HT in basement... go big and have columns in way, or stay small?

[djkest]

That's actually not a bad way to go, 11' x 15' is not too bad at all. Consider most couches are about 7-8' wide. You could even do a small riser for the 2nd row.

Another thing you could do to make the room feel bigger is by doing a "pop out" or closet between the columns. This would cut into the area you marked as "unused space". The advantage to this situation is that 3 walls and the floor are solid concrete. You could also put the door in the middle of that wall instead of the front, which might be better.

You could fit a 120" screen on that wall, but depending on what speakers you have, that may not leave much room for speakers on either side of the screen.