Need direction

OK, after much reading, I am unsure where to go with a home theater set-up. I have a room in the basement about 24' x 12' with a 7'3" suspended ceiling. The walls are drywall (two with insulation between them and the concrete foundation walls & the other two without insulation and more basement storage space behind). I can arrange the room however I want and I don't know which way to go. I currently have a surround sound system and I'm looking to upgrade the old Samsung TXJ2554 25" TV. I currently sit about 7'-8' from the screen for viewing and back up to about 12'-13' when just listening to music. Basically, I'm wondering if I should back up and dramatically increase the screen size with a front projector or sit closer and then decide between a Plasma or LCD. Due to cost, I will most likely stick with 720 rather than 1080. I'm leaning toward using the entire space and going with the large screen/projector. Pros & cons?

[JCD]

This is a hard one I think. Pictures, or at least a sketch, might help with layout.

Deciding between the two options you've posed could also be a bit of a preference thing. I might be inclined to the "big" picture choice, but I'd want to make sure I take advantage of any of the acoustics available with the specific room in question. For example, you don't want to be seated too close to the back wall -- that plays havoc with the acoustics in the room.

Pics or a diagram would help me (at least) give you some advice.

JCD

[eugovector]

Ditto on pics and/or a sketch.

Here are a few shots - one from each corner:









Measurements for the end wall behind the tv: 140" x 85" and there is an electric panel in the corner of the wall behind the curtain on the right.
Right hand wall 287" total (lower cabinet is 24" deep & upper cabinet is 12" deep)
Left hand wall is 203" to the door opening + 32" door, then about 21" to the first tread of stairs
Back wall stairway opening is 37" + 32" door with about 4" between them and then 67" of wall with cupboards.

My general idea is to remove the tv and cabinet and replace it with a larger screen, either a plasma/LCD hanging on the wall or a front projector. The other equipment cabinet can move as well and the subwoofer is coming down to floor level. I am planning on corner traps and some other acoustic panels but that will be addressed elsewhere.

[eugovector]

First, work your positioning. Remember your 1/3, 1/5 rules. Play around with that until everything sounds good.

Then, take your viewing distance at that point, and use it to determine your screen size based on resolution, whether you'll have a second row, that sort of thing.

Side mount your surrounds.

Start thinking about treatment (panels and bass traps).

Well, I searched and couldn't find any 1/3, and 1/5 rules but I am currently sitting about 6' from each speaker [7'6" from the center (I moved the surrounds)] and 9' from the sub. That puts me about 10' from the wall behind the tv and 7'6" from the screen. The basic questions are what is the ideal seating (single row) for a room this size and then what is the ideal screen size (which should dictate whether I use a projector vs Plasma/LCD) from this location. I understand the recommended screen width x 1.5=viewing distance so I guess it just isn't a simple answer. I suppose I could make most things work but I thought I'd get some good suggestions to help me decide.
Thanks

[eugovector]

1/3, 1/5 have to do with room nulls. In short,wave leave the speaker and then bounce off the wall and head back towards the speaker. In cases where the dimension of the room (H, W, or L) is equal to a wavelength, you will get peaks and nulls where the wave is re-enforced. These will be worst at the 1/2 and 1/4 wavelength points. To avoid this, keep your head out of the 1/2 and 1/4 measurements of the room for Height and Length (sitting too far off kilter for your width will screw up your stereo image). In other words, if your room is 12 feet long, do sit 3 feet from the back wall, sit 4. If you have 8' ceilings, keep you head at the 2.5-3 foot point.

Same with your speakers. If your room is 12 feet wide, don't put each of your speakers 3 feet from each side wall.

You room is 24' long and you are sitting at 10. Try scooting up to 8'. Adjust your speaker accordingly to get the best sound stage.

At 8', you could get a 65-70" projection screen, at 6' you could put a 51" plasma on a stand.

This calculator works well: http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html

Thank you, I'll play with some positioning and then maybe get on track with more specific questions about a screen. So much to learn....