Newbie introduction... and false wall advice?

Hi All,

Long story, sorry. :-)

I'm pretty new to home theatre, and I'm just starting to get into it, but I'm definitely moving ahead, so that's good right?

My entry into it was probably similar to a lot of people... yes, that's right, I bought an all in one home theatre package. It took all of two days to realize I would've been better off to throw my money at a hooker, at least I would have gotten some enjoyment out of it.

I quickly moved up, or what I "thought" was moving up, to a Harman Kardon AVR145 with a Bose Acoustimass system. I was incorrect. I put up with this for over two years and finally had enough. The AVR didn't do HDMI switching, nor upconverting, and the Bose was pretty much 5 tweeters with a sad excuse for a sub. That and it was silly to run all 5.1 wiring to the module and then back around the cabinet to the other speakers.

A friend I work with introduced me to the higher side of life one day, taking me into a B&W shop and forcing me to listen to Rotel and Integra, etc. I was immediately impressed with the difference in sound quality, but in the end I went the opposite route with Marantz and Paradigm. I listened to both intensively and just gravitated towards Paradigm and Marantz, so don't try to get me to switch teams, I like it over here. :-)

What I have is:

Marantz SR7002 Receiver
Paradigm Monitor 11s - Front Left and Right
Paradigm CC-390 - Center Channel
Paradigm ADP-390s - Rear Surrounds
Paradigm DSP-3400 - Sub (one more coming)
LG 60" Plasma
Sony PS3
Motorola DCT6412 Phase III HDPVR
Nintendo Wii
xBox360
Dell PowerEdge 2950 III HTPC
ACP Smart UPS RT5000VA UPS
Logitech Harmony 890 with PS3 adapter

Coming Soon:

Panamax M5400PM
Oppo BDP-83
JVC D-ILA HD350 or Epson Pro Cinema 9100, not sure yet
Elite AT Tensioned 106" Screen
Berkline 12003s - 3 wide (maybe 4) in a curved configuration

I've managed to get the wife to allow me full control of the only place in the house I can call my own - the basement. I have everything setup in an "okay" manner right now, but it's not as much of a Home Theatre as I want it to be. The next big thing on my list is the false front wall, and this is what I'm hoping to get some advice on. I've designed my wall and am ready to start building it, but I wanted to run it by the pros first. See attached.

My room is 11' x 17' and it's not huge, but it's good enough for me.

The dilemma I have right now is that I just purchased a 60" LG Plasma and am not getting rid of it, and in fact want it mounted on the false front wall, but I want it to be able to disappear behind a motorized 106" ceiling mounted AT screen. Given the drawing, is there anything I missed? I haven't forgotten about Linacoustic, baffles, bass traps, etc., but I don't want to get this thing built and then be kicking myself. I have about 22" of depth to work with possibly 24", but I don't want to have to much taken up by the wall. Iam building a 2x6 stage filled with sand, etc., but I'm scared I'm going to miss something obvious or do something I will regret.

Any advice?

Just in case I ever want to change it up or move the TV to another room... I don't want to have to buy another screen.

I am planning on using a basic 2x4 frame painted black with acoustic lining behind the entire wall and I was actually basing my design off of your minimalist design thread. The only difference being I would want some additional structure in the immediate TV area 5 1/2" inches further back to hold my plasma and still allow it to be flush with the front of the wall, sort of an inset mount.

The whole wall will be covered with this GOM stuff you guys are always talking about, even though I'm not sure where to get it, but that's the plan so far. Those panels will be held on with mighty magnets or velcro.

My drawing shows an ezFrame R106H screen which is also AT, but the screen I've been looking at is their CineTension 2 series, which is motorized, tensioned, and AT.

The description for the CineTension2 states it's available in AT under this link - http://shop.elitescreens.com/cinetension2series.aspx, but the actual item looks to be under the AcousticPro CineTension2 link - http://shop.elitescreens.com/acousti...on2series.aspx

The description shown under the CineTension2 Features page - http://www.elitescreens.com/index.ph...mid=19&lang=en

shows "Sound transparent models with AcousticPro1080 also available"

Maybe I'm wrong or their information is wrong, but I'm going off of that website info for now.

The screen you referenced in your link is for the Home2 AT series, not the CineTension2 AT series, however, I looked up the CineTension2 AT on the same site and it too states not recommended for 1080P but the non-AT screen doesn't state that. Can you think of any reason why this would be true?

Alright, no problem, I'll look into the Seymour screen BigMouthInDC suggested.

My apologies guys... I read that as "more" and not "moire", now I see it, sorry - slow day today.

Okay, next problem. And this may be a project killer...

On the right hand side of the room I have two windows that are 5 feet up and 4 inches above the stubwall. The first window well starts 21" in from the wall that I want to build the false wall on. Problem? I'm thinking yes, and I'm also thinking a two stage wall will look stupid. Is there anything I can do without framing in the window?