New room... deciding screen size

**Pointswest** · **06-19-08, 11:17 PM**

Ok , here goes ... fairly small room , 11 x 18 , but will be dedicated for htr .. from what I've been reading in the posts so far , I will be painting the front wall and ceiling low lustre black. The walls, one is already a dark cherrywood ,so thinking dark burgandy or other paint close to the wood color for the other side and back wall.There are three windows , so far my plan is to build 2 x 2 frames larger than the windows , cover the frames with a Dark Grey fabric and then put a layer of ceiling tile inside the frame to cut out the light and provide a little more sound barrier. I want to have two rows of recliner seating
first row 11 1/2 to 12 feet from screen second row will be 8 inches higher and 15 to 16 feet from front.
Screen size .... I was thinking around 110 to 116 diag.

Well Here are a few photo's of the progress thus far ... Wires are in , raised deck , ( Wife talked me out of lights under deck ), so good old carpet on the riser. Ceiling painted and two of the three window covering completed. Also built the cabnet in the corner with two shelves on roller slide outs for the equipment to set on. Working on some odds and ends for a day or two , then making the four hour drive south to shop for furniture
hmm going to edit this one more time ,some as I figure how to add the photo's

**tonyvdb** · **06-20-08, 10:07 AM**

Hi Points, Welcome aboard!

A 110" screen in your room is on the large size. You will find it will be hard to look at (like sitting in the front row and your local Theater) I would recommend nothing larger than a 96" you also will find the picture will be crisper and brighter.
What projector do you have or plan on having?

Enjoy your stay at the Shack.

**Pointswest** · **06-20-08, 10:20 AM**

Thanks for all the help so far .. My projector is a epson PowerLite720 and a Philips DVDR3575H/37 Hard Disk DVD Recorder 160GB HDMI 1080P Upscaling , so the plan is to also run satellite output through the recorder to the projector

**tonyvdb** · **06-20-08, 10:32 AM**

With that projector your looking good but if your room is not light controlled meaning you cant make it totally dark I would still stay at a 96" screen. Its only a 720p display and while that is more than enough blowing that image up too large will reduce its picture quality. You will also not want that image blown up to much or you will start seeing the so called screen door effect even more.

**Pointswest** · **06-20-08, 10:44 AM**

I set up last night to have a look at screen size ... just using the painted white wall. I do have windows, but they will be blacked out. I placed a chair about 11 feet from the sceen, and watched a hour of movie to see if I was doing the tennis game head nod ... seemed to be ok
and didn't notice any sde... but you right it will put the speakers close to the corners. My plan is to put the projector on a shelf at the back of the room

**tonyvdb** · **06-20-08, 11:17 AM**

Just remember that you should have about 3' of distance between the rear wall and the back row of seating for the rear surrounds to be heard properly this will push your front row of seating forward (that is if you are having two rows of seating).

**Pointswest** · **06-20-08, 11:22 AM**

Thanks for your help Tony .. I am going to play with the screen size a bit more .. did want to go a bit bigger than 96 though ... that's what I have in my current htr ( soon to be exercise room

**tonyvdb** · **06-20-08, 11:26 AM**

No problem, Ultimately its up to you for screen size as its what you like that counts. You mentioned that you would then have to place you main speakers in the front corners this is not a good idea as the dramatically affects the sound from them its always best to have them at least 3' from a corner.

**cynical2** · **06-21-08, 02:18 PM**

I have 2 rows with almost the same exact seating distances (with 12" riser instead of 8").

I'm at 119" for 16:9 content and 150" :raped: for 2:37 content (image height is constant...the image is just wider with the 2:37 content). I prefer the back row when we're using all 150", because the front row is just TOO big...but both kids (and every friend they've brought over) prefer the front row. For 16:9 (119" diagonal), I'm equally pleased with either row.

My next iteration will be slightly smaller...113" for 16:9 and 143" for 2:37 content.

To Tony's point, my screen is larger than the experts recommend. But, I did the same thing you're doing...projected different sizes and watched for a while. And, this is what works for our family. It's definitely a matter of personal preference. So, I'd continue your testing and go from there...all the while, keep the industry recommendations for size in the forefront of your mind. There's a solid foundation behind the recommendations.

**Pointswest** · **06-24-08, 09:35 AM**

Thanks cyn .. I have decided to go to 10" for the raised . Question for the members .anyone out there use rope lighting around the front edge of their raised seating deck?

**cynical2** · **06-26-08, 10:15 PM**

PW, I don't have any lights on the step but I did think about doing it. I had a few ideas. Here's a sketch below:

Doing a google search, it looks like what I called a "stair tread" is more accurately called "nosing".

Here's an example of clear corner trim.

Personally, I'd opt for hiding it under stair nosing...but it's more expensive. I think it would look cleaner (you can't beat completely hidden), and have less risk of coming loose over time.

Let us know what you do! I'm sure that, in the future, others will have the same question.

**Pointswest** · **06-26-08, 11:05 PM**

Will do , I opted for the 2 x 10 so I'm going to have a low 4 "step. Low pile carpet on deck, I like the look of 1 and 3 . Currently installing the black ceiling , wiring in lights and preping the two walls that will be painted, thanks again

**PT800** · **06-29-08, 04:06 PM**

As Tony has said, you won't what your front speakers in the corners, going overboard on the screen size, compared to room width.
I have my mains about 4ft in from the side walls (17.5' wide), with a 65" screen, and I could go down to 3ft and fit a 110" screen.
With the speakers that far away from the walls gives me a very wide soundstage.

As opposed to a new local HT shop that had a 2.35:1 110" screen in a room that was, at the most, only 12' wide. So that put the mains right in the corners. Compared to my setup, the soundstage was very narrow, nowhere near wide enough for the screen size.
To produce a good soundstage speakers need room.

**Pointswest** · **07-04-08, 12:53 AM**

Ok ... here are the photos so far ... gallery on this forum wouldn't work for me , but found a way
Well Here are a few photo's of the progress thus far ... Wires are in , raised deck , ( Wife talked me out of lights under deck ), so good old carpet on the riser. Ceiling painted and two of the three window covering completed. Also built the cabnet in the corner with two shelves on roller slide outs for the equipment to set on. Working on some odds and ends for a day or two , then making the four hour drive south to shop for furniture

**Prof.** · **07-04-08, 09:10 PM**

Hey points...Nice choice of wall colour..

Looks almost identical to mine..

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...DSCN0594-1.jpg

**cynical2** · **07-05-08, 08:09 PM**

The drop ceiling looks great. What paint did you use and how did you paint it (roll, spray, etc)?

**Pointswest** · **07-06-08, 11:15 AM**

The tiles , I had a couple of old ones so I experimented .. flat black latex out of the can put on with a roller makes the tiles stiff when dry .... and it soaks the paint like crazy . so I cut the paint with 15% water and used a foam roller. Takes a bit longer to dry , but works well to get the paint into those crevices. I think a sprayer would probably be the easiest but ....I only had a roller on the shelf.

**wbassett** · **07-06-08, 02:14 PM**

Something for future reference...

Most paint stores carry the Preval Sprayer. It's inexpensive, easy to use and you can use regular latex paints. Might be good for something like this.

**Pointswest** · **07-13-08, 07:12 PM**

Whoo whoo .. almost there ... for seating decided on ( well actually my kids decided ) that two rows of
thee seat motorized recliners would be perfect .. so by next weekend I should be completed

**okron** · **07-14-08, 11:19 AM**

Be sure and fill us in on what screen size and seating distance you settled on....I'm in the planning stages myself with a 14x17.5' room so I'm interested.

Ron

**PT800** · **07-14-08, 11:46 AM**

Quote:

okron wrote:

Be sure and fill us in on what screen size and seating distance you settled on....I'm in the planning stages myself with a 14x17.5' room so I'm interested.

Ron

If the audio means as much as the video to you then you don't want to put in such a large screen, compared to the width of the room, that there is basicly no room left for the L/R main speakers. If in-wall speakers are being used below the screen, then that problem is eliminated.
I've seen this done too many times, including in a HT room at a dealer.

In the case of a local HT shop, the room was about 12' wide and they had about 110" 2.35:1 screen, which only left about 15" to each side of the screen, so that is where the L/R speakers sat, right in the corners.

The soundstage was very narrow, much less than desireable. Although the spacing of the speakers is about two feet wider than what I have, my soundstage is much wider as I have my L/R speakers about 4' from the side walls and 3' forward of the end wall. For freestanding speakers to be at their best requires space around them to develop a good soundstage.

**Toolatecrew** · **07-14-08, 02:12 PM**

My room is very similar size. 11 by 17. I also have a an epson 720. I have a 92 inch screen and sit about 13 feet from the screen. I think I could comfortably (vision wise) go to 96 or even 102 but the constraint as some have mentioned really comes down to speakers. I cannot place my speakers under the screen (too tall) so in order to not crush the speakers against the walls 92 or so is about as big as I wanted to go. I do not see any SDE. Once ina while I wish for a 102 but not often. 110 would be too big for me and I think you would see some light output issues once the bulb starts to dim.

I suppose that one needs to consider the 2nd row so I would maybe go to 102 for their benifit if possible without sacrificing the speaker placment. Looks like a very nice room.

**PT800** · **07-14-08, 02:48 PM**

That 110" screen I mentioned would easily fit in my HT, as its 17.5 ft wide. I'd have to spread my mains about two feet further apart. But that would still leave me 3 ft between the speakers and walls.

**Pointswest** · **08-12-08, 02:48 PM**

Well , almost done .. went with the 108 inch screen..The bose sounds very good .... power recliners are a big hit also

**mechman** · **08-12-08, 05:04 PM**

Looks great Points!

What type of screen did you go with?

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