Need equipment advice

I posted a few days ago in the Speakers sub-forum, but I completely revamped the room shape so figured I'd just start fresh and use the proper forum.

Attached is my design. This is going into one half of a finished basement, which begins construction in a couple weeks. Here's what I've settled on so far

- Epson 8350 (price, placement flexibility, quality)
- 96" image (arrived at this based on 2-row requirement and available space)
- I was initially against in-wall speakers, but now that I have a proper room design that can actually look like a real theater, I'm interested in in-wall options as well.
- Budget: $5,000 for projector, speakers, receiver

Truth be told, I know squat about home theater equipment. I don't know how to choose my speakers or receiver. I've found a few receivers that seem like they might fit the bill, but buying one would be a gamble at this point:

Onkyo NR709
I like this, but the unit seems to be prone to problems.

Onkyo NR609
The 709's little brother, seems less problematic.

Denon AVR 2311CI
Safe bet? Adequate for the room size?

Yamaha RX-V671
Nice price

So by all means, hit me with speaker/receiver suggestions - I would be incredibly grateful.

Thanks in advance,
C#

Thank you for your feedback guys!


Something that I failed to mention or illustrate previously was soffit work on the screen side of the room (attached), which constitutes a 10" drop. So in order to maintain a 3ft clearance between the bottom of the screen and the floor, I went with a 96" diagonal instead of 100". That said, I'm not at all opposed to moving the seating closer - it will benefit both rows and help clear the second row from the beam.

So at this point, floor clearance is what's really constraining the screen size. Even at it's current size, we're 34" from the floor.


This was actually one of our original designs, but after measuring that beam it's actually 13.5" not 12", and our ceiling height (aside from soffit work) is just shy of 7'-3/4".

So what this means is that the image is being projected very low to the floor, which is complicated even further by the soffit work at the opposite side, forcing the projector forward.

I'll post actual pictures of the space in a moment.

It's actually the furnace exhaust, so adding any additional bends to it could cause gas build-up. I do like the idea of squaring it up, though. Still, my major concern with this layout so far is the image-floor clearance.

Here's a picture of the exhaust, which coincidentally shows another area I'm considering for the theater. The space between the two gray poles would could make for a nice space and contains minimal duct work on the side nearest the camera. I would use that for an aisle rather than seating and the picture would not extent to that area. That leaves a 64" aisle and 115" for seating. I figure I could comfortably seat 8 people (our minimum is 6).

That's correct - now I know why they did it!

You're also correct about the doorway.

The way I figure it, a 100" image will be about 32" off the floor (91.6" ceiling - 9" finished soffit [guestimation] - 49" image height).

Not too bad, I guess. Would love to hit that 36" for the back row viewers. The blue soap bottle on the floor marks the edge of the theater's projection wall, which will extend to the right-hand wall.

One option is to keep a 96" image and move the seats forward one or two feet. This will help with head clearance under that obnoxious beam as well as gain 2" in image-floor clearance.

I've attached a shot facing through the screen area toward the back of the theater.

Here we go: 96" diagonal, seats moved up. The rear surrounds would just be mounded to the beam.

From the last pic I posted, the back row can certainly be pushed back to try for a larger screen, but the available projection height is a limiting factor. At 96", the bottom of the image is 34" from the floor. It's also my understanding that you want a distance ratio of 1.2 - 1.5 the diagonal (please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm learning as I go!)

Tedd, you have provided me with a wealth of information - thank you. Given that 34" is too high, I can go wider with my screen (it was the main limiting factor - there are a couple others but they're manageable). I don't know how I got 36" for floor clearance stuck in my head. A 110" screen would give me about 28.5" - is that appropriate? I would then place the front row @ 11'.

Thank you for being so helpful! I'll see if I can find the thread you mentioned.

Thanks for the links, Tedd - spent the last couple days peering through them all. I'm starting to wonder if this room is an endeavor in futility. See attachment. Distance to first row is 11', distance to second row is 15', distance to PROJ 1 is 14' (farther projector should say PROJ 2), distance to beam is 16'.

I have to resign myself to the fact that people will block the picture when they stand up - nothing I can do about that. The question is, will tall-ish people be blocking it when they're sitting down. I have no idea if my 48" head-height while seated is accurate.

Also, you'll notice that the beam measurements are changed - this is a finished measurement.

The position of the closer projector would give much greater head-clearance, but would make a 4-seat row in the back almost impossible. The second projector is out of the way, but the image clearance becomes a serious concern even when seated.

@BIG - yes, it was definitely lazy. I understand why it exits the structure where it does, but they could have been much more elegant about it rather than just cutting a third out of the ceiling.

@Tedd - Strange's build is rather inspiring. If someone is willing and capable of moving a structure support, anything can be done.

I'm looking into options for rerouting the HVAC piping so the soffit goes away and I can raise the picture against the wall behind it. We're also going to take your suggestion and go with a 6" riser (which will keep me precisely at code with a 7'-0" clearance after it's finished; this accounts for 1/2" loss with carpeting/padding) and island risers for the seats.