I have a game room that really never gets used so my wife is wanting to get rid of the pool table and add a projector for the family to watch movies. This will not be a dedicated theater.



Im wanting to keep the costs down since this is a new venture for us and I’m not sure how often it will get realistically used. With that said, what i add I want to be fairly Permanent and I can upgrade the individual components if it gets used frequently.

Anyways I ordered a 120” in ceiling screen that will keep the Lego in the room viewable. There’s a lot more Lego/shelving that is getting added and the pool table is going to go elsewhere.

The room is 15ft wide and 20ft deep. The recessed screen will drop down just in front of the Lego shelves. Which are about 20” deep in the bottom and 12” deep in the upper shelves.

I’m not sure how to do the speakers. I currently have a 7.1 amp that I can add to a large walk in closet in that room. I also have a pair of small kef t101 speakers and a kef 101 center channeL. I’d prefer to use these since I already own them, they aren’t invasive and it will keep the cost down. With the shape of the room where would you place the speakers and how many? Would you go 5.1 or 7.1? The majority of the time it will be Streaming online movies and such so a super high end setup isn’t what I’m going for. Bang for the buck and easily upgradeable is what I want.

The center channel i figure can be placed towards the top of the bottom shelving. Would having it sit 6” behind the screen be an issue as long as it’s below the screen and has a clear line of sight to the sitting chairs? It would sit about 12” below the bottom of the screen. The screen is NOT acoustically transparent.

With the fronts should I have them on the side walls angled forward? They are small speakers and I’m not interested in a large floor standing setup. I could also go in ceiling on those if that would be better. Would having them mounted on the side wall but towards the very top be an issue (say the level of the first shelf)? What about sitting 6” behind the screen but again having clear sight to the listening area.

Having the screen mounted away from the wall and the door right there makes it a little more complicated in my eyes.

As far as rears would you suggest in ceiling or wall mounted?

If in ceiling any suggestions on brands and size?

I’m probably going to paint the upper walls grey and the bottom white wince it goes with the rest of the house coloring. This is one of the last rooms that needs redone.


Any suggestions for speaker placement or any other suggestion for the room would be great.

Any doors at the other end of the room?

Ever consider an acoustically transparent screen and screen wall? Fitted in so it doesn't mark anything, and simply leverages all that is already in place.

Just a thought on a projector. The Epson HC3100 is a deal right now on "the" major online shopping site for most and it has lens shift and good zoom for easy placement if 1080p is good enough. Hard to beat the bang for the buck at the current price.

On use, you might be surprised at how often you end up using the room.

No other doors on the opposite side of the room. There’s a closet half way down on the left side facing the room

Ordered the 3100 and if it’s something we end up using a lot over the next couple years I’ll go with a full 4K. Also ordered an epson universal mount.

I haven’t thought about the transparent screen mainly due to cost.

Any input on speaker placement?

Maybe put the screen on that back wall then(?) An over head layout of the room, similar to mine below, would be helpful. Also I'd avoid in ceiling speakers as that type of set up sounds funny to me. Also if you decide you're enjoying the HT and want to move ahead with an Atmos type set up you're re doing everything. My room is about as deep but less wide, and I've set it up like so...


media_room by Barry (NJ), on Flickr


More pix available via the link in my sig.


P.S. I'm jealous, my wife would never suggest a projector, she prefers watching movies on her iPad...