Front Projection With 7' Ceiling (1 Viewer)

[Brad Wood]

Hello All,
I just bought a house and unfortunately, the basement has a 7' ceiling. The wife loved it, so there was no talking her out of it. I would like to build a front projection HT/Media Room in the basement, but I'd like to hear from others who have done the same thing in a 7' ceiling. I'd like to hear if it's really worth it.

On another front, I'm considering designing it with a perf screen so that I can keep all three speakers across the front at the same height. I'll probably build a stage/facade about 18' from the wall which will allow me to hide the speakers behind stretched fabric and the screen, and allow me to hide the acoustic treatment behind there as well. I'd like to hear other people's experiences with perf screens.

Brad Woodhouse
Edina, MN

 

[Neil Joseph]

My old house's HT was in the basement with a drop ceiling that lowered the ceiling to around 7'.

At the time, I had an 84" 4x3 setup with no issues as far as screen or projector mounting or viewing problems. You will most likely have to mount the screen pretty much as high as you can get (depending on the size of the screen) but the height of my old 4x3 (84") would be roughly equivalent to a 100" 16x9 setup so you could accomodate this as well.

Are there any other obstacles like heating ducts etc?

 

[Tommy G]

My basement has approx a 7' ceiling that is a drop ceiling. I have a 106" 16:9 screen and the projector sits on a built shelf at the back wall. This works perfectly fine for me and the screen ends up being in a perfect spot for viewing. It is definitely doable.

 

[ChadLB]

Also depends on if the FP is Short/long throw for placement.

 

[Brad Wood]

Neil,
I do have a couple of obstacles that I'm going to have to deal with. One is a large heating duct that I hope I can re-route. The other is a post that I can get rid of by putting in a reinforced beam. Once I get those out of the way, I'll start the rough in for the rest of the stuff

So anyone have any thoughts on perf screens?

 

[Neil Joseph]

I would personally opt to place my centre speaker above or below the screen (below in your case) and aim up slightly. I am not a real fan of perfed screens due to their added expense, possibility of moire interfearance with digital projectors caused by the interaction of pixels and perf holes. You can lose a little audio and video quality.

 

[Robert Ma]

I have a small room with a low ceiling. Check out my pics from my sig. link to see how I mounted a 80x45 pull down screen. I was originally going to hang it from the top like the directions said but then it would have been way too low.

 

[Brian.Huep]

Hello, I just built a theater in my basement that has a 6' 10" ceiling. I managed to get a 106" diagonal 16x9 up with zero problems. It is mounted about 1" from the ceiling. My room is 11x15x6'10"

I used a low profile leather couch and the screen is perfect height. I am using a panasonic 200U mounted 6" or so from the ceiling right over the couch, you would never even know its there. I placed my center jsut below the screen and ever so slightly angled it up to the listening position. The center sits right under the bottom of the screen.

Definately do able, and should work out great! Everyone is in awe at my setup.

 

[Bernard Davis Jr]

This is definitely doable. My ceiling is only about 6' 8" and I use a 84" 4:3 screen and a 100" 16:9. Currently my projector is built into a table that sits between my front row of 2 chairs. I opted for this setup because my room is actually a "media room", and mounting the projector on the ceiling would interfere with my dart board. Also as Neil stated my center channel is below my screen aimed up a little bit.

 

[Steve Lucas]

It seems you have plenty of encouragement, but I guess I'll add my $.02 too.
I have a 12x20 room with a 7' Drywall ceiling. I have a 106" 16 X 9 screen and my projector is mounted on the ceiling. It worked just fine. You just have to ignore some of the directions included for set-up and mounting. My screen is about 6" down front the ceiling, and to get the picture to hit it right, I angled my projector slightly upward because of the built in "drop". No one but me knows that there was ever an issue tho, it works perfectly.

Steve

 

[Tom Jr]

Steve,

When tilting the projector up, did your image become trapizoidal instead of rectangular? If so, how did you deal with it?

I've been starting to look at projectors as well, and I came across the NEC HT1000, which gets good reviews, here and elsewhere. The problem is with the mounting instructions. You need a high ceiling. Is this common, or is it a NEC thing?

Thanks

 

[Steve Lucas]

It did make it slightly trapizoidal, but the keystone correction in the projector dealt with that easily.

My instructions said I needed the screen to be mounted something lke 24 inches down from the ceiling, but mine is actually mounted about 6 inches down. It worked out just fine. No complications or compromises at all.

Steve