My pleasure.
Room is custom built and in pretty good shape. Speakers are fully hidden in the walls behind fabric wall covering. Walls are all foam insulated so you only hear muffled sound outside the room even when it's cranked up pretty good.
I wasn't thinking about isolation so much as first reflection points, and bass trapping. The smaller the room, the more you will want to bass trap.
Lighting - I have a 3 light zones controlled however I want (recessed ceiling lights, rail lighting along the top of the wall, and sconces on the walls). Room is fully enclosed, no windows, so I get as dark as I want, too.
All my money goes into gear, so I try not to think about automation! If I ever do, an RF remote will be the first thing... sigh
The screen is a mounted Stewart Luxus ScreenWall (
http://www.stewartfilmscreen.com/screenwall.htm). This thing cost like $2k so I wasn't expecting to replace it. Is it something I should be concerned about with a new projector? It's either 96" or 100" or something in that range.
Well, shoot, you already have it, and so I must presume its a perfect size as well. Two things you can look at for now while shopping are lumens of the PJ (and see if there are reports at how close the actual is to paper specs, sometimes its close and sometimes its not), and see what the "comfort zone" as far as zoom/shift is concerned. I remember projector people had some nice little graphs for that, recommendations really.
Are you saying that the Yamaha won't be able to power the speakers? It's that much less than the Denon I have? I'm interested in upgrading the Denon for DolbyHD, DTS-HD and HDMI in/out. Other than that the Denon does work pretty well.
This is a total ASSumption, but a 3xxx series of Denon has always been considered pretty decent AFAIK. I don't expect an entry level of most any brand to be quite as nice, even though yours is probably significantly older. If it was me with a 663, Id get a used amp. Something reputable like Rotel, Sunfire, NAD, Outlaw, Emotiva, etc. But I have a large room, with significant distances seated from speakers, with seating for 8, acoustically treated, with speakers that are less than 8 ohm rated.
I understand that you pick speakers before receiver. But if my current speaker setup is good, I'm good looking for a new receiver that matches them, right? Then it is just whether or not I should spend the money upgrading for some of the new HD audio tech, right?
Yes, and as the above posters seem to imply, as long as you're not downgrading the amp section too much. One issue with m-ch analogs to be very aware of is the possibility of LFE cuts. Also, if getting 5.1 m-ch analogs, and you got 7.1, I believe its not possible to matrix.
I don't know if they missed your statement about your PS3. A new (and desirable, not a cheapo) BD player ain't cheap yet. That cost, with lets say an HDMI switcher, can afford you a new midline receiver.
I agree seating is important. The room actually has 2 couches in it now. The back half of the room is 4-6" higher than the front half, so the back couch is raised above the front one. I'd love to one day get some fancy seating though!
That measurement is meaningless without knowing several others. For future reference, you can use this
Riser Height Calculator. The riser I built is probably 4x as tall as yours. I also found a great deal on seating
here that I discovered in the Deals section of this forum.
These are the seats that I bought. Free shipping, and in-home 5yr warranty on the whole set was only $50 more. I have seen a recent firesale on fancier Berklines at AVS for more money. That sale ended quickly.
One other note - the only real "noise" in the room is the sound of air blowing in when the AC kicks on. I'm interested in absorbing this noise in the vent if possible.
Yeah. Audioholics has an article dealing with this. Too involved for me. Ain't happening, no way.
Cheerio.