Good sales people, bad salespeople, ...who cares?! This isn't about
salespeople. It's about whether or not the OP should go with a pj or not. It's quite clear that the
overwhelming consensus is that the answer is an absolute and unequivocal
YES
Additionally, after you get the pj, DO NOT BOTHER WITH A SCREEN! Most of the time - (
notice I said most, not all) they are just an added expense that actually detracts from the whole HT feeling anyway. I am speaking from personal experience on this. In a room your size - the best, most kick butt, most impactful you can get, is to use THE ENTIRE WALL ITSELF as the screen. Now of course you don't just turn on the pj and that's it - you do need to do some minor preparation to the wall, but it's ridiculously simple and inexpensive.
Since this is a basement, and it's already in use anyway, I have to believe the walls are finished. So, just make sure whatever wall you intend throw the image at, is both flat and true. By that I mean no cracks or uneveness. If there are any 'issues', a 5 dollar can of putty and some sandpaper will solve that problem in less than an hour. Once the wall is nice and flat, run out and get yourself a gallon of behr silver screen paint, a cheepo roller, and a plastic throw away paint pan. Shouldn't run you more than 40 bucks total. Throw on 2 coats of paint - and that's it! Your done. It really is that simple. It really is that easy. And, it absolutely is that good!
Believe me when I tell you, there is NOTHING cooler than a floor to ceiling, corner to corner image when your sitting in a home theater.
Here's my proof - this is a LOUSY pic - but it makes the point. conventional wisdom would be to use a screen - THE RED LINE
Now you tell me, which do YOU think is better? Screen, or no screen?
Don't forget, you can still always put a screen on the wall afterwards if you want - but doesn't it just seem smarter to see if you really even
need a screen 1st?
In my theater, I had dozens of screen vendors send me sample swatches of all kinds of materials, and when I held them up to my 40 dollar painted wall - not a single 1 of them made the slightest improvement over what I already had.
I forgot to add - THE RED OUTLINE is 13 feet wide, my screen(wall) is 15 feet. That's right, no screen grants me mini IMAX status!