Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Storm damage to HT room?

I've just started a thread on AVSforum. Here's a link to it.

Now here's a Home Theater Lighting Control Kit like I've been searching for. I put the link here to make it easier for me to find in the future.

My original plan.
Plan as modified by JC.

Use mouse wheel to zoom image.
Drag image with mouse to move it.
Click on 3D button for 3D view.

Room plan with speakers added.

I bought a cheap digital camera today, and upgraded my signature picture. The colors look much better than the cell phone picture I had before. The wall color is no longer pink in the picture, but now it appears a peach color.

For anyone that's interested, I've added pictures of the floor with storm damage that is to become my HT room.

It's on avsforum.com at this location.

I put this message on avsforum, but I thought I'd repeat it here. There might be someone here that can answer my question also.


This is the wall where I plan on mounting an AT screen with 3 speakers in the wall for L/C/R that are 15 or 18 inches deep, and 40 inches high. I'm not sure of the screen size yet, but I'm thinking of 8 foot wide with 2.35:1. The plywood that's nailed up there is 7 foot wide. I'm not sure if I should go wider, or not. I don't want a screen I'll regret later as too small, yet I don't want one too big either. The seating distance will only be about 10 foot.

I plan on removing this insulation and the drywall on the other side of this wall soon. Then moving some 2x6 studs to accommodate the speakers. Then drywall the garage side of the wall with a big hole in it that will allow the speakers to hang out the backside into the garage. (Later I'll build an insulated box around the backside of the speakers.) Note: These speakers are in-cabinet speakers and are designed to be mounted this way.

Link to speakers:
18 inch deep http://www.axiomaudio.com/m80-in-cabinet.html
15 inch deep http://www.axiomaudio.com/m60-in-cabinet.html

My question is, how far from the ceiling should I mount the screen?

The ceiling is 7 foot high. The projector (Panasonic PTAE4000U perhaps), will probably be mounted on a shelf, near the ceiling, about 13-14 feet back. Putting the screen closer to the ceiling will put the tweeters further up away from the ears, putting the screen down would seem to put your head closer, to the beam of light, perhaps in the beam of light. One possibility is to mount the speakers upside down.

I'm also thinking that the top of the screen might have to be level with the lens on the projector. If this is so, then the top of the screen would have to be mounted inches from the ceiling.

Any help in this area would be much appreciated. I have absolutely no experience with projectors and this is my first attempt to build a theater.

I need to know soon, so I will know where to put the hole for the speakers in the wall. Thanks in advance.

This might help you a little

http://carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator

http://www.projectorreviews.com/advice/HomeTheaterProjector-FAQs/ShelfMountingProjectors.php

Prejetor specific: http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm

here is a site that lists many different sites to go to: http://www.your-home-theater-design.com/home-theater-projectors.html

A basic rule is the top edge of the screen can't be below the top edge of the projector's lens. But the projector doesn't have to be in the vertical center of the screen, as long as it has an optical shift (all good ones do).

I'm back from the HT store. I wanted to talk to the people there and view the screen they had again. They were pretty busy, but the most knowledgeable person spent some time with me.

From this trip I discovered the following:

1) I want a 120 inch diag. screen. I remeasured my wall and it was just under 11 feet at 127 inches. That's before double drywall and some insulation on the concrete wall. That leaves about 123 inches for screen and frame.

2) I want the screen a little higher than I had originally planned, because once in a theater seat that reclines, you will be looking up more than when just sitting straight.

3) I will probably have to mount the in-cabinet M80's upside down to put the tweeters more at ear level.

4) Epson sells a newer projector, model "9500 UB", for around $2,000. (Well, I looked it up and it isn't all that new).

5) I would need an anamorphic lens for a projector that can display 2.40:1, that starts out in price at $2000. I thought that the Panasonic PTAE4000U didn't need this lens, but from searching the internet the salesperson couldn't determine that while I was there. He said 2.40:1 is a more popular size today than 2.35:1.