A/V RoomService Ltd. - Tips

Tips Section - Seating

Positioning within the room
Proper viewing/listening angles, distances and sightlines can be calculated and determined in you’re A/V RoomService design package. Optimum positioning results in superior audio fidelity in; soundstage, image size, detail, bass articulation, etc. and video fidelity in; color uniformity, geometry, resolution, contrast, etc.

Positioning within the seat
In addition to the above, the seats themselves play an important role in the final fulfillment. The seats you choose must meet your individual needs for comfort and style, yet they must not obstruct or distract viewing or listening. A few guidelines are listed below

• Seats should recline 12-15° (with you in it). This is optimum for a comfortably seated sightline while also keeping you inside the color discrimination angle limit.

• Seats that extend over the shoulders can interfere with high frequency response of both the front and surround speakers. The sacrifice for good audio fidelity is that you do not have a support rest for your head.

• Consider the fabric from three points of view; comfort, color (black is best as it doesn’t illuminate from screen light output, causing a visual distraction) and acoustics (for example; some leather seats make noise when you move around in them. Leather will absorb less mid and high frequencies than cloth, which may or may not be desireable depending on the other material noise reduction coefficients that make up the room).

• Try out the chair yourself. Make sure it is comfortable, functional and quiet. See if you can try it out at home – you want to know if it’s comfortable enough for a long movie, yet not so comfortable that it puts you to sleep.

• Consider that if more than one row is to have fully reclineable seats in a theater with three or more rows, that the front row(s) may be pushed closer to the screen and front speakers than is desirable, and/or the rear row(s) may be pushed too far away from the screen and front speakers than is desirable, unless the room size and associated A/V equipment is big enough to accommodate them.

Theater seats:
Bass Industries www.bassind.com
Irwin Seating Company www.irwinseating.com

Theater recliners:
Cinematech www.cinematechseating.com
Acoustic Innovations www.acousticinnovations.com
Home Theater Resources www.htrfortresseating.com
Leather Center www.leathercenter.com
Premiere www.premierehts.com
Black Canyon Design Group (303) 841-8282
First Impressions www.cineloungers.com
Theo Kalomirakis Theaters www.tktheaters.com
Theater Design Associates www.theatredesign.com
Majestic www.majesticentertainment.org