Cinema/gaming Room plans started.

Camalot

Camalot

Camalot

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I have around £300 (500 max) to spend. The PJ is sorted already (Optoma 750 3D)

I need to sort the sound out, and where i can put the wires/speakers, which sofa to buy (seen a nice one for £89 on Ikea). Dart board i have. A 3D Bluray player. Then there a screen. I could DIY my own or buy a fixed screen. Would also be looking at some kind of ambient lighting to jaz it up a bit.

The idea of the room is to be a chill out area, play some 3D gaming, xbox, ps3, movies, darts/drinks with a mate ect.

Below is a plan i'm working on at the moment.

pj1b.jpg


Projector will be placed in some kind of cabinet placed on the floor between the screen and sofa, this must hold the games consoles/Bluray and PJ. The plan is accurate so the distance the PJ is gives that exact size image according to throw distance calculations.

To the right is the window.

Dart board will go to the left of the sofa. There is a plug socket to the bottom left of the room (under dart board, only one in room) The wires coming from the PJ cabinet will hopefully be disguised as the standing point to throw the darts, somehow.

pj2h.jpg

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Guess the questions are, how would you approach the sound system? wire+speaker placement?

Anything else you would add/change?

Will be starting the project next week :)
 
Hmmm, ceiling mount the projector. Then put the consoles & amp under the screen. The unit could hold the centre speaker in the correct place.

I'm not sure if you have enough room for some floorstanders for the front sound under the screen? One other thought is there is a real chance of dart + speaker action on the back right speaker :eek:

Trunking wise you can either get the fake skirting boards to hide wires behind or use d-link trunking.
 
Bring the sofa forward a bit so the rear speakers can be behind you without being in the corners, and centre the sofa. I'd probably position it at least a foot or two forward.

I presume there will be more than just the AV cabinet in the room and you just haven't bothered to model it. You want clutter/diffusers on the rear wall behind the sofa and clutter/absorption panels opposite the window, roughly. Empty rooms are terrible acoustically, the more 'stuff' in them the better and ideally you don't want to bare surfaces facing each other - hence having stuff on the rear wall and one side.

The PJ... could stick it on the shelf on the rear wall. Cabling's easy as others have said. Speaker wise... depends what your budget is but standmounts would probably be better - again, the front left/right shouldn't be right in the corners or against the wall, about a foot forward and toe'd in ever so-slightly would be the best bet. As it's quite narrow, I'd stick a couple of panels just in front of the speakers against the side awll and door to minimise first reflections. They can be made for about £15 each (search on YouTube for DIY Acoustic Treatment). Sub positioning is the usual case of putting it where your sofa is, playing stuff while crawling round to find the place it sounds best, then putting the sub there.
 
Personally I'd shrink the screen size down a smidge. just from your image alone it looks overpowering (bigger isn't always better with screen size lol I found that one out the hard way by having the biggest screen I could fit in a tiny room)

It would also give you more space to position speakers. I'd also echo the comments of the above about moving the sofa forward slightly and place rear speakers on stands behind.

Finally, if you don't want to ceiling mount the projector maybe look at sitting it upside down on top of a tall shelving unit behind the sofa. You'll get a longer throw to play with then, plus the off-set of lens should hopefully miss the light fitting. I use part of this shelving unit behind my sofa to mount my AV amp, HTPC, 360 and projector on the top (upside down) http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S29871804/ You can buy which ever bits you want, install as many shelves as you want at whatever height you want
 
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I may have to re-think the PJ then as the Optoma 750 has no zoom so the screen size is dependent on throw distance. If i have it all the way on back wall then the image will be too huge?

The sofa will be a bit forward to make room for speakers, i just didnt know how to move the sofa in the model as i am a noob at modeling lol
 
does the projector really have no zoom? that's crazy!

Even my old Optoma HD70 has a zoom, albiet a fairly limited zoom, but a zoom non the less. You are correct in thinking that if the pj is at the back of the room the projected image would be bigger with a fixed non-zoom lens. if the pj had a zoom you could adjust the size with that then simply alter the focus ring to the desired point.
 
cokecan72 said:
does the projector really have no zoom? that's crazy!

Even my old Optoma HD70 has a zoom, albiet a fairly limited zoom, but a zoom non the less. You are correct in thinking that if the pj is at the back of the room the projected image would be bigger with a fixed non-zoom lens. if the pj had a zoom you could adjust the size with that then simply alter the focus ring to the desired point.
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Really not sure on any other 3D PJ that are as cheap and have zoom. The 750 is also highly thought of on AVF. I really don't mind having it where it is as i'd like to keep it portable.
 
The projector is designed for a different market. It is aimed at gamers rather than movie enthusiasts, so the requirements are a little different: biggest picture at the shortest throw means a fixed super-wide-angle lens. It has that because the projector is likely to be used ad hoc and even taken from house to house so the need for installation friendly features is less of a priority.

Overall though I think this project is underfunded. £300 less £89 for an Ikea sofa really doesn't leave enough to pay for a surround system capable of taking all those sources and some mood lighting for effects. Even at £500 it's a tall order unless a lot of corners are cut and compromises made.
 
I am not looking at top end amazing everything. Just want some speakers really that will do the job.

Do i need an "amp?" or will just getting some speakers and plugging them into the PJ work?

Could someone recommend me a sound system please?
 
Camalot said:
That looks epic :)

I don't understand why it says its got HDMI ports for 3D? Does video have to go through this first then ?
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Yes. You put all your sources video and audio through the amp. PS3, xbox, sat, blu-ray. HDMI's in to the amp and one HDMI cable from receiver to amp. In the case of Sky HD it's a HDMI for video and optical for sound. You can set them up in the options.

The 3D pass thru literally means it can pass the 3D signal from, say a 3D blu-ray to the TV.
 
Bought the GT750XL today and just been testing it for my cinema room.

Room was very light and have only tested it through VGA at the moment but impressed so far.

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Ignore the 4 bits of sticky tape :p

(All sound coming from in-built speakers on the PJ)

Overall impressed so far, can you only achieve 3D through HDMI? I will test this more over the coming weeks when rest of set up is sorted.
 
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I would push the sofa forward (worst place for sound is up against the wall), then have the darts board on the same wall as the window behind the sofa. I would also ceiling mount the projector.
 
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