I am contemplating the design of a front-projection HT. I would use M22ti mains (on order) and a VP100 or VP150 center.

The 16:9 projection screen would be between 80" diagonal (39h X 70w) and 90" diagonal (44h X 78w).

I am wondering if there is any merit in building the screen so that the center speaker is behind it, rather than above or below.

The principal advantage, other than a built-in look, would be to keep the planes of the left, center and right speakers roughly aligned instead of widely separated vertically. I don't know if there would be any significant damping by the screen material.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience along these lines?

They make transparent fabric for just this type of application, unfortunately I do not have any to reccomend to you. If you used just a regular screen, im sure it would sound like "poo" for lack of better terms.

If you have the $$$ and can find it, im sure this would be an ideal location though.

Hey! I've trademarked the use of "poo" to describe sound on these boards!

I also was interested in this same thing. I've read that it's good to maintain the line of sound, but I wasn't sure how I'd make that happen with a projector screen. I'll have to look into the transparent material someone else mentioned.

-Nick

I've heard of "transparent" cloth for speaker grills, but I've never found any video screen material that claims such properties. It is hard enough to find just the right video properties! "Poo" soiund is what I am afraid of.

So I am rethinking this. Since the M22ti height on 16" stands is still not very high, with tweeters at about 34", the ideal thing for my application might simply be to mount the center speaker below the screen. I think the screen bottom might be about 36" above the floor, so it all might line up within a couple of inches.

that should be ok. the general idea is to have the tweeter at approximately ear level when sitting down.

There are perforated screens designed to be mounted in front of a speaker. Here are Da-Lite's screen choices; their perforated screen is the "High Contrast Cinema Perf".

I mounted my center channel over the screen and aimed it down at the listening position. I'm very happy with the result.

I just completed my HT with this exact configuration and love it. Showed it off to a friend who spent 2X as much for speakers and 3X as much overall and he couldn't tell the difference.

I recommend the Da-Lite screen with the Audio Vision fabric - if you shop around the web enough you should be able to find the size you're looking for around $600. I have a 106" diagonal (52X96) and use the M22ti and VP100 behind the screen(with 4 QS4s for true 7.1) and its plenty for the room. Couldn't be happier & my wife loves the way it looks.

One tip - plan on either recessing the frame on the Da-Lite screen or painting it black - it's a very shiny aluminum when it arrives and if you mount it to a flush wall it's highly visible.