Hidden Screen Project (1 Viewer)

[xx Brian xx]

After buying a new house, I had a dilemma. I wanted a projector and screen for movies but do not have a spare room for a theater room. My wife and I didn't want all kinds of electronics in the living room this time either.

The solution took a lot of work but came out better than we expected. I did everything myself including all programming of whole home automation, installing all components/parts and pulling wires through the attic and walls.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Step one was installing all components in a smart closet. I control the temp in the closet with a thermostat from CoolerGuys that will kick in fans to bring cool air in at the bottom and blow warm out at the top of the room. I modified two cheap shelves from local hardware store to hold all components. I ran a 2" pvc pipe through the wall from the attic for current and future wires. I also have a separate smart area just for the network. Everything in the home is hardwired through a 16 port switch. Components are fully protected with two Panamax surge protectors.

20171219_085308

• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

There are 28 speakers throughout the whole house with separate volume controls in each room or they can be controlled through our phones. I use three separate multi zone receivers to feed all the zones. I already had the receivers and didn't want to spend more money on a matrix switch. There is no reason to know how they are connected to operate the system because I programmed Control4 to operate everything seamlessly. You just select what you want in each zone and Control4 will do the rest.

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• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

Control4 Wall Switch

• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

The solution in the living room for a screen took only a few days. I installed an Elite Screens power drop screen and hid it behind a hand built decorative board. I ran a Hue LED light strip to make it look like that is all it is for.

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• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

The screen is operated from the 12v trigger on the receiver when it switches to output 2. The way it works is: When I tell Alexa to "Turn on home theater" she send the command to Control4 and the Control4 turns off the TV, turns the 4 overhead lights dark blue, switches receiver to output 2 (which in turn triggers the screen to drop), turns on Epson projector, sets volume to 42 on receiver and then after 15 seconds turns off the front two lights and dims the rear lights to 20%.

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• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

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• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

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• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

Equipement includes:

Sony XBR65X930D
Marantz SR 7010 for main room
Yamaha Aventage RX-A1030 for multi zones
Sony receiver for multi zones
Sony UBP-X800 Bluray
Apple TV
Roku 4K
Raspberry Pi running Kodi
Epson Home Cinema 3700 projector
All speakers are Klipsh including the 4 ceiling speakers. I run a 5.2.4 system which I like better then when I ran it as 7.2.2
Control4 programed with Amazon Echo for full voice control.

Let me know what you think. I hope to be helpful for others that are working on their own projects.

Brian

 

[xx Brian xx]

Here is a picture with screen fully deployed.

Screen dropped

• xx Brian xx
• Dec 19, 2017

 

[Bobofbone]

Imaginative. Very nice use of the space. The one potential problem might be the effect of heat from the fireplace on the screen-easy to avoid though. I like it.

 

[xx Brian xx]

Thanks Bobofbone.

Living in the south now, the fireplace is actually electric and doesn't generate any heat unless I turn on the heating element, which I never do.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

That's a very elegant solution - kudos on the automation aspect as well.

 

[xx Brian xx]

Been working on upgrading the system the last few weeks. Installed new SVS PB2000 sub and replaced front two Klipsch towers with Bower & Wilkins 683-S2's. Have a new HTM61-S2 center on order that should be here next week. Can't wait to hear the system with the new center installed.

Only problem is that the Klipsch center is sunk in to the wall and the hole is not big enough to fit the new B&W center. I will tear open the wall this summer and redo the speaker hole but for now I can use a speaker stand to hold it.

Still thinking on the rear speakers. Was going to install in-wall B&Ws but now I am thinking heavily about the B&W DS3s. I auditioned these at a Magnolia Design Center and was impressed. Anyone have these? Would you recommend them?

So far, I have to say that going from a 2-way speaker to these 3-way speakers has been impressive. Of coarse the SVS made a huge difference as well.

Brian

 

[xx Brian xx]

After getting the new B&W center channel, there is no way it is going to fit in the wall cavity I built 4 years ago for the Klipsch.

Choices

• xx Brian xx
• Mar 12, 2018

Time to tear it down!

TearDown

• xx Brian xx
• Mar 12, 2018

I restructured the wall inside the fireplace and dropped the speaker down to get it right at ear level. The fireplace is electric and is too inefficient to ever use it for heat so I'm not worried about that.

I built a speaker box bigger than what I needed and then built another box that I glued and stapled inside the first one. I wanted to make sure it doesn't vibrate. The center channel is sitting on 4 one inch silicone pads to help isolate it from the box. I retiled the fireplace and then built a screen to fit in the speaker hole.

I also lowered the TV about 4 inches to get a better viewing angle.

Not bad for a weekend project, I guess.

Now to figure out what I want to change to for the rear speakers...

Fireplace

• xx Brian xx
• Mar 12, 2018

 

[xx Brian xx]

With the AV closet too far from the TV to see what is on the screen, I decided to do something about it. I added a 7" monitor to the AV closet and looped it in from the AVPro HDMI extender. Now when I work in the closet, I can see what is playing in the main room and can see the receiver menu if I need to make any changes.
The monitor was ordered from Amazon and only cost $60, well worth the investment.

The down side is that the screen is 1080 only, so when it's turned on the system down grades the video output to 1080p. Not really a big deal because I only turn on the screen when I'm working on the system. I created a button on our smart remote that turns on the small screen and changes resolution to 1080 and when I'm done and turn it off, it switches back to 4K.