Damn you fellas. Because of your influence I have decided to spend more money on this sick hobby

Anyways I have allocated a small room just for A/V duties.
The room dimensions are 11ft x 14ft x 8.5/9.8ft (The height of 8.5/9.8ft is because of a sloping ceiling)

For now I will be using the following gears which i already own:

Source:
Panasonic Bd-60 Blu Ray Player
Playstation 3
HTPC

Sounds:
Onkyo TX-SR606
Fronts: Mission M32i x 2
Centre: Mission M3C2i
Surround: Mission M31i x 2
Subwoofer: Velodyne Impact 10

Now with a room length of 14ft which roughly gives me about 10-11ft of viewing distance from a couch I am considering a HD projector.
The projector can be placed about 12-13 feet away from the wall. I could either place it atop a custom made cabinet about 1.2meters from the floor or have it suspended from a ceiling about about 13ft. I will be able to dedicate a white wall/screen for this.

Any sifus can recommend me a projector to perform this job? I would prefer the 1080p / 16:9 aspect variety as all my sources can push 1920x1080 native.

Also what screen size is recommended from a 10-11ft viewing distance? I have a rough sketch of the wall which will have the screen. I have tentatively set the diagonal width of the screen to be 112". Seems rather large to me? Any tips.

I guess i should be setting a budget. Lets say 10,000RM for the projector and screen.

This post has been edited by yonggoh: Jul 14 2009, 07:42 PM


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Actually whats ur budget? INFOCUS X10 seem to be cheapest..mid range will be OPTOMA or higher range will be JVC projectors...

I say u go about 90" screen for 11 feet distance..

This is the way you seeking advise, inquiry & guidance from other people?

This post has been edited by WereWolf84: Jul 12 2009, 10:46 PM

It was meant to be interpreted as a compliment
No offense taken

106" screen!!!...minimum.

I am looking at 104-120" screen for my sitting place of 10' from the screen

if......everything goes well.

My aim is either Panasonic AE3000 or import an Epson 6100UB or 6500UB

The screen have not decided yet....total cost might be ard RM15k for PJ + screen + HDMI cable

I thought you aint going for it due to the limitation. Changed your mind, eh? Big screen temptation too strong Your 50" will lokks so puny lah when you move up the rank (lacing lethal poison)

I tested out AE3000 yesterday. Quite good PQ but still needs some minor calibration to bring out the best of it.

This post has been edited by htkaki: Jul 13 2009, 09:41 AM

htkaki,

How would you rate the InFocux X10 compared with the Panny AE3000..

In understand you have hook ups to both these models

X10 is quite noisy, which is quite distracting unless it is mounted far away from your seating area. The heat is quite immense too.

The other thing that I noted is that X10's not-so-convincing black color. Howver, the color is good.

As for AE-3000, no visible chicken wire effect. Its len is eay to adjust. Less noisy. I sld say a lot quiter than X10.

Black level is very good. I think the skin tone is a bit on 'warmer' side. Then again, it might be better with some minor calibration.

The X10 might be alot cheaper but I am willing to fork out a few grands more to get a better FHD pj. In this case (based on these 2), I will take AE3000

Panny AE3000 has a very good CMS and grayscale calibration. Will check it out when I find the time to calibrate jchong's set. PJ calibration takes time due to low light levels. Normal plasma/LCD TV takes between 2-3hrs, PJ takes 3-4hrs.

yonggoh,

Congrats on planning your dedicated HT room. My 2 sen:

1. Screen size - depends on your preference. When going to the cinema, are you the kind of person who sits at the back, in the middle or right in front? For 10'-11' viewing distance, I would say between 92" - 106" size. 92" will be if you like sitting towards the back in a cinema.

2. I see your screen will be more than 100 cm above the floor. Check if that is too high for you (means you have to tilt your head up more).

3. If you place projector behind you and on a 1.2m cabinet, chances are if anyone gets up (e.g. to go to toilet) he will block the projector and temporarily cast shadow on screen. If you mount on ceiling or move projector on top or ahead of the sitting position you can avoid this.

4. If you can, use darker colours for the room. The standard white walls and ceiling can reflect a lot of light back to the screen and affect the contrast.

5. Think about how you're gonna route all the cables. Have a method whereby you have the flexibility to change cables in future when you decide to upgrade them.

6. You have your front L & R speakers on a shelf? Check if this gives a good enough platform to maximise their performance. Do you wish to put them on a stand?

Thank you all for the excellent feedback

These were the answers i were looking for.

Taking these into consideration I will develop the room in this order:

1. Build room with little channels to conceal wires thru the floor (front to back). Have lots of power plugs in the walls! (8 front)(2 rear)

2. Buy couch. Install projector and pick a comfortable viewing angle/size of screen.

3. Have the permanent screen in place.

4. Hook up Speakers/Receiver. (any shelfs/cabinets etc). I have proper speaker stands for the bookshelves but may/may not decide to use them.

5. Lay carpet and furniture.

This post has been edited by yonggoh: Jul 14 2009, 12:33 PM

6. Invite kakis for "PJ appreciation" session.

Some more comments.

1. Great idea to put in lots of power points. 8 front and 2 rear should be plenty, but you may want to spread some of those to the corner also rather than all at the center (of front and rear).

2. Planning to repaint the room? If you do, you wanna do that before item 2.

3. For screen, aside from size you need to consider white or grey. Which brand are you intending to buy? Draper is very common, but most shops seem only to have the Hi-Def Grey version. If you want white then have to special order which takes time (so factor that in if you want a white screen).

the bottom of my screen is abt 82cm above the floor.......and i am sitting approx 4.2m away.....so I think yonggoh's plan of 100cm off the floor wont be too much of a diff to this....just make sure its as big of a screen as possible..you wont regret it...unless its some sort of aesthetic reason.

as for the positioning of the projector. i have mine approx 1.7m off the floor, at that height, someone standing up will block the beam path, hence i have put the projector off-center from the center line of the screen. you'd need to make sure that the pj's lens shift can do this. the AE3000 has a lot of room for lens shift. I only need to use the horizontal shift because the height of the pj position is almost smack in the middle (height) of the screen. wonder if this makes sense

Your viewing angle is quite ok. But yonggoh's seating distance is closer, plus screen is higher so the viewing angle is quite high.

Tentatively I've taken up the suggestion to lower the bottom of the screen to about ~85-90cm... this of course can be finalised when the time comes to have the white screen permanently made...

Also decided to use my larger Jamo 200 for the front left and right speakers and the Mission M32i as the surrounds... Ill use the M31i for a stereo set up in the bedroom

The back of the theater has a height of 8.5 feet/260cm and I shall be having the projector very near the ceiling on a custom made cabinet...
The front of the theater will be 9.8 feet/300cm tall...ie i have a sloping ceiling...

Walls will be padded with dark purple cushioning and the floor will be carpeted a dark grey... ceiling will be some darker tone of matching colour as well...

As of now the gear of choice is the panasonic AE-3000... we shall see again come actual shopping week

Enthusiasts can shoot me here...as much as I can...i prefer to conceal my speakers behind a wire-mesh panel

This post has been edited by yonggoh: Jul 14 2009, 07:45 PM


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You're off to a good start.

hmm...according tomy setup..
i would be needing roughly 25-feet long HDMI cable...

is it easy to find such a cable?

8m and 10m HDMI cable are easy to get. No need to worry