I've been in contact with Carada, and here's what they had to say concerning my issues. Here's some quotes from what they had to say.
"I use the Projector Central calculator a lot as well. I guess I am a little unsure of what is driving the choice of the screen size for you. AT 1080p resolution a good rule of thumb is sitting back from the screen at least the same distance as the width of the viewing area of the screen. From 11’ back you can successfully have an 11’ wide image at 1080p (particularly with the AE4000U) and not see digital artifacts or the screen door effect. So anything less than an 11’ wide image is just your choice. Commonly, sitting 11’ back, I think most people who want a big theater like image would use a 100-110” diagonal 16:9 screen. If you want to go 2.35:1 for your screen, the 104-112’ model would definitely be appropriate."
"Regarding screen size, one thing I like to ask is “where do you like to sit in a commercial movie theater?” (front, middle, back). That can tell you a lot about what perspective you want from your big screen at home."
"As someone noted, the AE4000U is a pretty bright machine. It also has a published 100000:1 contrast ratio. That means your black levels are going to be good if you have good light control. A white screen material is not going to significantly detract from that in a light controlled room."
"Before you choose to use the High Contrast Grey I would really like for you to examine samples of the screen materials to make sure of that choice. While the black levels will be enhanced greatly, I’m not sure you will like that a gray screen material will do to the image otherwise unless you have seen it in action. Samples of the screen materials are available for you to review and test with in your own theater environment. We will mail them out to you promptly if you will provide us with a mailing address."
"The “self adjusting screen” that someone mentioned is probably our line of Masquerade™ Masking Systems. They aren’t actually screens, but work with a screen to mask black bars and unused screen during video presentations other than the native aspect ratio of the screen."
"One last thought before I send you this e-mail, I looked at your calculations for 12’ throw range. The Projector Central calculator shows this:"
I tried to copy image...and failed.
"From 12’ back the calculator shows that a 92” 16:9 image is the mid-throw range image size. Without any zoom in or out the image is a 92”. But the image range is actually anything between 63” to 122” because it has a throw ratio of 2.00:1."
"So from a mounting point of 12’ back from the screen, all of the images sizes I have mentioned will work with this projector."
