How can I work with this

[GettinDegreez]

Ok, I'm trying to convince my parents to get into home theater, and I think I'm gonna post something in the steam vent about that, but before I can advise them what to do, I have to figure out it will work downstairs in our den. The layout is probably the worst for home theater because of the way the room is setup, and I have no idea what to do. I have attached a rough drawing in paint of what the layout of the den is like. The room is about 18x25ft I'm thinking so it's of decent size. The biggest problem is the TV hole. There is a bookshelf on the left side of the fire place and in the bottom it's got a perfect little hole for a big CRT monitor up to about 36", how it's a 4:3 hole and like the biggest widescreen it can fit is a 30" CRT. The bookshelf, fireplace and gun rack are all on this big wrap around brick harth, which I'm sure can't be good for room acoustics. The only other possible thing I can think of is that there is a recessed bay window that goes maybe about 15" deep, and is up about 15" off the floor that we could but like a DLP rear projection TV in? The window is the only big source of light in the room and with the TV's back to it, that'll be good for visibility right? Only problem is my dad doesn't like the idea of a big gapping TV hole and no TV in it. I guess it could be used to rack mount everything, reciever, dvd, etc, but that means long *** cable runs to the TV, and I'm sure a 20 foot HDMI cable is kinda expensive. Secondly, I have no idea where to put speakers in this setup. If the TV is left in the whole, it'll be hard to put them equidistant from the TV, because to the left is the entrance into the kitchen, and the only thing that could really big there would be a small bookshelf on a stand, and then like halfway in the middle of the fireplace would be this other bookshelf with a shorter stand so one speaker isn't taller than the other. Side speakers are a little hard since putting them in the middle of the room puts it right next to the big chair on the left(dad's chair), and putting them near the sofa puts them surrounds behind most of the people. Does anyone have any suggestions about what I could do? This would be a whole lot easier if cube speakers sounded good, and wireless HDMI existed.

 

[jaxvon]

I would think that one possible option would be a projector. Provided you could control the light really well (as in block off the window completely), you could rotate everything 90 degrees clockwise. Then install a powered drop screen in front of the window. That way it doesn't hide the window, but still gives you a great picture. My only concern is the door directly to the right of the window. Although, depending on how wide the window is, a screen of sufficient size could fit there and have enough room for a speaker beside it. And actually, if you opted for a drop down screen, you could even keep your current orientation and then just use the TV-hole for components.

 

[GettinDegreez]

A project is one possibility, but I don't think it would work to well for watching TV daily, I mean we seriously turn the TV on at about 7am, and it doesn't go off till nightime(my mom actually leaves it on for the dog while we're gone). The window itself is a good 8 feet wide, and there is about 1.5 feet between it and the door. And if we could do that a powered screen would work perfect because the window has about a 6" space up into the regular celing of the room.

The fireplace starst about a foot off the floor and goes up through the roof of course and that's all brick. Hanging like a plasma or lcd is a possibility, but I don't know how that would work when we use the fireplace in the winter.

I also forgot to mention the floors are hardwood and so are the walls, that's gotta be really bad for sound right? There is a big carpet piece that takes up most of the floor except for about a 1' barrier all the way around.

 

[jaxvon]

Wow, that's going to be a reflective room...wood walls and floor, a big window...at least you've got the area rug.

I was fearing the thing about the TV. The more I think about it, the more I think you can work the powered screen by the fireplace. This would allow you to still have the TV while keeping the screen for the projector open.

Things to consider to make this work:

Projector will most likely have to be ceiling mounted (unless there's enough room behind the sofa to set up a table).

If you are going to do the projector thing, you'll need to limit the amount of light coming into the room as much as possible. This means some blinds or curtains on the window that don't let any light through. The same goes for the double doors.

Where can the equipment go? You could replace the table on the left side of the room with a rack, or perhaps put the rack behind the sofa and put the projector on top of it (with an IR repeater or something similar this could work quite well).

Speaker placement? I'll get back to you on that one...

 

[Spiffyfast]

theres alot of seating though, that will help with the reflection, the wood floor isnt too much of a problem since its almost completely covered, is there a pad under the rug? if not that would help out even more. You "may" be able to away with sattelite type speakers for your surround, thats how my dad has his b/c he doesnt like to see them, they dont have the freq. range that would be optimal for some surround content, but it can be done and it doesnt sound bad.

 

[brian32672]

A project is one possibility, but I don't think it would work to well for watching TV daily, I mean we seriously turn the TV on at about 7am, and it doesn't go off till nightime(my mom actually leaves it on for the dog while we're gone).

To be honest, you had slightly cringed on the idea of an expensive HDMI cable.
So I would have to say that a front projector with a electric screen is out of the question because of the above quoted statement.
Being that a front projector will require expensive bulb changes. (every 2-5,000 hours will cost 300.00+ for bulb replacement)
You would be much better suited with a Plasma, LCD, or rear projection DLP.
Your situation with this room is not an easy one. Possible yes, but there are a lot of obstacles to overcome.

BTW, you can get a decent 20' HDMI cable for about 60.00
Granted there are cheaper, and more expensive. But anything cheaper would be thinner than a pencil, and use to small of wires. (very low quality wire for longer distance) Here is the cable I use, and for its cheap price it was built rather well. (however mine is HDMI to DVI and its 10M=32') http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-High-Quality-30FT-HDMI-to-DVI-HDTV-Cable-30-Gold_W0QQitemZ5793813632QQcategoryZ73387QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem