Help an old CRT user with transitioning to digital and CIH - Page 2

Art, I have followed the evolution of your theater for years and it is truly amazing what you have done with the place. I have no doubts that I would be floored if I actually experienced it in person. If you ever plan another HT meet I would really like to make the trip.

Hey, that looks great! Very nice job of the screen, I love the cozy look and I bet the screen size at that distance makes it a very immersive experience. Our room sizes are very similar so it's nice to see that you were able to fit the large couch and loveseat in there. That's one thing I want to change down the road is my seating. Unfortunately, the door to the room opens into the room right where my first chair is. There is room to get by but I would prefer there was a little more clearance. I hope one day to have either theater seating that shares armrests to save space or perhaps reclining sofas.

Thanks Mark! This is what I have mind but as you can see my L/R speakers would be in the way which leaves me with either having to mount above the screen or sacrifice some room depth and put them behind an AT screen. The later is my preference even though I lose some space.

Well, the owner of the Prismasonic H1200R lens I mentioned earlier has taken pity on me and I will be buying it for an excellent deal. I know it's old tech now but I think it will be fine to start out with, especially considering I don't even have the projector or screen I need yet. My dad has an old Optoma HD70 DLP projector so at least I can play around with the lens on that for a while.

If I understand correctly, my throw ratio in this case would be 2.0 with 16' throw distance and 96" wide 16:9 image. I then take 1.33 x 96" and get 127" for my scope width. This is CIH of 54". Does anyone think this will be a problem using the Prismasonic H1200R lens? I have the lens now but no projector and no scope screen yet.

Another question, I'm leaning towards a JVC projector once I'm ready to pull the trigger on all of this. Is there any particular model that is better suited to my kind of setup, being a CRT user right now and used to a film-like, not overly punchy image? I think I would prefer a model with CMS because I do like to tweak and I also want to have my calibration guy (Ken Whitcomb) dial it in every now and then. I don't mind going with an older unit like an RS1, RS2, etc. if it's a better fit for me.

I certainly don't want geometry and focus issues with a digital projector. Coming from CRT and all the work that goes into getting this right I would hate to see something like this that can't be corrected through setup. I'm really pushing it to get to 16' in my little room and that might even mean ceiling mounting the projector in the closet and cutting a porthole for the lens.

I do have a DVDO VP50Pro scaler which I currently use and plan to move to the new setup as well.

Thanks Gary. Regarding the softening of the image, I bet that I won't even notice or be bothered by it coming from CRT. Going to digital I am going to have a much sharper image than I am used to already. Softening that a bit with the lens will probably still yield a sharper picture than I have now or maybe it will be much like I have now which I would be happy with.

I did not realize the upgrade was still available for this lens. Good to know. I'm so far away from making this happen I can't even visualize it right now. I can't decide if I want to do an AT screen or not. I will lose some very valuable throw distance if I do. On the other hand, I may not have room for my speakers at the left and right if I go with the wider scope screen.

What about putting "in wall" speakers behind an AT screen when I don't actually have a "wall" where the screen is? There is a window behind my screen that I have filled in with foam and fabric to darken it out. The screen wall is probably half window and half wall with the window right in the center of that wall. I have a picture here somewhere before I closed it all up.

Here is what it looks like behind my current screen, before I filled anything in and finished it all off.

There are a few places around here I could demo in-wall speakers. I guess the only way I am going to know for sure is to pull down my current screen and start building some sort of false wall or baffle wall like you say.

I had considered that and you have a good point. My first concern was if the spacing would be correct for 16:9 imaging as well as 2:35 material. Looking at the photo of the wall again I think maybe it would be okay. I'm not exactly sure how I would handle the baffle wall in the window but I'm willing to try it in order to save my thrown distance and still have an AT screen. I really love my Ascend speakers and I think I would be sacrificing some pretty dynamic sound by going with in-walls but who knows. I guess it's time to start researching speakers to find something comparable to my Ascends but without a cabinet.

Here are the specifications on what I currently use.

For the L/R I have the CBM-170SE's

Typical In-Room Frequency Response 53Hz - 20kHz +/- 3dB
In-Room Sensitivity 91dB @ 1 watt / 1 meter
Frequency Response (Anechoic) 58Hz - 22kHz +/- 3dB
Sensitivity (Anechoic) 89dB @ 1 watt/ 1 meter
Average Impedance 8 ohms
Minimum Recommended Power 25 watts
Maximum Continuous Power* 200 watts
Maximum Short Term Peak Power* 400 watts
Cabinet Internally Braced 5/8" MDF, Magnetically Shielded, Bass Reflex via Rear Tuned Port
Dimensions H x W x D** 12" x 9" x 10"
Speaker Weight (each) 14 lbs each
Shipping Weight (pair) 32 lbs per pair
Tweeter (1) 27mm custom soft dome tweeter w/double-chambered neodymium magnet, ferrofluid cooled voice coil, wide dispersion faceplate
Woofer (1) proprietary 6.5” long throw composite polygel cone w/phase plug, non-resonant polymer chassis, rubber surround, shielded
Connectors (2) gold plated all metal 5 way binding posts
Inserts (2) ¼” x 20 inserts for simple mounting to wall mount brackets
*Unclipped peaks **Grille On


For the center I'm using the CMT-340SE

Typical In-Room Frequency Response 45Hz - 20kHz +/- 3dB
In-Room Sensitivity 92dB @ 1 watt / 1 meter
Frequency Response (Anechoic) 48Hz - 24kHz +/- 3dB
Sensitivity (Anechoic) 90dB @ 1 watt/ 1 meter
Average Impedance 8 ohms
Minimum Recommended Power 35 watts
Maximum Continuous Power* 240 watts
Maximum Short Term Peak Power* 400 watts
Cabinet Internally Braced 5/8" MDF, Magnetically Shielded, Bass Reflex via Rear Tuned Port
Dimensions H x W x D** 7.5" x 21" x 10.5"
Weight (each) 26 lbs each
Shipping Weight (each) 28 lbs each
Tweeter (1) High-definition 27mm soft dome tweeter w/damping chamber and wide roll surround, ferrfofluid damped voice coil, wide dispersion faceplate, magnetically shielded
Woofer (2) proprietary 6.5” long throw polygel cone woofers w/phase plug, non-resonant polymer chassis, rubber surround, shielded
Connectors (4) gold plated all metal 5 way binding posts, bi-wire ready.
Inserts (1) ¼” x 20 inserts for mounting to stands
*Unclipped peaks **Grille On

Wow, those look awesome and I have heard good things about M&K but that is way out of my budget unfortunately. I would probably be looking to spend what one of those cost for all three. I was looking at some of the dual woofer Klipsch in-wall speakers in the $300-$400 each range. I have never owned the Klipsch brand but I have heard they are very bright, especially with the horn tweeters. I want something that is fairly formidable in appearance, like maybe 3' high when turned vertically.

I'm pretty sure I can find some place here to demo Klipsch speakers. Whether they have in-walls or not I'm not sure.

My mind is all over the place today. Now I'm thinking about whether or not my screen should be curved or not. I understand this helps with pincushion from the lens but I would hate to pay the extra money for curved if I don't really need it. If I end up with a throw of about 1.87 am I going to need the curved screen for sure?

I'm in the process of selling everything in my room. My theater 2.0 will hopefully be up and running by the first of next year. It's the same old spare bedroom, just changing EVERYTHING in it. The two things I'm pondering most these days are:

1. What kind of projector to get.
2. What kind of in-wall speakers to get (baring in mind that the center has to go in front of a window!)

I agree. I have heard Klipsch towers and they are very dynamic and bright but you can only take that for so long. I think Paradigm looks like a contender but I really hate companies that only work through dealers because it makes it difficult for me to budget and compare prices.

So, would an Isco II lens be better than the Prismasonic H1200R I have now? I still don't have a projector yet so haven't even tried the H1200R.

Hmm. I imagine most of my viewing will be video/movies and not test patterns. Is the cylindrical lens easier to integrate than the prism type lens? I'm probably going with a JVC DILA projector.