small?

[RebelMan]

My wife and are not seeing eye-to-eye on some minor home remodeling. In particular she wants to tile throughout the house and I want to keep the entertainment room carpeted. Her solution is to lay down a throw rug, but it just doesn’t make sense to me to spend all that money on tile only to cover it up. Furthermore, the room I listen in now has several acoustical and domestic compromises.

I have considered utilizing another part of the house but realized that no other room would fit my needs adequately to make all the effort worth while. I also thought about adding on another room but there is no place to put it. Then it hit me, what about the garage?

We have a single-bay and double-bay three car garage. After taking some preliminary measurements and keeping “resale” in mind, I believe converting the single-bay into a HT would be the most practical and affordable of all the options I have thought of or considered so far. However, I am concerned about available room inside. My mission is to step up my sound system not hold it back. I think the room would make a great little sanctuary (up to three people?) but I am not sure.

The finished room would be approximately 10 feet wide and 16 feet long and slightly over 8 feet tall. Is this to small for a HT? Anyone with a similar setup? Is this a smart move or am I just kidding myself?

[aud19]

People have done them in smaller rooms so you should be fine as long as you don't try to stuff too much seating in

David Meek's (it was you David, right?) old room was only something like 10' x 10' FWIW

[David Meek]

Having a dedicated room is a major plus in my opinion - regardless of the size. 10' x 16' is a good sized room compared to many places. Much of Europe and Asia don't have the generally large amounts of floorspace to play with that we in the US (and Canada) have available to us, and consequently have developed fine theater/listening rooms in areas that size or smaller. Having a room in your home dedicated to our hobby allows you to position things like speakers, components, screens, furniture, etc. in locations that optimize their performance without regard to, uh, spousal issues.

My first theater/listening room was 11' x 16'. It too was a single-car garage that I converted. It turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself, although the components I had at the time didn't do the room justice. Remember, Burke? :B

I'll see if I can dig up some of my archived photos for you.

[David Meek]

Jason got in before I did...

Yeah Jas, the first room was 11' x 16' and the second was 11'-3" x 13'-3". The first turned out better sonically than the second FWIW.

[RebelMan]

Having a dedicated room is a major plus in my opinion - regardless of the size. 10' x 16' is a good sized room compared to many places. Much of Europe and Asia don't have the generally large amounts of floorspace to play with that we in the US (and Canada) have available to us, and consequently have developed fine theater/listening rooms in areas that size or smaller. Having a room in your home dedicated to our hobby allows you to position things like speakers, components, screens, furniture, etc. in locations that optimize their performance without regard to, uh, spousal issues.

It's a great place (here) when someone "truely" understands.

My first theater/listening room was 11' x 16'. It too was a single-car garage that I converted. It turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself, although the components I had at the time didn't do the room justice. Remember, Burke? :B

I'll see if I can dig up some of my archived photos for you.

That would be extremely helpful if you could. Thanks David.

[RebelMan]

David, does the "Golden Ratio" you mentioned in another thread matter on which leg the speakers are on? I would have mine on the 10 foot side.

[David Meek]

James, that is generally the best orientation. And, IIRC if you can get the ceiling height up just a bit, that with the width and depth will be quite close to one of the ratios. :T

[Chris D]

Nope, not too small. Bigger would definitely be better, but people have installed in smaller.

[RebelMan]

David, were you able to find any old photos?

[MrPorterhouse]

10x16 will work fine for audio, but you won't be able to fit much seating. If its a HT hide away for you and a few others, then it will work out great.

[BlazeMaster]

my room is about 10.5x14.5 and I think my system has never sounded better in any other room that it's been in. The only problem is that you can't really fit too many people in there, 3 at the max. But most of the time, it's just myself anyways, and in a closed room, sitting in the sweet spot, with proper placement, it's hard for any speakers setup to not sound good.

[David Meek]

David, were you able to find any old photos?

Not yet, but don't give up. : I still have several boxes to unpack and one of them should have my CDs of photos in it.

[Snap]

My room is 12x18 not much diff from yours. I can get 4 people to watch a movie just fine. You should be alright!

[comeup]

I'm jealous I would love to have any dedicated size room.



Your Lucky go for it


peace

[Race Car Driver]

I just mesured the spare room i can have in the basement, and the only way i could make it work, it would turn out to be 9x14ish. with a 7 foot ceiling.
Its all unfinished now, and was gonna put in an egress window to make it a legal bedroom, but may end up turning it into a very small, but dedicated room.
Small yes, but a well built room would be nice.

[RebelMan]

Thanks for the feedback people, it is appreciated. Here are some VERY preliminary plan views. I have them posted in another thread but thought I would share them here too.

I am debating on a couple of issues. 1.) Two subs (B&W ASW-825's) or 2.) A couple of monster mains (B&W 800D's). Each possiblity is depicted in the corresponding drawings. If you see anything glaring or are curious about something please don't hesitate. Note, the front elevation will be heavily damped with the back and sides (away from the mains) partially damped and diffused.

[David Meek]

With the volume of your room, I'd say go with the 800Ds. Awesome, awesome speakers - especially for music - that go down to 32 Hz all by themselves. They'll pressurize your room quite well, and without the headaches of properly integrating a sub (or subs) into your system.

Also, you'll have more area to use with regard to placement of the mains. Subs would add their footprints to the equation, effectively eliminating most of your ability to re-position the mains.

[David Meek]

My first theater/listening room was 11' x 16'. It too was a single-car garage that I converted. It turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself, although the components I had at the time didn't do the room justice...

I'll see if I can dig up some of my archived photos for you.

Here are a few images - finally.

[RebelMan]

WOW David, nicely done! I am quite impressed. Curious, did you maintain the garage "facade" or did you replace that with a real window or is that a facade too? I'm liking the media shelves. Attractive and useful in multiple ways I am sure. Like the obvious, a place for storage and for the less obvious, scatter points to diffuse sound. Were the shelves DIY?

Thank you for sharing. This gives me some ideas. :T

[David Meek]

Thanks. It was definitely a labor of love. And yes, I did everything. No, it's not facade. I found brick, siding and a window to match what was already on the house and built the exterior wall to match. There was a separate detached 2-car garage behind the house, so I cut the driveway away from the front of the attached single-car after the wall was up and planted a flower bed in the void. You could in no way ever tell it was a garage. One other nice point was that I had a little "bonus" room behind the equipment wall which gave me easy access to the cabling via it and the utility room.

My pleasure on the sharing! I'm glad it was useful in generating some ideas for you. :yesnod:

[David Meek]

Oh, as for the diffusor-effect of the media shelves, I had decided to build an identical set on the right wall to balance things out but we bought another house and sold this one before I had the chance.