Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater diy screen vs. acoustically transparent diy screen

I'm considering getting a projector and setting up a dedicated room in my basement. I currently own two m22's ,one vp150, two qs8's and an outlaw lfm-1 for my 5.1 system. I'm considering purchasing the Sanyo PLV-Z5 or the Panasonic PT-AX100U as my projector. I am slightly leaning towards the Panasonic. I was also getting an anamorphic lens, but the cheapest I could find was around $2000. This is more money than the projector and puts me out of my budget.

The problem that I am not able to figure out is how can I get the largest possible screen to fit in my room. The front wall is about 10ft wide. So I could fit about a 130 inch 16:9 screen (which would take up the entire width of the wall) on the front wall. However, this would require an acoustically transparent screen so that I could place my front's and center channel without obstructing me viewing the screen.

First question: Does anyone know if it is possible to make a diy acoustically transparent screen from $200 to $500 that would perform well in both audio and video? I was pricing a Draper screen like this for around $1300. This is nearly the price of the projector!

If I cannot afford a acoustically transparent screen then I should probably set up the speakers so that they perform the best in my room before I decide on what size screen to get. Then whatever the distance left between the left and right front's is the size of screen that I can get. However, if I push the left and right's into the front corners then I could still get a very large screen. Maybe I could fit a 100 inch or 110 inch screen in that case.

Second question: Has anyone had good results putting the m22's in the front corners (or nearly in the corners)? I was thinking that since they are just bookshelves that don't produce much bass below 60 to 70 Hz and I will cross them over at 80 Hz anyway, that it may be okay.

third question: Can anyone suggest a link to making a diy screen (not acoustically transparent)? This is if I decide to go with the second option.

thanks in advance for any replies, Nick

Hi there, i have the Z5 onto a 96" Da-lite screen. I made the frame from this link and i used BOC originally but bought proper screen fabric just to ensure I was getting optimal performance. Boc worked very well and the total cost in CAD was $140, add another $150-$500 for fabric if you choose to go that route depending on size and type of fabric etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/danhanson/Theater/screen/screenproject.htm


The Z5 is an amazing pice of kit especially considering the current prices. PQ is excellent with a good upconverting DVDP and jaw dropping with an HD player.

Sorry, i cannot help with your speaker question, I have M80's. However, my room is about 14' wide and I decided to go with a smaller screen because of my need for speaker placement(audio is even more important to me than video). Besides, 106" is the max recommneded screen size for the Z5.

Enjoy, its a fantastic experience.

Chris

Why not mount the speakers below the screen? Your not using floorstanding speakers. No problem, unless your ceiling is very low.

Unless he was referring to the max size from a certain throw distance. My Z2 puts out a 130" image from 12ft away, of course I'm using an anamorphic lens for 2.35 movies.

Max screen size all depends on room environment. If you have a completely light controlled room, you will have no problem going over 150" I think.

-Hutz

sirquack,

I only a have 7.5 ft ceiling. If I was to go with the 130 inch screen then I would have to set the m22's on the floor so that it would not be in the way of me seeing the screen. I definitely wouldn't be able to use my 18 inch stands. This is far from optimal placement since the tweeters are supposed to be at ear level, which is why I was hoping that someone knows of a link to making a cheap diy acoustically transparent screen.

- Nick

I would recommend going with a smaller screen, I don't think your room is big enough to accomodate a 130" screen. I would allow enough room to place the left/right speakers on the side of the screen, and mount the center speaker just below the screen.

How far from the screen will you be sitting?

Did you look at the Viewing Distance Calculator?

The DIY Screen forum at AVS is ubercool.

My personal, unscientific opinion is that, when it comes to acousitically transparent screens, you have affordability, audio fidelity and video fidelity - pick any TWO.

I am planning on sitting 11 to 12 feet from the screen. I misread the review (at www.audiohoics.com) of the Panasonic PT-AX100U. I thought they were using a 130 inch screen for the review but it was just a 100 inch. They said that with Panasonic's Smooth Screen technology they could get very close to the screen. They were able to sit at just over 11.5 feet from the screen without the screen door effect found in most LCD projectors.

A 100 inch screen would be 87 inches wide. My front wall is 120 inches wide. So that seems to leave enough room to fit the speakers on the side of the screen without putting them in the front corners.

I guess all that is left to decide is if I want to do a diy screen for about $100 to $200 or just buy one for around $500. Can anyone suggest a brand of screen material that would perform as well as these more expensive Stewart, Da-Lite, Carada or Draper Screens.

- Nick

Fabrics from Dazian Fabrics are pretty good, that's what Sirquack and I have used. They have a website where they sell by the yard and also a store on ebay that sells precut fabric, which is usually cheaper.

I bought the Da-Lite fabric cut to size from an online dealer in Canada, if you call Da-lite they have a list of dealers that sell fabric. If you go with the Z5 i would suggest the Da-matte white (1.0 gain), the cinemavision (1.3 gain) which i have is pretty bright in a dark room and is not required for your setup, if I did it again thats what I would get, the matte white gives the most accurate PQ. The Z5 is alot brighter than most folks think, at least in a small to medium size room, my unit is ISF calibrated and is on econo mode.

monoprice has some very affordable remote screens for under 200 smacker.

A really affordable DIY screen that is less than 30 bucks, is to go with Parkland Duro-therm light panels. Menards has them standing up in the paneling aisle. Home Depot and Lowes may have them as well. They come standard in 4' x 8' sheets, so you would have to trim the length a little to get a 16:9 screen.

48" x 85" or around 99" diagonal. Once you create a nice border around the material, it would look very nice.