I'm about to have a cabinet maker take a look at my screen wall. I came up with a preliminary design. My question is what else could I do or what could I put in the cabinets up front? Any input appreciated. The brown area will have cabinet doors unless the black speaker grill is shown. The yellow step will be carpeted.


http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/86/theaterfrontwallxe6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Do you have separate plans for an equipment cabinet? Otherwise you're going to want more room to move.
Also, is the screen recessed?

All of my equipment is located in a closet on the back wall. Yes, the screen will be recessed.

I would really consider whether cabinets are the best place to store your equipment. You may find yourself being stuck and unable to upgrade speakers due to an expensive (and probably nice) cabinet. I personally went with a simple screen wall that is covered in fabric to hide the speakers. There are many examples of people who have made very impressive looking screen walls, but were still flexible in terms of switching speakers or other equipment.

Itai

Ditto what Itai said.

Also if you get really interested in a larger screen or 2:35 screen you'll be stuck.

Placing speakers in cabinets can alter the tonal characteristics of the speakers unless they were designed for that use. If you go with cabinets be sure to put acoustical treatments on the interior surfaces to avoid resonances.

Unless your speakers are designed to go IN cabinets or walls you risk ruining your sound for your theater. You could do an AT fabric covered faux wall which would not impact your sound and would leave you free to change out and upgrade speakers at will. You will still need to address the acoustical treatments.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. My biggest concern with a simple fabric type cover job is the the amount of distance on each side of the screen. Right now my screen is 104" 16:9 and seems to be just right. This leaves me with 4 1/2 feet on each side of the screen. I don't think a 4.5ft covered column would look right b/c it's too wide. Maybe I could break up that 4 1/2 ft into two separate structures like my picture above, but cover a frame in fabric instead of permanent wood? Another thought would be to dry wall the outer column then do fabric on the inside ones. Any more suggestions or comments? I know exactly what you guys are saying about limiting myself, plus I don't know what I would put in there anyways.

Maybe I could break up that 4 1/2 ft into two separate structures like my picture above. Any more suggestions or comments?

I have 5 ft on each side of the screen. When I do HT2.0 and go with a 2:35 screen it will be more like 4ft. and I did break it into two parts. One that wraps the side wall colors onto drywall, wood and fabric covered columns (hinged doors)

some other ideas here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=862755

BIGmouth,
I remember yours where the wall actually hinges open. I think I will do that minus the hinges. :) Make the outside more solid and the inside black cloth. Thanks.

With that much space (depth) to play with, have you considered bringing the screen out towards the room a bit more, and placing your speakers behind the screen?

Have you considered an SMX AT screen? having the speakers behind the screen with sound coming from it makes a huge difference in the movie experience.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb101/Arwenmark/Picturesjan07058.jpg
Picture is still work in progress obviously but you can see the screen and no visible speakers they are behind the screen, one of my subs is behind the black velvet also.