Thread says it all...
We are either moving or building a new home to start the whole family thing in the next 6-10 months. Either way i'll need a new house.

Wife's given me the go ahead to make a dedicated HT room. I'll probably convert an unused bedroom into a practice/2-channel room again. 10 X 12 or so I'm not worried about that one.

My last 2 HT rooms have been on the large side I think, by most home theater standards - 20 X 22, 20 X 24 and vaulted/sloped ceilings in both.
For 5.1 audio especially, I've always felt that the sound would benefit from a smaller room, at least width wise to get a few more reflections for ambience, liveliness, etc. For HT, well the large room does present difficulties in achieving a coherent surround environment until a good volume is achieved 80-85 dB at a minimum.

Then there's the whole practical side to building this room, I don't want 20 X 22 with vaulted ceilings again... I have other priorities in the home too . I'm thinking 20 X 14 or so would be optimal with the seating position about 8-9 feet away from the front speakers. This should allow 2 -3 feet wall clearance for the L/R speakers. I don't want to go too narrow obviously though.

What are your room dimensions? How do you feel it works? If anyone's built a room, what did you do and what would you do differently?
As always, I appreciate any input.