I work in the Hollywood motion picture business and I have the unique experience of reviewing and color timing finished movie trailers in state of the art screening rooms at FotoKem, Deluxe and Technicolor. From fresh film prints (just out of the chemicals and running through a projector for the first time) to Digital Intermediates in 4k (projected with the highest level of professional gear available anywhere in the world.)

Now, this in no way compares to my home theater, but as someone who has spent a good amount of time in some of the worlds best reference screening rooms, I can say without a doubt that my modest home theater kicks sufficient ass! More importantly, it's price to performance ratio is through the roof! If you're considering creating a dedicated, light controlled, front projection home theater, and you're working with a modest budget and small space, then I highly recommend all the components I'm using in my room.

I began with a slightly small and odd shaped space (approximently 13x9x9). I had it originally built out as a home editing bay but never used it much. The room has no windows and 2 doors, one to a hallway and one to a small closet.

It's actually about one half of the garage. I left the rest of the garage available for one car to park and some storage. Ideally, if I had built this out as a theater in mind then I would have made it bigger and I would have given more thought to customizing the walls and insulation.

Following THX recommendations (36 degree viewing angle) I determined that the largest screen I could use would be 92 inches and the viewing area would be 10 feet back. This allowed me 3 feet of space behind the viewer to place the components and give me some bass control by not having to put the viewing position against the back wall. I also added 4 inch thick acoustic panels to absorb some of the lower frequency sound behind the viewing position and 2 inch thick acoustic panels all along the side walls for the upper frequencies. I could probably stand with some diffusion on the ceiling but I'm happy with the way it sounds now.

I had the projector professionally calibrated. I'm glad I did this because it is the ideal preset for watching Blu-ray. DVD, HD and SD television benefit from one of the Panasonic "cinema" presets with a bit more contrast, but it's Blu-ray that really makes this room shine!

I painted the walls and ceiling a dark, neutral grey (I just couldn't handle a black room even though it would have been ideal) and I added burgundy velvet curtains to cover the entry door (a good deal at Ikea).

Is it the biggest, most expensive theater out there? No way. Is it a giant killer, Absolutely!

Thanks for taking a look and check out my 2 channel hi-fi on Audiogon.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vbudg&1245618031