Room size, screen size, and throw distance (1 Viewer)

Hello again. I'm sure this question has been asked a thousand times already, but I'm still confused about what I can/should do about my screen and room size.


I am planning on building what I call my "mid life crisis home theatre". I live in a bungalo and am planning on putting this theatre in my basement. The room dimensions can go as large as 26' x 20'. The height of the steel beams supporting my main floor are 7 feet 7 inches high, so my ceiling could potentially go up to that point. The actual boards of the floor above are at 8 feet 5 inches, so that gives me lots of space to insulate, wire my star light type ceiling, etc.


Screen size:

If I want to maximize my screen size on the 20' wall, and keep the 16:9 aspect ratio (unless I should go wider), how tall should my screen be? I don't think going right from floor to ceiling would be good because I assume I would want the screen to start a few feet off the ground. How much space should I have above and below my screen? Whatever size that works out to be will dictate the screen size I can go I assume. I was thinking of maybe putting my centre channel behind the screen, but I've heard that the porrus screens that allow sound to travel through don't give as nice a picture due to the amount of light lost through the little holes, but if you could prove me wrong, then maybe I don't have to have the centre below the screen.


Room size:

I know that I should not have a square room, and that the room dimensions should not be multiples of each other (like 24x16x8). However, assuming the 26' length is not changeable, but the 20' width is (smaller only), what would my ideal size be?


Projector:

Once I know the size of my screen, then I will know how far back the projector would have to be to throw to a screen that size. I assume that my 26' of room length would accomodate most if not all projector throw distance requirements for a screen that size. The projectors brands that were recommended to me were JVC, Optoma, and Panasonic. I haven't looked into any of these yet, but I assume that all of these projectors can produce a QUALITY image at the sizes I'm looking at. Any preference for any of these?


OK, I think that's enough confusing questions for one post. Hopefully someone can give me a hand with my confusion.


Thanks,

Trevor

According to http://www.componentacoustics.com/resources.html, if my finished ceiling height would be 7.5 feet tall, then it recommends that I have my room length be 21 feet and room width at 19 feet. I could accomodate those sizes with my floor plan (just means my other rooms I'm going to create in the basement would get the extra space (more space in the bathroom would make the wife happy) .

Hi Trevor,


Designing/setting up a front projection system is a tricky thing. This is because all the factors you mention - screen width, screen height off the floor, throw distance, room size etc. are all interrelated and depend on one another.


The best place to "start" is with a budget. That will often dictate the projection technology that is best to use for your situation. That, in turn, will narrow down projector choices, which will help determine the "offset" that you will have to work with (for DLP projectors) or how much placement flexibility you'll have with an LCD projector. Once all of that is known, and your projector height is known (you've already got that), then you can see what screen sizes are possible with the projector models that will "work" with your room.


After all of that, you'll have a handful of options from which to choose.


Trying to go the other way (i.e. starting with a screen size and working backwards) is, IMO, likely to lead to a lot of frustration and perhaps after all that effort will result in a system that's outside your budget anyway.

I've budgeted about $150,000 for the entire basement (2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a wet bar, a large party room, and the home theatre). I am not putting any furniture in any of the rooms in this quote other than the seating in the home theatre. My current guess is the home theatre room will be between $60,000 and $80,000 of that entire budget. I don't think I could spend much more than that without causing wife aggrevation .

Wow - well with that kind of capital at your disposal, you can probably forget everything I said in my last post. ) - I wouldn't know where to begin.


Hopefully others can chime in with some solid recommendations of equipment appropriate to your needs.