You ask a lot, but I will give you an ear full.
I would recommend about 85"-90" wide screen. If you are going to invest in projection "size matters". The bigger the screen the more it will feel like a cinema which is what this whole thing is about. Your depth is fine for one row of seating. If you need two rows, the front seats will be too close. A 12'-13' viewing distance will be acceptable for that size of screen. You have 132" of real estate up front, so that leaves about 20" on each side to sqeeze in your left and right speakers. You are a hi-fi guy so you know about first wall reflections etc... so here is your first compromise between screen size vs. speaker placement.
As for screens I recommend Stewart with the Delux Velux frame. The extra wide frame really makes the theater look much better, plus the Velux treatment sucks up the overspray from the brighter DLP projectors of today. This will give you a nice clean edge and is worth the extra bucks!!! As your eyes adjust you will see this overspray. Old CRT projectors had blanking adjustments and less light output so this was never an issue in the old days. The only downside is the cost and the extra wide frame eats up some of that L/R speaker real estate.
Screen fabric is another issue. I recommend a plain non-perforoated 1.3 gain. GrayHawk and FireHawk screens were engineered for early DLP and LCD design projectors. Now that black levels have improved, these fabrics are not needed any longer. Perforated screens cost a lot more and have moire problems with DLP projectors. You are a hi-fi guy so you know about how speaker grilles effect sound. Perforated screens do the same thing, only worse despite what anyone claims. Future projectors will look best on a 1.3 gain. Buy a 1.3 gain Stewart and it will be the last one you buy.
Locate your screen image about 36" off the floor. Start there and move up or down if you have design or speaker placment issues.
Locate your center speaker tweeter as close to the bottom of the screen as you can. Locate the left and right in the bottom third just outside the screen. This will give you a near even plane across the front 3 channels. Rear speakers should be mounted 2'-3' above your head at the seated position. since you have a door in the corner I would wire for a center channel in the rear. You could do two rear channels if you want. Wire is easy now. If you do two you could always drag a little extra over to the center so you could go either 7 or 6 channel.
Projector recommendations are tough as these things get better every few months. Screen size will dictate projector location as there is usually a ratio or formula to determine the throw distance and hight offset from the top edge of the screen. Some projectors offer a long throw option that will allow you to mount the projector further back. This is worth it if you can get it in or near the back wall and enclosed if possible. No projector hanging in the center will enhance the looks as well. Ventilation will need to be adressed if it's enclosed. Being a hi-fi guy you will forever thank me for getting that projector fan and color wheel noise out of your room. This will bug you so much that you may never want to use the room.
Some qick math on offset.
96" = 8' ceiling
-36" screen hieght off the floor
-50" screen hieght on a 90" wide screen.
This leaves about 10" between the ceiling and the top edge of the screen. Figure the center of the lens would be about 4" from the ceiling if it was mounted right to the ceiling on a bracket. You would need 6" of offset. If your projector has less offset you need to raise the screen or lower the projector. Some projectors have fixed offset. More expensive projectors have adjustable offset. Some projectors offset increase as you move the projector back, so check the specs. Tilting the projector can work too, but you need keystone adjustment to fix the image shape. It's best design it right from the start and use adjustments to fine tune. Designing and building projector mounting systems and boxes are easier if they are level and square.
Throw distances usually have a range base on screen width. Once you determine your screen width you will be able to calculate the aceptable range to the front of the lens. Try and design such that you don't fall near the end of the range. Another anoying problem is that most lenses are off to one side of the chassis. This means your mounting system will be off center, and if you build an enclosure most of the guts will be to off to one side so the lens fires out the center. Keep this in mind with your design. Plan for the future as your next projector will probably be the opposite. Don't forget to plan for power and cabling to the projector too. Conduit back to the rack is a good idea here and a dedicated AC line. Another trick is to have your electrician pull an SO cord (like an inwall extension cord) from the projector location to your gear so you can plug that into your line conditioner. Plan for rear access to equipment if possible. This will be a life saver down the road.
Speakers... Another huge topic. My peev is to match all speakers. Anything else is a compromise. My suggestion is to use what you have if you can make them fit and go with more maggies. Buy a MMG Center and two MMG Wall mounts for the rears. You will need more power for maggies, as you know, and a good sub of your choice. The maggies are cheap cheap and Sounstage review raved about them. If the IIIa's won't fit, sell them and buy 5 MMG's and just do it right.
Good luck.
I'll check back, or e-mail me if you have more????
Stewart
I would recommend about 85"-90" wide screen. If you are going to invest in projection "size matters". The bigger the screen the more it will feel like a cinema which is what this whole thing is about. Your depth is fine for one row of seating. If you need two rows, the front seats will be too close. A 12'-13' viewing distance will be acceptable for that size of screen. You have 132" of real estate up front, so that leaves about 20" on each side to sqeeze in your left and right speakers. You are a hi-fi guy so you know about first wall reflections etc... so here is your first compromise between screen size vs. speaker placement.
As for screens I recommend Stewart with the Delux Velux frame. The extra wide frame really makes the theater look much better, plus the Velux treatment sucks up the overspray from the brighter DLP projectors of today. This will give you a nice clean edge and is worth the extra bucks!!! As your eyes adjust you will see this overspray. Old CRT projectors had blanking adjustments and less light output so this was never an issue in the old days. The only downside is the cost and the extra wide frame eats up some of that L/R speaker real estate.
Screen fabric is another issue. I recommend a plain non-perforoated 1.3 gain. GrayHawk and FireHawk screens were engineered for early DLP and LCD design projectors. Now that black levels have improved, these fabrics are not needed any longer. Perforated screens cost a lot more and have moire problems with DLP projectors. You are a hi-fi guy so you know about how speaker grilles effect sound. Perforated screens do the same thing, only worse despite what anyone claims. Future projectors will look best on a 1.3 gain. Buy a 1.3 gain Stewart and it will be the last one you buy.
Locate your screen image about 36" off the floor. Start there and move up or down if you have design or speaker placment issues.
Locate your center speaker tweeter as close to the bottom of the screen as you can. Locate the left and right in the bottom third just outside the screen. This will give you a near even plane across the front 3 channels. Rear speakers should be mounted 2'-3' above your head at the seated position. since you have a door in the corner I would wire for a center channel in the rear. You could do two rear channels if you want. Wire is easy now. If you do two you could always drag a little extra over to the center so you could go either 7 or 6 channel.
Projector recommendations are tough as these things get better every few months. Screen size will dictate projector location as there is usually a ratio or formula to determine the throw distance and hight offset from the top edge of the screen. Some projectors offer a long throw option that will allow you to mount the projector further back. This is worth it if you can get it in or near the back wall and enclosed if possible. No projector hanging in the center will enhance the looks as well. Ventilation will need to be adressed if it's enclosed. Being a hi-fi guy you will forever thank me for getting that projector fan and color wheel noise out of your room. This will bug you so much that you may never want to use the room.
Some qick math on offset.
96" = 8' ceiling
-36" screen hieght off the floor
-50" screen hieght on a 90" wide screen.
This leaves about 10" between the ceiling and the top edge of the screen. Figure the center of the lens would be about 4" from the ceiling if it was mounted right to the ceiling on a bracket. You would need 6" of offset. If your projector has less offset you need to raise the screen or lower the projector. Some projectors have fixed offset. More expensive projectors have adjustable offset. Some projectors offset increase as you move the projector back, so check the specs. Tilting the projector can work too, but you need keystone adjustment to fix the image shape. It's best design it right from the start and use adjustments to fine tune. Designing and building projector mounting systems and boxes are easier if they are level and square.
Throw distances usually have a range base on screen width. Once you determine your screen width you will be able to calculate the aceptable range to the front of the lens. Try and design such that you don't fall near the end of the range. Another anoying problem is that most lenses are off to one side of the chassis. This means your mounting system will be off center, and if you build an enclosure most of the guts will be to off to one side so the lens fires out the center. Keep this in mind with your design. Plan for the future as your next projector will probably be the opposite. Don't forget to plan for power and cabling to the projector too. Conduit back to the rack is a good idea here and a dedicated AC line. Another trick is to have your electrician pull an SO cord (like an inwall extension cord) from the projector location to your gear so you can plug that into your line conditioner. Plan for rear access to equipment if possible. This will be a life saver down the road.
Speakers... Another huge topic. My peev is to match all speakers. Anything else is a compromise. My suggestion is to use what you have if you can make them fit and go with more maggies. Buy a MMG Center and two MMG Wall mounts for the rears. You will need more power for maggies, as you know, and a good sub of your choice. The maggies are cheap cheap and Sounstage review raved about them. If the IIIa's won't fit, sell them and buy 5 MMG's and just do it right.
Good luck.
I'll check back, or e-mail me if you have more????
Stewart