Where My Money Goes.....

[YW84U]

Here's the list so far:

Dedicated HT:

Optoma HD72 Proj
138" 16x9 DIY screen
Sony STR-DE 945 AVR
Sony STR-DE 345 AVR (for Bass Shaker Duty)
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD
Panasonic RP-56 SD DVD
Behringer FBD 1124p
Toshiba VCR (for those 'retro' moments)
Paradigm Monitor 7 Mains
Paradigm CC270 Center
Paradigm ADP-170 Surrounds
Paradigm PW1000 Sub
4 Aura Bass Shaker Pro's
Harmony 880 Remote (x2)
HotLink Pro IR repeater + Extender unit

and two miles of cables, Cat5 etc - all no name brands

[Mike P.]

Nice list, Tom. What is your "DIY" screen made of?

[YW84U]

Hi Mike

The screen is two 14 ft sheets of drywall, taped only in the single joint in the middle, then mudded and sanded within an inch of it's life! About a dozen skim coats of mud across the entire screen, followed by 3 coats of primer (Kilz), two coats of Behr Ultra Pure White flat, and then finish sanding.

3 coats of Behr 'silver screen' are the topcoat, with a light sanding in between coats. I ensured there were no roller marks whatsoever, which took some finesse! The silver screen I've found to be just grey enough that it gives really good contrast and blacks, without dimming the image too much. With just pure white paint, the whites in images were quite hard on the eyes, especially with the HD72 still being a bit of a 'light canon' despite being at its max throw distance

If you're interested, the paint mix for the Behr is:

Lamp Black 0 5 0
Raw Umber 0 5 0
Red 0 0 1

I may migrate to an acoustically transparent screen down the road, but so far I've been extremely happy with the price/performance!

[cynical2]

YW84U wrote:

Hi Mike

The screen is two 14 ft sheets of drywall, taped only in the single joint in the middle, then mudded and sanded within an inch of it's life! About a dozen skim coats of mud across the entire screen, followed by 3 coats of primer (Kilz), two coats of Behr Ultra Pure White flat, and then finish sanding.

3 coats of Behr 'silver screen' are the topcoat, with a light sanding in between coats. I ensured there were no roller marks whatsoever, which took some finesse! The silver screen I've found to be just grey enough that it gives really good contrast and blacks, without dimming the image too much. With just pure white paint, the whites in images were quite hard on the eyes, especially with the HD72 still being a bit of a 'light canon' despite being at its max throw distance

If you're interested, the paint mix for the Behr is:

Lamp Black 0 5 0
Raw Umber 0 5 0
Red 0 0 1

I may migrate to an acoustically transparent screen down the road, but so far I've been extremely happy with the price/performance!

Tom, looks like you have quite a setup!

Not to go off topic (too much), but since you mentioned your DIY screen, I'd like to encourage anyone that's interested to join us in the DIY Screen Forum. We're glad to help anyone undertake a DIY screen project of their own!

Now, back to talking about where Tom's money goes.