What television screen size do you recommend? 
In my 25+ years of recommending audio and video gear to customers, I can’t recall once hearing anyone say, “I wish I would have bought a smaller TV.” But I have many memories of my clients wishing that their TV was bigger. So what I have learned from this experience is that you should always but the biggest TV your room, viewing distance, and budget will allow. And that’s especially true with today’s high resolution HDTVs.

That being said, there is a formula we use at Sound Advice that helps us determine the best screen size and viewing distance for a particular application. It‘s a rough estimate, but it gets us into the ball park, so to speak. Here it is:

Viewing Distance = 1.5 to 2.5 x TV screen size

Plugging in a few popular TV screen sizes give us:

Screen Size: 26” Viewing Distance:3-½ to 5-½ feet
Screen Size: 32” Viewing Distance: 4 to 6-½ feet
Screen Size: 40” Viewing Distance: 5 to 8-½ feet
Screen Size: 46” Viewing Distance: 5-¾ to 9-½ feet
Screen Size: 65” Viewing Distance: 8 to 13-½ feet

Of course, many other considerations must be factored in when making a screen size decision. Let’s look at some common room applications and discuss a few of these.

In a living room?
In a living room, an important consideration is how well the TV blends in with the room’s décor and architectural details. Nowadays, we almost always recommend flat-panel televisions