Layout and cable suggestions (1 Viewer)

[Barinder]

Well thanks in part to all the positive comments as well as my own viewing of a couple projectors (Z1, 300u, X1) I ordered an X1 and have been playing with it for the last few days. Unfortunately I live in a very well lit (or fortunately if you don't like living in a cave) apartment and this thing shines even without ambient lighting. I have a nonproggresive Sony DVD player, cable TV as well as an XBOX and the picture with all sources is very impressive (even running my below average cable signal through my 6 year old RCA VCR and then composite out to the X1 - shudder). And no rainbows for me, just a beautiful picture being projected onto some blackout fabric tacked to the wall. Can't wait to hook this thing up to a quality video source!

I will be moving to a converted townhouse to condo in the next few weeks. The beauty is the basement is unfinished but this devolper is finishing the basement (half anyway) and I've decided to make this a dedicated HT room. The room in approximate measurements is 18' x 13.5' with a 7'2" ceiling. The stairs are one one end cutting off another 4' (approx) off the length. He will be laying PVC piping as conduits for the needed video cables and speaker wire once I give him my markings. My question is which way would 'you' setup the system - a longer narrower HT or a shorter wider setup? I realize that the dimensions are close both ways but the PJ could be mounted off a support banister for the staircase or off the back wall so both setups should provide a suitable throw distance, though the seating distance will be primarily different (11-13' for the narrow vs. 11' max for the wider) once the sofa and screen are taken into account. I will see if I can't whip up some crude drawings to help illustrate how my potential setups would be.

Obviously running wire up the wall and over the ceiling to the PJ will be 20'+ and I am looking at getting a breakout cable for that run rather than the breakout provided by Infocus and a longer component set. My preference is to limit the number of connections to maintain integrity of the signal but at this distance have I already comprimised the signal enough where having a long component then the breakout (as opposed to the one cable) is moot? I suppose this depends on the build of the cabling. I've seen some breakouts at that length in the $60-100 range (now if I had only bookmarked those pages) but imagine the other solution would be cheaper (provided similar cable quality). My primary viewing will be DVDs, XBOX and then TV. I will be getting digital cable (comcast is giving me very conflicted stories though they say HD in my area), satellite (well need to check prices on upgrading to HD-sat).

 

[Neil Joseph]

I would go with a 13.5' wide room and an 18' long room. This will give you more seating options, plus the first limiting factor (other than the ceiling height) is the width of your room. You should be able to accomodate a nice 100" 16x9 diagonal screen with no problems.

 

[Barinder]

Neil thanks for the input - I think I realized that setup is the best but convinced myself the other setup was something to consider mainly for convenience of access (the back PJ wall would have been to the unfinished part of the basement). I've talked with the developer and I we will be using PVC as conduits for the video and speaker cabling.

In speaking with him he brought up the possibility of the ceiling being higher (by 2 inches) if we didn't drywall the ceiling and instead used that crumbly white material (don't know its real name). This of course would make wire runs considerably easier but then mounting of the X1 becomes and issue. I suppose I could mount it to a ceiling support and then just have the support shaft come through the ceiling material or possibly even mount the PJ off the banister (not sure about picture centering with this). Any thoughts or comments anyone?

Secondly can anyone recommend a good breakout cable in the 30+ foot range? I've seen prices from $43 (greatcables.com) to $129 (a2zcables.com) that are within my range. Would a single 30+ foot cable be preferred to a better build component of that run and then a breakout (will be priced in the middle of that range)? Seems like I can get better constructed cables that way but am worried about unnecessary connections (though at that length signal integrity might already be in question?).

Thanks
Barinder