I'm building a new HT in the basement and I have the option of building a screenwall about 2ft away from the front wall. I won't be using an AT screen, so the speakers will be next to the screen. The downside is 1) it's more work 2) I'm not really worried about having the speakers flush with the screen 3) it'll stop me from using a High Power screen because there won't be any space behind the seats to shelf-mount the projector - not critical but it's an option I'd like to have available, ideally.

Question is, does a room with a separate screenwall sound significantly better than one without, since you can then treat the front wall with absorbers and bass traps, which wouldn't be there if I simply used the front wall for the screen?

(hope that makes sense.)

Thanks!

If you are going through the effort to build a false screen wall, why not use a AT screen?

If you are going through the effort to build a false screen wall, why not use a AT screen?

Agreed. That way you can have your speakers behind the screen AND have your acoustic treatments for the front wall.

Once you go AT, you never go back.

Price, potential image quality concerns, but most importantly cannot find anything high gain: I'm using a 136" 2.35:1 screen and the zoom memory of an AE3000 for a CIH setup and need at least 1.5 gain to get respectable brightness when zoomed in.

I'll do the false wall if it'll help with the sound though...

I built a false wall out of 2x4 studs supporting the screen and a surround of frames. The frames were made of mdf 1x2 and joann fabrics black speaker cloth. The speakers were placed behind the frames. No AT screen, but bass traps and it sounds a lot better.

Unless your speakers are designed for proximity placement, they almost always sound better in free space, and I'm talking feet not inches. Make sure that the false wall is acoustically transparent.

Most here though preferred the speaker-behind-the-false-wall approach because of esthetics and space limitations. I have free standing placement in front of curtains.

Most here though preferred the speaker-behind-the-false-wall approach because of esthetics and space limitations.

Well that and proper speaker location placement.