Going to start the project of turning basement into theater room. - Page 3

The stage looks great!

I don't know a ton about screens, but $1000 seems very expensive. If you order screen material and stretch it across a frame it will be a lot cheaper. As an example, SeymourAV Centerstage XD is only $21.95 per linear foot.

If you aren't doing an acoustically transparent setup, then you have even more options. I went with a Wilsonart Designer White laminate screen, for instance, which only cost about $100 and a little bit of time to build it.

As far as equipment I would suggest saving your pennies and ordering everything all at once. If you plan on sitting on the equipment over the next few months it makes more sense to buy it when you need it rather than have it sitting around and using up the warranty.

AVS is a great place to get a projector. B-Stock units are a great buy and come with full warranties. So many options on the screen. I tried out seven different samples, from five different companies. The Elite screen was by far the least expensive and looked good, but there were a couple of things that it didn't do well with in my room.

Not sure what the rules are on posting links to places to buy equipment but there is one place that sells referb Onkyo and Denon AVR's. Could save some cash buying a refurb and put the savings towards something else. Whichever you choose make sure it has pre-outs for an external amp should you choose to go that route. I'm using an Onkyo 808, with an external amp running my L-C-R, and the AVR powering my surrounds. I'm very happy with this setup.

Seating could be a couple of couches for now. Personally I would worry about seats later and concentrate on purchasing the equipment you want. Better off buying a nice projector and screen, than skimping on those two items in favor of nicer seats.

Everything is looking great so far. You're a lot farther in your build than I am....

On the HTPC issue, follow Assassins guides! They are simple and great info in them.

His thread has tons of info, but you can buy his guide for like $10.00. Well worth it in my opinion, it will eliminate tons of hours on researching and my time is worth money, sure yours is too!!

Don't choose your screen until you have the projector. Then order samples from different companies. Most will send you an 8.5x11 sample free of charge. Da-lite is rather cheap and sends a very small sample. You must purchase a larger one from them (20x20in).

I put all my samples on a poster board hanging in front of some white backed blackout curtians. I ran though a lot of different material and it was interesting to see how each screen looked given what was being projected on it.

The elite looks very good but in my setup it tended to sparkle with bright scenes. I didn't care for the da-lite. Carada and Draper were both good looking screens and Seymour XD looked good as well.

Finally settled on the Carada BW 110" 16:9.

Make sure your room is painted the colors they are going to be or at least primed a dark color. I made this mistake at first and the black levels looked horrible. Once I primed the room dark grey and tried again the picture quality was vastly better.

I have a 64GB SSD for my operating hard drive and currently only have 1 2TB had drive for storage. I think my case will allow upto 4-5 more HDs until I need to expand which probably will not be my case.

I have a 64GB SSD for my operating hard drive and currently only have 1 2TB had drive for storage. I think my case will allow upto 4-5 more HDs until I need to expand which probably will not be my case.

Can you put them behind you?

Oops.. lost track of this thread..

As far as "sparkle" it's kind of hard to describe. It would only show up on certain scenes. In my case it was something that was very white..say white clouds on a blue sky background. I guess I would describe it as being able to see the texture of the screen material and/or the reflective coating of the screen. When viewing an Epson projector on a very cheap ($120) screen at my local Frys store the sparkle was very visible in just about everything.

My setup is a JVC RS40 with an 18' throw that will project onto a 110" Carada 16:9 in a totally light controlled room. After I posted my earlier message I realized you have already painted your room.

As far as your side speakers, you're using towers which complicates things.. how about looking into some di-pole speakers? That way you can hang them on the wall in the correct place and get very good surround sound. I think you'll discover that a lot of people here follow the guidelines of side surrounds are supposed to be 2-3 feet above you and in line with you if using mono-poles and slightly behind you of using di-pole speakers.

^ Agreed. I use Triad Silver OnWall dipoles that are mounted around 2.5ft above ear level and slightly behind listening position.

I think if you use directs and in front of you they would be easily localized.

OT: speaking of iPhone5, how is it? If compared to the 4s or 4.

I have a buddy who drives for a similar company. Usually when they say things like that, it is code for "end of day, want to get home" or something