Thirteen answers about home theater seats and chairs. By Wil Kovacs.

Today, many new homes are being built with home theater rooms. Home theater rooms need home theater seats. These rooms are specifically designed, and made for: watching movies, DVD’s, video games, and listening to high quality digital music.

Even older homes are getting home theaters. Finished basements, garages, bonus rooms, across the USA, they are all being converted into home theater, movie viewing rooms.

There are basically two categories of home theater seats.

The first is the real, authentic movie theater chair, exactly like you sit in at an actual movie theater. These are available online at websites such as SeatsAndChairs.com and HomeCinemaDecor.com. They have flip-up seats, cup holder armrests, and may feature lift-up armrests as well. For example see the Elite model at SeatsAndChairs.com: http://seatsandchairs.com/products.asp?CategoryID=2

The second category is the reclining lounger. The leather reclining home theater chair is the most popular; with it’s cup holder armrests and flip out footrests. For an example of this type of chair see the Orion at SeatsAndChairs.com, at: http://seatsandchairs.com/products_detail.asp?CategoryID=2&ProductID=67&pagesize=200&currentpage=1

The reasons to buy one or the other include: size of your home theater room, how many people you wish to seat, as well as if you want a real movie theater experience (in which case you would go with the real movie theater chairs) or would like be able to recline flat, not minding if you even catch a nap now and again in the chair.

The bottom line is, home theaters are fun! Having a home theater at your house makes movie watching an event. Video games come to life. Music sounds live. And sitting in a comfortable home theater seat adds immeasurably to the fun and excitement of the whole experience. Here are answers to the 13 most commonly asked questions regarding home theater seats.

1. What are home theater seats?

A. Home theater seats are chairs specifically engineered and designed for viewing movie in a personal home theater setting. Most home theater seats share these features: 1. A cup holder built into the chairs armrest. 2. A shared armrest between each seat. 3A. For the real movie theater style chairs, a flip up seat cushion, or 3B. For the leather reclining lounger type home theater seating, a flip out foot rest. Additional upgrades like storage compartments, snack trays, and even electric motors to recline the chair are available, depending on the model.

2. What size should the home theater seats be?

1. The most popular real movie theater chairs are 22 inches wide, from center of armrest to center of armrest, and the seat is usually about 20 to 22 inches deep, and 36 to 40 inches tall. This is larger than say, 30 years ago, when the average theater chair was only 18 or 19 inches wide.
2. The most popular recliner style home theater chair is 24 inches wide, for the actual individual seat cushion. Heights usually run about 40 inches tall.

3. How do I determine the row length?

Most chair widths are given in center-to-center dimensions. So a chair “22 inches wide” is measured from the center of one armrest to the center of the other armrest. So you multiply the number of chairs times the width. So, 3 chairs at 22” center to center equals 66”. That’s fine, but that is not the total length. You now have to add the other half of the armrests, at the ends of the row. This is usually 4 inches. So in the example, 3 X 22” = 66” + 4” = 70” total. Note this quote: From the Richmond Times Dispatch Apr 16, 2005 BY CLARKE BUSTARD. "Seats in the historic movie palace in Carytown are 18 inches wide, the same as an economy-class seat in the Boeing MD-80 flown by American Airlines. And there's less legroom: 27½ inches from the back of a seat to the back of the seat in front of it at the theater, compared with 31 to 32 inches on the plane."… “To compare these dimensions with those of your body, sit down and measure the width of your lap and the distance between the back of your hips and the front of your knees. (Measurements in inches).”…

4. How do I determine legroom?

A.  The critical dimension here is the back-to-back spacing. The minimum amount recommended is 38 inches. The wider you go, the more legroom, and the more comfort. Room size will affect this measurement.

5. How many chairs will fit in my room?

A. Here are the basic things you need to take into consideration. You want the person sitting in the front row, actually the person’s head, to be 1 to 2 times the width of your screen, away from the screen. For example, say you have a 42-inch plasma television screen. You want the eye, or head of the person sitting in your front row of chairs to be 42 to 84 inches away. The closer to 84 inches the better. Say your screen in 100 inches wide. Then you want the eye of the person to be100 to 200 inches from the screen. Another basic thing is your aisle widths. A doorway is 36 inches wide, so use that as a guide. Some people like wide, say 48-inch aisles, others don’t mind a 20-inch aisle. Remember to allow room for doors to open, for stairs, and if you are using the recliners, allow room for the footrest. All of these issues need to be taken into consideration. Then you can use that information to determine the maximum number of theater chairs that will fit in your room.

See… http://www.seatsandchairs.com/images/theaterlayoutmarquee.gif

6. What color home theater seats should I choose?

Since rooms can be redecorated, even years after the room was originally designed, the color black is a very popular choice. Remember these real movie cinema theatre chairs are commercial grade and have a life span of 25 to 30 years. Black goes with everything. Plus you can use accent pillows; fabric on end panels or armrests, even fabric on the headrest can be used to tie the chairs into the other colors into the room. The second most popular color is red. It is a traditional movie theater color. Bright, dramatic red stands out. Custom orders, or customers own material (COM) is not, as a rule, a problem, however the lead-time often increases dramatically.

7. How long will it take to get them?

A. Home theater seats, even the large leather recliner loungers can be shipped using common shipping companies such as UPS or FedEx. To cross the USA, it takes about 6 business days. The in house turnaround time varies. In stock items usually ship out within 5 business days. Large orders can take longer. Leather chairs in stock ship out in 10 to 15 business days. Leather chairs not in stock usually take 4 to 8 weeks depending on the model, as they are ‘made to order’. Call the customer service department of the home theater seating company and inquire.

8. Which home theater chair upgrade, or features are most popular?

A. Lift up cup holder armrests on the real movie theater chairs is very popular. Real Tempur-Pedic memory cushions are available on some models. Also a rocking back makes the chair more comfortable. There are real movie theater chairs that have rocking back only, and then there is the true rocker, in other words with a true rocker, both the back and seat rock when you lean back in the chair. A silent gravity lift seat bottom prevents the need for maintenance or lubrication. Leather reclining loungers can have a power option added, so that at the touch of a button the chair reclines. Also look for a wall away feature, that means the chair can be set up close to a wall, and still fully recline without hitting the wall.

See… http://www.seatsandchairs.com/LeatherHomeTheaterSeatingTool.html

9. Do I need a riser?

A. This concerns your line of sight. If you can get the bottom of your screen high enough off the floor, then no you do not need risers. Usually if your screen is 3 feet off the ground, that is enough. Riser height can vary from 4 inches to 12 inches per step. With 6 to 8 inches being the most popular height.  However if you want tall chairs, say 40 or 42-inch tall chairs, then risers may be necessary.

See a very helpful diagram at…  http://www.seatsandchairs.com/HomeTheaterRiserPlatformInstructions.html

10. Do the chairs need to be bolted to the floor?

A. In a word yes. Real Movie Theater chairs are designed to be bolted to the floor, however, bases of plywood work fine too. Regarding the leather home theater reclining seats, these do not need to be bolted; rather they simply sit on the floor.

11. What about used theater seats?

A. Used chairs are a viable option; they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They also come in a wide variety of conditions. Ask, how old are the chairs? As real theater chairs have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years, even a 10-year-old chair can have plenty of life left in them. Also ask, how and where were the chairs used? Churches do not allow food or drinks like movie cinemas do. The potential of church chairs (yes many churches use real movie theater chairs in them!) having little or no abuse is great. Are the chairs in good shape? Any stains? Tears? Rust? SeatsAndChairs.com prides itself in offering clean high quality used chairs in a variety of colors and sizes. Speaking of colors, this is also important to realize, used chairs only come in the color that they were received in. The used chairs came out of theater in maroon, so that’s what available. To change the color would incur more costs, that now, more than likely would negate the cost savings of buying new.

12. What are butt shakers, or bass kickers?

A. They are electronic devices that are attached to the frame of the chair, or placed on the floor directly underneath the chair, and that you attach to your sound system. The Butt Shaker is a low frequency device that enables the person sitting in the chair to feel rather than hear the low end (bass) of movies and music. Not a vibrating massage chair, the Butt Shakers are musically accurate and respond precisely to the bass track of movies and music, or the .1 and LFE channels on 5.1 systems. Butt Shaker equipped chairs connect easily to any home theater system and can be installed by consumers and professionals. Unlike a subwoofer or speaker, the Butt Shaker doesn’t make the
room overly loud or carry the sound throughout the entire house or apartment complex. This isolation of the low end within the seating makes Butt Shaker equipped chairs a favorite of wives and neighbors. Designed by musicians and studio engineers, the Butt Shaker is musically accurate with a tight, on-the-beat response that is not just for movies and special effects, but is equally enjoyable with all types of music. It connects easily to and works well with most any sound system, from a CD player to a complete home theater system. Video games come alive when played in Butt Shaker enhanced seating and an unparalleled level of realism and excitement awaits gamers who use these chairs. These Butt Shakers have brought sound to life.

13. How much do the chairs cost?