Help with Home Theater Setup & Design (1 Viewer)

[cscmtp]

Hi everyone. We are in the process of building our home right now (we will be dried in by Monday!) I have a designated home theater room in our basement with no windows/ambient light that is approximately 15x27.

Do you think a room of my size (with 9 foot ceilings) would have room for a pretty big screen? I could never understand the "throw" talk about how big my screen might be able to get based on my room dimensions.

Also, I bought some audio equipment that was on sale but without a lot of knowledge. Do you think this would make a good sound system? Is there anything missing or something I should add/change/upgrade?

Here are my components purchased thus far:


PS3 (for blu ray and gaming)
Onkyo TX-SR608
Klipsch RC-52 II
Klipsch RW-12d
Klipsch RF-52 II B
Klipsch RF-52 II B
Klipsch RB-51 II


We also will have about 12 LED cans in the ceiling (with dimmers) for our lighting.

Finally I still need to buy my projector and screen. Any recommendations on either? I've liked what I have read about the Epson 8700 as it sounds like its good for HD TV/Sports as well as movies. I know my family will do some gaming with the PS3, but we'll MOSTLY watch NFL and College Basketball games in HD, and movies on the PS3.

I would be happy to post pictures of our room and again and would love any suggestions for component placement, projector and screen suggestions, etc. Thanks!!!


Christopher

cscmtp at hotmail dot com

 

[winniw]

Here is an example of throw. I have an Epson 8350. The 8350 has a 2x zoom which allows it to throw a 100" image with the projector as close as 9'10" to the screen, or as far away as 21 feet from the screen.


So, you have to know what size image you want, where the projector could or would be located, and determine if this is within the capabilities of the projector.


Check out this interactive distance calculator. http://www.epson.com/alf_upload/landing/distance-calculator/


Note: First, select your projector at the top left of the page. Then click & drag the large, white outlined, distance and height arrows. Drag the distance arrow while watching the Image Size "Diagonal" or "Width" box, until you get the size that you need. Then check the "Throw distance" to the right, to see how much flexibility you have.

You can also select the throw distance as the priority by clicking on Projection distance, the second tab of the bottom blue boxes.


BTW, If you change a value in one of the white boxes, you must press enter to set it.

 

[gene c]

That's a pretty good size room. Plenty big enough for a projector and large screen. I really don't know anything about projectors so I'll defer to others for that. With 1018P you can get pretty close to the screen and still see the detail.


The Onkyo 608 is a nice receiver and was recommended quite a bit around here last year. It should serve you well. Onkyo's do run a little warmer than most other brands so make sure you give it a lot of room on the top and sides to breath.


Klipsch is a love it or hate it thing. They are very bright sounding speaker because of their horn loaded tweeters and some feel they can be a little fatiguing after a while. I don't care much for that type of sound with music but I thinks it's an advantage for movies. Only you can tell whether you will like them or not.


I don't know much about PS3's either but they can have their limitations depending on the model. Again, maybe someone else can help you better there.

 

[Jim Mcc]

You certainly have the wall space for a large screen, but the size depends on your seating distance from screen. What will that be? The Epson 8700 is a great choice for the projector. The screen color depends on whether you'll watch with any lights on, and the colors of your ceiling(especially) and walls. I agree about the Klipsch speakers. Make sure you listen to them first.

 

[cscmtp]

Appreciate the feedback so far! Unfortunately I've already bought the speakers, but hopefully I'll come out on the love vs hate end. I know I've always preferred treble/highs over lows/bass, so hopefully I'll be okay with those speakers.


So with my room measurements, does it look like I could have a screen as big as 120 or 135"?


I guess I don't really know how close or far we plan to sit in regards to the screen. The room is long enough that I'd hope we'd have plenty of room to move back further if we need to (guessing we'd want to be closer than farther away)


So I've read ceiling and wall colors need to be dark. Would a Duke (royal) Blue be dark enough?

 

[Dennis M Morey]

I am building a new home and will be using the family room as the media room. I want to install a 46 - 55 inch LCD TV above the fireplace. I have a 16 yr old Bose system- 1 front sub,6 LCR speakers and 1 rear sub with 2 LR speakers. I would like to go to ceiling mounted speakers for all locations and need advise as to what kind of speakers and what to do about sub woofers.


The family room is about 18 x 25 open on the right side.


Thanks

Dennis

 

[winniw]

Just to give you some rough idea... you want to sit approximately at a distance of 1.5 times the diagonal of the screen (at the most, you can sit closer). So, 120" is 10 feet x 1.5 is 15 feet, so you would sit with your eyes being around 15 feet from the screen. The back of your sofa or seating would be another foot or two behind that.

 

[cscmtp]

Originally Posted by winniw

Just to give you some rough idea... you want to sit approximately at a distance of 1.5 times the diagonal of the screen (at the most, you can sit closer). So, 120" is 10 feet x 1.5 is 15 feet, so you would sit with your eyes being around 15 feet from the screen. The back of your sofa or seating would be another foot or two behind that.

Thank you! I have never heard that. With the room being just over 27 in length, that should be no problem.

 

[Robert_J]

Would a Duke (royal) Blue be dark enough?

That's the color of my walls. My ceiling is battleship gray.


Screen distance was covered but not screen height. Divide the screen into 3rds. The line separating the middle 3rd from the bottom third should be exactly at eye level. With my 103" screen, that left enough room for a pair of 15" subs, a 1,600w amp and my center channel under the screen. My only distraction is a cat that like to sleep on the center channel. He's white so he can blend in with the screen.

 

[cscmtp]

Originally Posted by Robert_J


That's the color of my walls. My ceiling is battleship gray.

Is Grey considered as good or better than black?


Also, you mentioned your components underneath. I hadn't really thought about all of that. So i guess with the speakers I've already bought, I too will have to put the center console underneath the screen (maybe find a good cabinet for it?) And does the sub have to be up front or can it be in the back of the room? And I assume the tall left and right channel speakers need to go up front to the sides of the screen and the 2 bookshelves go in the back?

 

[Robert_J]

The sub needs to go where it sounds the best. That depends totally on your room. I took a different approach and put mine up front and then applied a parametric EQ to make it sound good.


The tall, left & right speakers go on either side of the screen. Bookshelf speakers in the back. Mine are on stands to make them ear level. I almost installed on-wall speakers but I still can't draw up an enclosure that I like (I'm building them).


Here's my setup while in transition. Small sub, amp and center channel all stacked. I was testing one of my new subs on the right. I finally went with two of them in place of the small sub under the amp.

 

[winniw]

Personally, I would go with shades of gray, charcoal and black, if that suits your taste.

 

[winniw]

BTW, since you have plenty of depth to your room, you might want to consider an acoustically transparent screen and put all of your front speakers behind it. That would make for a very clean look. Just an idea.

 

[Jim Mcc]

The darker the better, so black is best. I highly recommend you don't put your A/V components in the front of room. It's very distracting while watching a movie. With 9' ceilings, a 135" diagonal screen should be no problem, BUT you have to make sure the projector you choose is bright enough for a large screen like that. Are you decided on the Epson 8700? If yes, it is more than bright enough for a 135" diagonal screen. This size is 66" X 117", so make sure you'll have enough room for your speakers on each side of screen.

Originally Posted by cscmtp



Is Grey considered as good or better than black?


Also, you mentioned your components underneath. I hadn't really thought about all of that. So i guess with the speakers I've already bought, I too will have to put the center console underneath the screen (maybe find a good cabinet for it?) And does the sub have to be up front or can it be in the back of the room? And I assume the tall left and right channel speakers need to go up front to the sides of the screen and the 2 bookshelves go in the back?

 

[cscmtp]

Originally Posted by Jim Mcc

The darker the better, so black is best. I highly recommend you don't put your A/V components in the front of room. It's very distracting while watching a movie. With 9' ceilings, a 135" diagonal screen should be no problem, BUT you have to make sure the projector you choose is bright enough for a large screen like that. Are you decided on the Epson 8700?

Not 100% decided but from what I keep reading, it sounds like it would be a good choice. Are you thinking otherwise? Again, I'm a newbie and open to ideas. And I could be wrong, but with zero windows and no ambient light, shouldn't the 8700 be plenty bright or maybe not?

 

[Jim Mcc]

The Epson 8700 is a great choice for you. I edited my above post, and yes, it is more than bright enough. I checked the "Calculator Pro" at Projectorcentral.com. I would figure on mounting it at about 16' (lens to screen) and your seating at about 15'. The farther back you put projector, the dimmer it becomes.

 

[smithb]

It can be a good idea to get the projector first and test it out in the room. You don't have to hang it to test it out, just bring in an end table or something to rest it on. This way you can experiment with different size images on the white wall before painting to figure out the best screen size you are comfortable with and ceiling mounting position. Your room size and height should work out very well for an HT.


Have you decided on seating? You should be able to accomodate 2 to 3 rows of sitting (3 to 4 seats per row) in that space with risers (that is where those 9' ceilings come in handy). Whatever you do don't buy HT longer/recliners locally unless you just don't care about cost. Good deals can be had online. Motorized seating is ideal.

 

[cscmtp]

I bought 2 nice used (but perfect flawless condition) berkline leather recliners (but not motorized unfortunately) but obviously will have room for a lot more seating. Any suggestions on good places to buy?

 

[Robert_J]

From a private message:

Hi. Do you by chance have a picture of your room with your blue walls? If so, would you mind if I had a look? Does the blue keep glares from happening or something? Any other suggestions you might have?

Here's a pic with more wall in it. Please ignore the numerous subs as I was testing a few things that day. It was fun having six 15" subs running. I think any dark color will work. My wife picked out the colors and the draperies. The original room started out as a dark purple but it made the gray carpet look blue. The first coat of blue was way too light also. I'm not sure of the name of the final color but the paint is eggshell finish using Lowe's premium brand of paint. In normal room lighting, it looks darker than this picture. When only the projector is on, you can't tell the color of the walls, ceiling or floor.

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by cscmtp . Could be worth checking into at $500 a seat for power recline.