Home Theater Customer Showroom

View of the Epson Home Cinema 1080 projector.

Two room angle perspectives with wall mounted speakers and projector in view.

News broadcast projected onto Screen Goo painted wall with black framing.

Side angle of projected broadcast with view of AV rack.

Chris Anderson
Epson Home Cinema 1080 owner since May 2007

"When I planned the completion of my unfinished basement I wasn't envisioning a home theater but there was a space about 15' by 16' at the end of the basement that only had a ceiling height of 6' 6" as a result of the step down front room on the main floor above. Other than for storage it wasn't really a viable room. I then realized I could probably build a dedicated home theatre room since, once in the room, everyone is seated for the duration!

I initially planned a screen on one wall and seating across the opposite wall with a projector on a table. With my limited space that would only seat 4-5 people, so when I framed up the room I put in a 45 degree wall across one corner and planned for the projector in the opposite corner of the ceiling, this allowed me to put the L shaped sofas and chaises around the walls under the projector. I can now seat 6-8 in comfort and all have an excellent view of the 100" diagonal screen.

From the projector lens to the screen is about 15'. I pre-wired for 5.1 surround sound (Home Depot heavy gauge speaker wire works great). I inset the audio rack into the wall next to the screen and ran ABS tubing from the audio rack up and across the ceiling joists to carry S-video (now HDMI and component video cables) to the projector. I ran a separate circuit from the electrical panel just service the audio rack, I also remembered to put an an electrical outlet in the corner of the ceiling for the projector.

My first projector was purchased in 2001 from Mike Norton at Projector People who was an enormous help in selecting an NEC VT540 model which has served me well for 6 years. I recently upgrade to an Epson Home Cinema 1080 and have added an HDTV and DVD source. I was pleased that Mike is still there and was equally helpful and interested in my needs. My original "screen" was simply a gyproc wall that I took extra care when taping and mudding to ensure it was absolutely flat and painted with flat white ceiling paint. It all worked well but since I was upgrading my projector, I invested in Screen Goo's lite gray screen undercoat and paint and must admit I am impressed with the improved contrast and depth of color. If you buy their "kit" you also get a roll of flat black velvet tape to frame the screen and a tin of Matte black paint to use on the ceiling or other nearby bright bits you need to quiet down. It is an essential to frame your screen with black. As you will see from my setup I have hung black velvet drapes each side of the screen and painted the first 12" of ceiling with the flat black paint. The black framing really adds to the contrast your eyes see when looking at the picture.

My audio is Harmon Kardon and my speakers are from Polk Audio and came as a 5.1 set with a 10" sub that is more than ample for my size of room, all purchased at Future Shop on sale. I pre-wired for rope lights around the ceiling and nailed 45 degree cove molding about 2" down from the ceiling and laid the rope lights inside, if you run a bead of caulk inside the cove you don't get any light bleed between the wall and the molding. They work from a remote dimmer from Lutron (it's programmable so I can set the fade time). It's very impressive to have the lights slowly fade to black as the main event starts on the big screen. Since I did all the work myself (well, my wife hung the drapes!) this was a very reasonable setup...probably less than $7,000 all in."

Please note: Images portrayed in the photography of this home theater are the property of their respective copyright holders.

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