Home theater, Hi-Fi and acoustics toolkit
Theater Calculators
Free calculators for screens, speakers, AV receivers and rooms. Start with amp matching and viewing distance, then open throw, room modes, HDMI bandwidth and the rest of the cinema kit.
Screens & projection
Viewing distance, throw, aspect ratio, brightness, viewing angle and pixel pitch.
Screens & projection
Pixel Pitch and Retina Distance Calculator
Find pixel pitch and the distance at which 4K (or 1080p) pixels hit 1 arc-minute visual acuity.
Screens & projection
Projector Brightness (Foot-Lamberts) Calculator
Estimate on-screen foot-lamberts and nits from lumens, screen gain and image area. Compare with cinema and HDR targets.
Screens & projection
Projector Throw Distance Calculator
Turn a throw-ratio pair and screen size into the minimum, maximum and mid-zoom mounting distance.
Screens & projection
Screen Size to Aspect Ratio Converter
Convert a diagonal and aspect ratio into width, height and area for 16:9, Scope or 4:3 masking.
Screens & projection
Screen Viewing Distance Calculator
Convert a screen diagonal into THX 40° and SMPTE 30° seating distances. Inches on the diagonal; metres (or feet) to the seat.
Screens & projection
Ideal Viewing Angle Calculator
Get horizontal and vertical field of view from image size and seating distance. Compare with THX 40° and SMPTE 30°.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Stereo triangle, Atmos ceiling angles, first reflections, room modes and panel coverage.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Acoustic Panel Coverage Estimator
Estimate how many panels you need from room size, target wall coverage and panel area. Cinema rooms often want 20–40%.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Dolby Atmos Ceiling Speaker Angle Calculator
Convert ceiling height and elevation angles into front and rear overhead offsets from the main seat.
Speaker placement & acoustics
First Reflection Point (Mirror Trick) Finder
Estimate side-wall and ceiling first-reflection locations from speaker, seat and room geometry — the calculator version of the mirror trick.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Room Modes / Standing Wave Calculator
Map the first axial modes from length, width and height. Speed of sound 343 m/s. Then plan subs and treatment.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Home Theater Seating Riser Height Calculator
Estimate second-row riser height so the rear seat sees over the front row, from row distances and head clearance.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Stereo Speaker Equilateral Triangle Setup
Turn listening distance into speaker separation for an equilateral stereo triangle, plus a 30° toe-in starting angle.
Speaker placement & acoustics
Subwoofer Room Gain Estimator
Rough in-room bass lift from room volume and how many boundaries the sub sees. Add it to an anechoic SPL.
Amplification & power
Amp matching, speaker wire gauge, AVR heat, conditioners and Ohm’s-law rack load.
Amplification & power
Amplifier Power Match (SPL) Calculator
From speaker sensitivity, distance and target SPL, get required watts and whether a receiver can supply them with headroom.
Amplification & power
AV Receiver Heat Dissipation Calculator
Estimate heat in watts and BTU/h from idle draw, load and efficiency, then a starting ventilation gap.
Amplification & power
Ohm’s Law AV Rack Load Calculator
Convert rack watts and wall voltage into amps and check the 80% continuous-load breaker rule.
Amplification & power
Power Conditioner Sizing (VA/Watts) Calculator
Sum display, AVR, sources and extras, then add 25% headroom for a conditioner or UPS VA rating.
Amplification & power
Speaker Wire Gauge (AWG) Distance Calculator
Pick a minimum AWG so round-trip copper stays under 5% of the speaker impedance on your cable run.
Signal, cables & storage
HDMI bandwidth, cable capacitance, audio delay, Plex storage and STC estimates.
Signal, cables & storage
Audio Delay Time Calculator
Convert a path-length difference into milliseconds and 48 kHz samples for DSP speaker delay.
Signal, cables & storage
Audio Cable Capacitance / Treble Loss Estimator
Model a long RCA/XLR run as an RC low-pass: f-3dB and loss at 20 kHz from pF/m, length and source impedance.
Signal, cables & storage
HDMI Bandwidth Calculator
Estimate video Gbit/s from resolution, refresh, bit depth, chroma and blanking. See if HDMI 2.0 TMDS (~14.4) or 2.1 (48) is enough.
Signal, cables & storage
Plex / Media Server Bitrate to Storage Size
Convert video bitrate and hours of library into gigabytes and terabytes. 1 Mbit/s for 1 hour is 0.45 GB.
Signal, cables & storage
Soundproofing STC Estimator
A mass-law-ish STC estimate from surface mass and an air gap. Higher STC, quieter neighbours — bass still leaks.
TV mounting & DIY
Wall-mount height, VESA, TV-to-wall proportion, Helmholtz traps, rack U-space and boundary gain.
TV mounting & DIY
AV Rack U-Space Calculator
Sum AVR, disc, network and extras in rack units, add ventilation U, and round up the cabinet size.
TV mounting & DIY
Blackout Paint Light Reflectance Value Estimator
Estimate remaining bounce light from paint LRV and how many wall bounces, then a crude contrast-gain factor.
TV mounting & DIY
Helmholtz Resonator DIY Frequency Calculator
Tune a ported cavity to a room-mode frequency: f = (c/2π) √(A / (V L_eff)) with end correction.
TV mounting & DIY
Subwoofer Quarter/Eighth Space Placement Estimator
Add 0, 6, 12 or 18 dB of theoretical boundary gain for free, half, quarter or eighth-space sub placement.
TV mounting & DIY
TV Size vs Wall Size Proportion
Compare TV width to wall width. A balanced look often lands between 45% and 85% of the wall.
TV mounting & DIY
TV Wall Mount Height (Eye-Level) Calculator
Place the TV centre at seated eye height, with an optional downward offset for a theater recline.
TV mounting & DIY
VESA Mount Weight and Leverage Compatibility
Check that the TV’s VESA pattern fits the mount and that the panel mass is under the mount rating.
Clusters
- Screens & projectionViewing distance, throw, aspect ratio, brightness, viewing angle and pixel pitch.
- Speaker placement & acousticsStereo triangle, Atmos ceiling angles, first reflections, room modes and panel coverage.
- Amplification & powerAmp matching, speaker wire gauge, AVR heat, conditioners and Ohm’s-law rack load.
- Signal, cables & storageHDMI bandwidth, cable capacitance, audio delay, Plex storage and STC estimates.
- TV mounting & DIYWall-mount height, VESA, TV-to-wall proportion, Helmholtz traps, rack U-space and boundary gain.