You’ve purchased yourself some brand new media room chairs that exude luxury for your home theater project, and you’ve even got them set up and assembled with our handy how-to guide. Great!
Now comes the fun part of actually placing your chairs and getting them situated appropriately with your home theater. But were you going to do a single curved row of theater seats that sit 6? Or were you thinking of placing your media room seats in a row of 4 in the back and have your reclining theater room chairs that sit 2 in front? How far away from the screen should they be? What about accessories for your theater room seating?
If you’re finding yourself asking these questions, this is the post for you. We’ll be talking about optimal viewing angles for your theater room seating, how to best arrange them, and some fun extras to elevate your home theater experience.
Find the Best Seat in the House
One of our favorite things about home theaters is that you’re never running late for the movie or having to choose a front seat where you’re craning your neck constantly to make out what’s on the screen.
While there’s not necessarily a bad seat in a home theater, you do want to make sure your theater room recliners are spaced far enough away from the screen, but not too far. Otherwise, your viewing angle—the angle made up of the sides of your screen and the center of your face—will be off, and you won’t pick up on as much detail.
Different associations have different opinions on the best viewing angle, but the ideal angle is usually between 30-40 degrees, with audio and visual company THX claiming that sweet spot lies somewhere around 36 degrees.
While resolution factors into things a bit—after all, the better the resolution, the clearer you’ll be able to see the details on the screen—what matters most is the size of the screen itself. With the average size of home theater tv screens being about 120 inches, you’ll want to keep your entertainment room chairs roughly 13 feet away from a screen that size. For every 10 inches in screen size, you’ll want to add about 1 foot to that distance, or subtract a foot if the screen size is smaller.
By no means is the seating distance an exact science. Tinker around with your seating, get ideas for home theater seating layouts online, and see what distance is comfortable for you and your family without putting strain on your eyes or neck.
Creating an Effective Layout
Maybe you just got a couple reclining entertainment room chairs, and you’ve found the center of the room and the correct distance from the tv screen. Sometimes, things can be simple! However, if you have a larger family or planned for entertaining guests while purchasing your chairs, you might need raised rows of entertainment room seating in the back, or another layout—like a back row of curved seating for your home theater—that will give everyone a good view of the screen.
If you end up getting enough home theater chairs that fit 6 people, one of our favorite layouts is having three seats in the front and three seats in the back, or putting four seats in the front with the remaining two seats in the back. While it would be easy to delegate the tallest people to sit in the back, it is possible to make those chairs behind everyone into a back row of theater room chairs that are raised up with the help of risers. These platforms will give your home theater seating a little boost where it’s needed, allowing anyone sitting in the back row to see directly over those in the front.
If you have entertainment room chairs for 5 people or even 4 (and the size of your theater room allows it), you don’t necessarily need to have separate rows of seating and can instead opt to place your seating in a subtle curve. A row of media room seating with a slight curve to it is both more practical than a straight row, and it also adds some visual flow to the room. Normally with a straight row of seating, the people on either end will have to have their neck and head turned for the whole movie to face the screen and actually be able to tell what’s happening. With curved theater room seating, the end seats are already facing the screen, and craning your neck will be a thing of the past.
Don’t Forget the Accessories
As with so many things in life, it’s all about the accessories. While they’re not necessary by any means, getting attachments for your home theater seating is an easy way to elevate your experience and deck out your new luxury entertainment room chairs at the same time.
If you’re someone who likes to immediately relax after getting home from work and cooking dinner, you can bring that dine-in theater experience right to your theater room. Glass caddies to hold wine and other beverages and tray attachments that can easily hold a plate of dinner or snacks while you’re viewing your favorite flicks is one of the easiest ways to add to your experience.
For all of you audiophiles and cinephiles out there, equipping your theater chairs with bass shakers can take your movie viewing to a new level. These powerful little rumble-emitters attach to the back of your theater seating and are wired to the audio source. When those high-stakes action moments with heavy bass come on during your movie, bass shakers deliver haptic feedback through your chair, allowing you to be more immersed in what you’re watching. If you’re thinking about investing in bass-equipped home theater chairs, we’ve even compiled a guide to get you started with them.
With all of this in mind, you’ll hopefully be on your way to setting up your seating in a way that’s intuitive and works for you and your family. And maybe add on some tray tables to them, because no one ever wants to get up during the middle of the movie.