How deep is your room? Can you project from farther back? The 8700ub has enough zoom to project 100 inches up to 20 feet back.

 

The room is 21 feet deep. The issue is. The HVAC ducting and beam that split the room hangs low (makes the ceiling roughly 6.5 feet @ that point. So 1 of 2 things happens if I mount it further back.

1. The image hits the HVAC ducting if I move the projector high if mounting @ the back wall and blocks the projected image to the screen

2. If I try to mount the PJ lower @ the back wall, it hits the back of the chairs/viewers heads and blocks the image to the screen.

Last issue is. The room is almost finished and I ran the HDMI in conduit to where we originally planned. So even if I wanted to move it back, I would have to rip the ceiling out to get the HDMI wire to a different position

 

This is what the back of the room looks like. I just went and measured again. Its exactly 6 ft from the floor to the bottom of the HVAC ducting. Its 6'2" floor to bottom of the beam. The riser for the seats is 12" high and the seats are approx 46"-48" to the top of the seat back. If I lower the riser 2-4" the front row will slightly block the viewers in the rear.

and here is a better shot of the beam and the HVAC ducting that is boxed in. This is the best I can do with what I had to work with unfortunately.

 

The Benq W1070 can fill up to a 110" screen from your throw -- it is only 10" deep so you should have a touch more than 9' throw.

However ... I keep trying to convince people that multiple row seating requires a larger screen. Why ? Because the difference between first row and second row is at least 5' and in your case looks like even more than that. So a 100" screen that looks appropriate from 9' or 10' (at 1.2x width) for the first row looks really small (2.1x width) from a second row at 15' or 16'. 2.1x is further back than the back row at most commercial cinemas.

If it were me, I'd shorten the riser platform by 2' so the front row is 11' from the screen and bump up my screen size to 140". Then I'd buy the short throw version of the W1070, the W1080ST which can fill that larger size screen from under 8' throw. First row would be at 1.1x and second at 1.5x.

If I were starting from scratch, I'd have chosen the long wall for the screen and have a single long row of seats amphitheater style arced 12' in front of the larger 140" screen with the 8700UB projector mounted back by the support pole 16' away. But that's just me and my dislike for having people sitting behind me in a theater.

 

Here is a list of 10 projectors that can hit a 100" diagonal from 9' lens to screen.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/pro...=&ltg=&t=&db=&dt=&c=&ar=&dvi=&wr=&pjl=&pjw=&pjh=&td=9&i=d&is=100&sort=pop&sz=15

With, the W1070 still being a great option.

 

IMO that screen looks small against the size of that wall. Why not go to 120" with a short throw PJ?

 

I've gotta agree with others. If that beam is 9', your first row of seating is several feet behind that (12') and your second row may be at 16' or more. You should be looking at a 133" or larger screen quite easily. The W1080ST can do that nicely, and will be relatively out of the way in front of the beam.

 

I am not suggesting that you put the projector below or behind the beam. I realize the 9'+ mark is as close as you get.

The W1080ST is a short throw projector on the body of what is basically the W1070. So you get a 100" diagonal from 5' to 6' lens to screen. That's fine, but you are size limited.

Basically, the W1070 will work if 100" is all you want. That size is small and doesn't meet THX specifications for the front row of seating. Caring so much about the rear row of seating getting a good view of an undersized screen is just not what I would be considering or recommending. You have to live with it, but the size is smaller than typical and smaller than industry standard recommendations.

Your center speaker placement is irrelevant if you angle it properly.

I would just go larger. You can still get great sound, and get a solid image size, while keeping the projector in front of the beam. Up to you on this.

 

I'm probably too new to projectors to give my 2 cents worth, so here's my 1 cent worth. I have an Optoma GT760 and have a 100" screen with the projector 4 foot from the screen. Only problem is the GT760 is only 720. I should have waited for the GT1080 Here's a photo of my setup