Using the Available Space for Your Home Theater Room

Setting up your home theater can be time-consuming, but it's something that you also need to give careful thought to. Besides the obvious things (type of HDTV to buy, placement of your TV, where you want your theater located, type of home theater lighting to use, etc.), you also need to consider your home theater seating layout.

Why is home theater seating layout important? Well, you want to be comfortable in your home theater. While how comfortable your seating is does affect this, viewing angle, the space between seats and the ability to recline your seats also affect comfort.

Generally, before you go out and buy your home theater seats, take a look around the space that you have. Is it really big enough to fit home theater seats with risers (risers allow you to create rows that are higher than the one in front of it like real movie theaters)? Or, is just big enough to fit a couch? Your budget will also affect these decisions.

You also need to consider optimal viewing range. If you have a HD television, your seats should be as far back as three times the width of your screen. This way, you and your guests won't be straining their neck or eye sight to watch the television.

If you do plan on having actual movie theater seats, you need to allow for aisle and arm space, which can range from 20 inches to 2 feet apart. Your aisle should be approximately two to three feet wide on either side and behind each row so that people can easily access the seats. You don't need to have a huge aisle behind the back row.