New and Need Major Help (1 Viewer)

[Gallarelli]

I have been planning a home theater in a dedicated room for some time. I am great with the building part of the equation but am lost when I research the components I need and making sure I get the correct stuff. The more I read the more confused I get. I just dont want to make a mistake. Ultamitly, I am looking for some straight forward advise on what to purchase, equipment wise, for my theater room as it relates to projector, reciever & speakers. I realize there are large variances in price and quality regarding each of these. I will put it to you like this....Im not in a position where I have to buy budget equipment but I am not savie enough to appreciate the difference with some high end stuff. I relate it to wine....I can have a $200 bottle of wine next to a $15 bottle of wine and I would not be able to tell the difference where a wine enthusiest would. Having said that, I am looking for good equipment but not great equipment for I will not appreciate the difference.

Our room will be almost exclusivelly for wathching movies of all types. My room is a dedicated room with no ambiant light at all. The dimentions are 15'7" deep by 16'3" wide by 7'10" high (I know...not perfect). I set it up when it was constructed to fully house a recessed projecter in the back wall so my needed throw distance is 15'7". The projector lens will sit approx 7'4" off floor (or 6" from ceeling). The first row of chairs (or large pillows as my kids want) can be as far back as 10' (pillows) or 9' (chairs) form screen. Im not limited to the screen size other than viewing distance, therefore Im not sure what ratio screen/image to get. Again...the more I read the more confused I get. I prewired for 7:1 sound but think the space may be too small so 5:1 is fine.

Having said all that and understanding that I am looking for something something good but not great, what would you recomend for each of the components.

Again...I can really use anyones help so please give me your thoughts

 

[schan1269]

You room is fine for 7.1 if you arrange the seating correctly for it.I sit 9'(ish) from a 120" screen, but many of the DVD/BD are 2.40...so it works out to 108"...most of the time.The tough part is going to be your throw distance, since you shackled yourself. You are supposed to pick the projector and then find where it goes. Not the other way around.

 

[schan1269]

Using 15' and 120"...DLP/Home Theater at ProjectorCentral...Mits 7900/8000BenQ 7500/7000I do not, ever, recommended LCD projectors. Somebody else can chime in with them.There are others besides those (Infocus and Vivitek).

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Personally I use a Sony VW-95ES. 1.5 years ago it was the best overall compromise for 2D and 3D viewing to me. The JVCs were better at 2D and much worse at 3D. I won't buy a DLP because I am sensitive to the rainbow effect and have not been impressed with the image overall quality. Sure DLPs have very clear, very visible clean grid lines but a perfect pixel isn't the end all be all of image quality. The Sony 95ES is now almost 2 years old and Sony hasn't yet replaced it with a newer model. Instead for the upper end Sony now has several 4K models but those are some bigger bucks. The ideal is probably a JVC for 2D and a DLP for 3D (no ghosting).

I also recommend a projector that has motorized zoom/shift/focus with memory. I use a constant image area (CIA) setup so I am always changing the size of the image depending on the aspect ratio. Others use constant image height. Sony has some less expensive models with manual lens and I am so glad I didn't go that way.

You might want to visit that other audio visual science forum where hardware is the main focus as opposed to movies like on this forum.

 

[schan1269]

Not sure the OP "budget" Will go up to LCoS/D-ILA, or I would brought them up.Since LG dropped theirs...anyway.

 

[Gallarelli]

Is the 15'7" throw distance the problem? I thought most of these projectors could throw that far or does it become a quality or brightness issue

 

[schan1269]

That throw leaves out "cheap ass" projectors.

 

[Gallarelli]

Define cheep ass! I was hoping to be no more than $2,500 for projector but will go north of that if important

 

[schan1269]

Any of those 4 I mentioned above would be a great projector.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Is that $2500 limit a real budgetary constraint or more of a "I just don't want to spend more than I need" type of limit? I took your statement as you didn't think you could appreciate the difference between a decent and a great projector, not a hard cost limit. There are 3 main levels of projectors.
$0-$3K
$3K - $5K
$5K - $10K
and then the really top end at $10K+. There are visible difference between projectors at each of these levels and within the up to $3K there is the "cheap ass" projectors at

 

[Gallarelli]

5k - 10k is a lot...it's not a real budget issue but a "how much do I really want to spend on this". So it might be tough to find a good projector in that price range that can throw 15'7" if I understand correctly. I can mount the projector closer and not use the pre constructed space but my crawling is only 7'10"

 

[Gallarelli]

Ceiling

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Once you are in the $3K plus range, you should have no issues finding a projector for that throw distance. Mine is at 15' and I could put it back to my wall at 20'. That is for projecting either 112" wide or 126" wide. I like a big screen and the less bright image isn't an issue for me in my fully light controlled bat cave. It is always difficult to decide how much value you get from a better projector whether it is worth the money to you.