When selling my old house, the dedicated theater went with it as did all my gear. The theater is what sold the house btw. So I am building a new house without a basement this time and the plan is to make the family room serve as a gathering place that happens to have a decent enough A/V system. I am assembling the equipment before the room is built to see what my limitations are and to make sure the prewires go in the right spots and will actually work. My goal is to stay under the $5000 budget I set for this project.

So far I have the following pieces:

Panasonic PT-AX100U LCD Projector (http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=98437&catGroupId=21360&surfModel=PT-AX100U)

Onkyo TX-SR804 Surround Receiver (http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR804&class=Receiver&p=i)

Toshiba SD-K860 Upconverting DVD Player (http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=SD-K860)

Velodyne 15" DLS-5000R Sub (http://www.velodyne.com/velodyne/products/product.aspx?ID=12&sid=709c291y)

3 Klipsch R-5650-W In Wall F/C/R Speakers (http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/r-5650-w.aspx)
2 Klipsch R-5650-S In Wall Surround Speakers (http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/r-5650-s.aspx)

120" Motorized Screen (http://www.htdepot.com/product_p/fe169a-120.htm)

Projector Wall Mount (http://www.mountdirect.com/PMS_Projector_Wall_Mount_p/pms_w.htm)

35' HDMI Cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024001&p_id=2805&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage)
35' Component Cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023502&p_id=2855&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage)

Wii Component Video Cable (http://www.penguinunited.com/proddetail.php?prod=PU001)

So far I am $176 under my budget of $5000 but I have yet to buy an OTA HD Tuner.

If it hadn't been for the AVS Forum, I would have dropped most of my $5k budget on this little $4,000 mistake: Bose Lifestyle 48 (http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=ls48_dvd_index)

I'll post pictures of the room throughout construction and installation.

Got everything today and hooked it up and watched Polar Express blown up to over 10 1/2' Wide on a plain white wall with an old pair of JBL bookshelfs and the Sub. The image was 6' tall and 12 1/4 feet diagonal and looked just fine to me - but then I am no video file - just a guy that likes a big bright sharp image. I will need a screen to get anything viewable during the daytime though - the ceiling light easily washed out the picture on the wall. The Onkyo and the Velodyne actually made the old JBL bookshelfs sound like brand new again - was itching to get 5 speakers set up but I can wait another few months for the new house I guess. :rolleyes:

We need pictures.

I could take a picture of the stack of boxes I guess - it's all packed up till I can install it.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/Boxes1.jpg

OK. It's better than nothing.

Got the 120" 1.3 gain screen from HTDepot a few days ago. Hung it up in the rental house to test drive it. My first impression was that this thing is awfully long to hang from two small screws, one on each end. So I decided to get (4) mirror brackets that the back of the screen frame could rest on if it starts to warp in the middle. I mounted it to a 12' long 2 x 6, loosened the screws and removed the screen and then screwed the 2 x 6 to the wall and then hung the screen and tightened the screws.

The motor ran very smoothly and quietly but a lot slower than my Da-Light motorized board room screen. When the screen rolls up to the top, it's a bit wavy but probably goes on the roller smoothly.

I compared the picture on the screen to the same picture on the white painted wall behind the screen in both dark and daylight conditions. The picture is not even watchable on either the screen or the wall at a size of 120" Diagonal from a throw distance of 15' with ambient day light (venitian blinds closed) using full brightness from my PT-AX100U nor could I see a difference in PQ between the wall and the screen. At night in total darkness, the picture from the projector was just fantastic but I couldn't tell a difference between the screen and the wall behind it. Maybe I just have bad eyes or maybe there really is no significant difference. I don't feel a screen was a waste of money for me since the wall in my room will have pictures hanging on it which the screen will cover when in use.

The screen border is normal like any other screen I've seen - about a 1 1/2" black border. The left side of the screen towards the bottom does have a bit of a wave to it - perhaps I need to level the screen a bit - I'll worry about that when I get it to it's final resting place in a few months.

Will try to take a few pics tomorrow if I get time...

I would probably have spent more on speakers, and less on the other stuff, although to get anywhere halfway decent video projection does take a chunk out of the budget.

Have you thought about acoustic treatment for the room? I'd probably spend a few hundred on some bass traps and/or panels for the corners, at a minimum. You can buy 2" 703 board online for about $70 for 6 4x2 panels, and then about $5 each for burlap cloth to cover them with; makes for really affordable treatments I've learned.

I agree on the acoustics. You'd be surprised at the value of adding some absorptive panels, etc.

I spent 43% of my $5K budget on speakers - I was thinking that was a lot considering I needed a projector, screen and receiver. Haven't heard anything bad about Velodyne subs or Klipsch inwalls although I've tried repeatedly to find somewhere to listen to the Klipsch inwalls and no one has them set up so it's a leap of faith at this point. Not sure I have good enough ears to hear the difference between the Klipsch speakers and really good speakers just like I don't have good enough eyes to see a difference between a white wall and a 1.3 gain screen or 720P and 1080P. I will probably use very heavy curtains and a big puffy couch with carpet on the floor to acheive some sound dampening. I wouldn't know where in the family room to put bass traps. Thank you for the tips though, I really do appreciate them - I need all the help I can get at this point.

Got the Klipsch inwall speakers today - One thing that I took notice of was that the woofers in the front L/C/R speakers had dual voice coils while the woofers in the surround speakers had single voice coils. Don't know what difference this makes - just noticed it because I never noticed if I ever had dual voice coil speakers and the literature doesn't reference this.

The Family room is coming along nicely as is the rest of the house.

Here is a picture of the screen wall. The L/C/R speakers are not going to be perfectly spaced - the Center Spkr will be closer to the right speaker than the left due to framing of a closet and a bathroom behind the screen wall. I was able to have a frame built into the wall to have a space to flush mount the subwoofer below the center speaker and will cover the opening with some metal screen - an idea that came from another helpful AVS forum member.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/Screenwall_Stg1.JPG

The Sub and center speakers won't be lined up as perfectly as shown below but it'll have to do, the builder has been nice enough to get me where I am now.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenWallDwg.jpg

Here is the subwoofer grill material:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/SubCoverStg1.JPG

Another limiting factor in using a family room for movie nights is the surround speaker locations. The preferred surround location at the sides of the room is unavailable because the room opens to the kitchen on one side, the ceiling is 11' high so I am staying away from ceiling mounted speakers and the back wall is full of windows which puts the right surround in a corner and the left surround way out in limbo on a wall adjoining the breakfast area. I am mounting the surrounds at 5' above the floor just because it's about as low as space allows.

The back wall is the wall to the right with those big windows in it:
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/RoomStg1.JPG

I do have a question about the height of the front speakers and the screen but there really isn't much I can do about the situation now. Using a tape measure, I found that my ears are at about 40" above the floor when seated in an average couch. Therefore, I am mounting the center of the tweeters in the front speakers at 40" above the floor. This puts the bottom of the 120" 5' tall screen at 44" above the floor and the center of the screen at a bit over 6' above the floor. Is there an optimal screen mounting height for comfort? I used to have a 32" TV situated above the fireplace and it just didn't seem like a comfortable viewing angle looking up like that. Perhaps I won't notice it as much with a larger screen.

I would move the speakers out, so that I could lower the screen. You want the center of the screen (some say lower 1/3, some say upper 1/3) to match up with your eyes, for ideal comfort. If you're watching lots of movies, screen height is more important than perfect speaker placement.

An option is to get a sound transmissive screen, and mount it in front of the speakers.

Thanks for the input. The way it is now, your eyes will line up with the bottom of the screen and it'll take looking up 2 1/2' at about a 20 Degree angle to see the center of the screen from 13'. Not sure if that will be uncomfortable from a recliner. Wish I could afford an acoustically transparent screen. The inwall speakers are kinda stuck where I had them shown the way they built the walls.

Ready for drywall - it won't be long now - two months tops.

Here is the whole room from the kitchen.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/RoomStg2.JPG

This is the Projector Wall with the wood blocking above the electrical outlet and the A/V conduit running to the A/V Rack on the opposite wall.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ProjectorwallStg2.JPG

This is the screen wall which houses the front inwall speakers and the subwoofer built into the wall.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenwallStg2.JPG

Looking great! Can't wait to see it finished.

They hung all the drywall in the house in one day - pretty quick work. Some new pictures.

Family room as seen from kitchen
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/RoomStg3.JPG
Screen Wall from breakfast nook
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/Screenwall_Stg3a.JPG
Screen Wall closer view
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/Screenwall_Stg3.JPG
Projector and surround speaker wall
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ProjectorwallStg3.JPG

I spent way too much time and effort on painting the speaker grilles. I would have been better off asking the AVS members how to do it. I learned that using a brush - no matter how thin the paint is - is just a bad idea. I ended up buying a model paint sprayer for $150 and mixed some latex wall paint at 50/50 with water and sprayed it on the grilles for hours on end and several thin coats. The finished product is great but it took way too ling to achieve the results I could have gotten another way probably. At least the grills will match the new walls when they get painted. I also went out today and got some white felt to put behind the subwoofer grille when it gets installed.

Surround speaker & painted grille above the subwoofer grille with white felt behind.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/SpkrCoversStg2.JPG

Close up of one surround speaker and painted grille.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/SurroundSpkrStg2.JPG

Here are a few photos of the focupix screen mounted temporarily in our rental so I could get measurements.

I mounted the screen on a 2 x 6 and will now take the 2 x 6 down, cut it to length and paint it to match the new walls.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenOpen.JPG

Close ups of the left and right sides of the scren enclosure.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenDetailLeft.JPG
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenDetailRight.JPG

Here is a picture I took today. Should be done soon.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/P1000556.JPG

How are things coming along? Anymore pics to update?

Beautiful house

Thank you very much - I need to update the pictures, everything is in and it is working really well together. I haven't found a reason to hang the screen yet though since it looks really good on the wall as it is. Movie night is a big hit a tthe new house.

Well, it's never complete but the original scope has been completed and under budget - barely. Then I went to BJs and picked up a 42" 1080p Vizio LCD TV and went over budget. Here are some pictures and screen shots (Discovery HD was the only thing on tv at the time).

Those green shades are roll down black out shades to make the room dark during the day.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000839.jpg

The Klipsch inwalls and the Velodyne sub came out pretty good - the corner A/V cabinet worked better than I thought and the radio shack antenna will be hidden from sight in the next picture.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000838.jpg

The El-Cheapo projector wall mount worked out well but I had to paint it to match the walls - it is a white mount but all the screws are black which makes it stand out.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000835.jpg

The picture gets washed out when using a flash - but you get the idea here that we can watch two separate HD football games at the same time or, if we want, we can watch the same mallard duckies at the same time too.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000902.jpg

Projecting a fairly nice 120" picture on the plain old flat painted wall. I like it for the price anyways. It sounds pretty darn good too - and it will get almost as loud as the live concert levels for those live music DVD lovers like me. The Wall live in Berlin or the Talking Heads Speaking in Tounges or the Eagles reunion tour in DTS - all sound very nice but the Eagles is 4x3.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000894.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000909.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000906.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000896.jpg

We are pleased with the outside of the house too - it came out better than we ever imagined.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000843.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff244/racer131/P1000850.jpg