Hi Guys,

Well, we're changing the meda room into a "family" room. We're going to mount a plasma on the wall, and then have a screen drop in front of it.

Here's the current set-up.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2458/mediafrontgood7sdmm0.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mediafrontgood7sdmm0.jpg)

You'll notice that there are 3 small lights in the ceiling. The thought it to mount the Elite Cinetension2 screen to the CEILING xx of inches from the wall to allow plasma clearance. Wall mount isn't an option as the screen won't have enough clearance to make it past plasma.

So, I want to soffit the front of the room so you don't see the ugly black casing.

The catch is that drop space is tight. I have 63" from the current ceiling to the TOP of my center channel speaker.

Now, the Elite screen has a 6" top border than can be wound up. Full height from brackets to bottom, according to the website, is 66.06" So I'll need to wind it up 3" or so.

As a result, I have literally no margin for error.

I searched the forum for anyone with similar experiences, but either I didn't know how to word it, or the search engine isn't robust enough.

Anyone have any advice to get me started? This project is 1 month off (plasma and screen are ordered), and I want to make sure I walk it through.

I assume that I first need to

1) Mount plasama to determine actual clearance. That's easy.

2) Mount screen to ceiling after step 1 to set correct drop

I appreciate any plans, advice, experience, or comments anyone could share! Thanks!

Fred

I am currently trying to figure out a very similar situation. Wall mount is an option if you use a bracket/mounting method that has enough depth to clear the plasma, although if the screen case needs to be flush with the ceiling anyway, may as well mount it to the ceiling. Perhaps I missed something, but it sounds like you have 3 inches for margin of error (66 - 6 inches for mask) = 60 inches out of 63. As to the soffit - what are you planning? Drywall?

I am currently trying to figure out a very similar situation. Wall mount is an option if you use a bracket/mounting method that has enough depth to clear the plasma, although if the screen case needs to be flush with the ceiling anyway, may as well mount it to the ceiling. Perhaps I missed something, but it sounds like you have 3 inches for margin of error (66 - 6 inches for mask) = 60 inches out of 63. As to the soffit - what are you planning? Drywall?

You can retract the mask manually to set the electric drop distance, if that makes sense. It should work. 3" of the mask will be exposed, minus the thickness of the drywall and lumber frame. 1/2" + 3/4" = 1-1/4". In theory, there should still be 1-3/4" of mask exposed.

The only concern I have is that the bottom of the soffit is going to be awfully close to the top of the actual screen....

And yes, it may mean that I have to move the center channel or go smaller (never!!)....

I'll post a more detailed response tomorrow when I can sit down and type for a while.

I just did this in my family room so the screen can come down in front of a fireplace.

Another option to think about is to decide which way the joists in the ceiling run. I got lucky and was able to recess my screen higher in the joist and was able to make a smaller soffit than originally planned. It worked out great and allowed for more flexibility on where the screen was going to drop at.