What to do with my room?

[hydra]

That's a very nice looking sofa set, and that recliner looks really comfy! They've totally transformed the room.

Lots of luck keeping them clean, though

 

[santhosh]

Lovely sofa & recliner Anant - they look awesome in white. Now get some speakers.... which apart from sounding good should also look killer and gel with your otherwise trendy interiors

 

[ssf]

I am a fan of the L shaped sofa's in white but my wife isn't. She tells me that it is not easy to keep a white sofa white for long. Yours is nicely done and looks comfy too. I think you are close to getting your living room right for AV.

 

[anm]

thanks everyone for encouraging words. My mother is mad at me for getting a white sofa. She is the one who has to take care of the house and both me and my wife go to office.

Visited lakozy today and was mesmerized by speakers like imagine B and image B6. Seem well priced too. I can happily live with these speakers as my main stereo speakers.

Now first thing that I have to get right is the wiring for surrounds, projector, projector screen etc. so that the layout/ look is finalized. Then will plan on spending on expensive speakers/ avrs etc.

I also need to QUICKLY figure out rack/ racks that ooze style, while retaining audiophile benefits.

 

[ssf]

I also need to QUICKLY figure out rack/ racks that ooze style, while retaining audiophile benefits.

You could take a look at some of the designs in the link mentioned below. I like a few of them. Don't know how audiophile friendly they are though.

Living Room Pictures, Living Room Ideas, Living Room Decor , Interior Design Ideas

 

[anm]

thanks ssf. really nice collection. I wish to make my room something like this - Modern white Living Room , Interior Design Ideas

With some huge differences though
1. I am not planning to get any pop work/ false ceiling on roof, so no such fancy lighting.
2. front wall will loose its white color. It is soon going to be wrapped by dark greenish wall paper [paper pattern is called imperial ]
3. the front wall will have exact similar format. A TV, and a projector screen hidden behind a pelmet. Screen will open over the TV.
4. I am not going for in wall speakers. I am looking at on-wall speakers, as per my other thread. I will start with my htib speakers and later spend on new 5.1

Right my priority number 1 is to get all wiring done, along with projector setup. Also the mind is constantly busy thinking of good corner treatment but that may come a little later. Full height columns on left and right corners of front wall. Is that going to be helpful is the question.

 

[anm]

just unpacked the projector and did some measurements.

For close to 11' distance from seating position to front wall, what is a recommended screensize for pj viewing? I am torn between 100' and 120'
120 inches would be worse when it comes to ambient light, also it may be too large to view from this close distance.
Any other points that I may be missing?

 

[anm]

OTOH, I am getting a great offer on a motorized 120 inch

 

[Raghav]

Gor for 120" (I assume its 16:9). I have noticed something about size of screens. When you first install a TV/screen you feel its very big and may be you should have got a smaller size. This happened when I got a 50" TV for my parents and also when I got 108" screen for my HT. I felt 42" and 100" would have been better respectively.

But after living with the size for a few weeks there is no way we want to change to smaller sizes. So do not be put off by the large screens. One option in between could be the size I went for. Its a 8' feet wide 16:9 motorized screen. It translates to 108" diagonal.

OTOH, I am getting a great offer on a motorized 120 inch

 

[anm]

the problem is that I may be spreading light too thin on 120" compared to 100
also I may have difficulty viewing the entire screen when sitting at 11-12 ft.

Plus screen would be ~9ft wide, so I will have to keep speakers at least this much wide - which is acceptable not an issue.

 

[anm]

raghav, what is your viewing distance?

 

[vinay]

White

Well convey my regards to your mom, she is fully justified to what she says about the color of sofa.

To beat the situation get a stylish cover made and un-cover during good occasions, by this ritual everyone is likely to be happy. By the way "Amway's" have a good cleaning cream for the sofa's.

The "L" shaped sofas are my favourite, i will get them some day, it will compliment my living room as that too is "L" shaped.

V.

My mother is mad at me for getting a white sofa. She is the one who has to take care of the house and both me and my wife go to office.

 

[sarge_in]

the problem is that I may be spreading light too thin on 120" compared to 100
also I may have difficulty viewing the entire screen when sitting at 11-12 ft.

Plus screen would be ~9ft wide, so I will have to keep speakers at least this much wide - which is acceptable not an issue.

Nice sofa! One thing to keep in mind is that the projector does best when surroundings are as non-white as possible, else it gets distracting when you are trying to watch movies in darkness. I have beige walls and find even that distracting a bit, but that was the best I could for wall color as it was a living room. The idea above to have a dark cover for regular use is a good one. Compromises..

Regarding screen width, I am at almost the same distance as you, and I find my 110" screen (105" viewable) almost as large as I would go at that distance. I find it sometimes a tad bigger than required, so I wouldn't go any larger than that. YMMV, of course. You cannot compare this to regular flat screen TVs, when the max you can go still won't be as big as a small projector screen. Regarding brightness, search for projector distance calculators and get info for the projector you have in mind.

 

[anm]

somehow in firefox, it is not letting me go to page 10! Had to open in IE to read inputs.
Vinay - yes the sofa is great looking. Any pics for a suggested cover to give me an idea.

Sarge - I think the front wall is going to be the biggest source of distraction - for that I have selected a fairly dark (dark greenish) wall paper. Side walls and sofa should be less distracting.

 

[sarge_in]

Sarge - I think the front wall is going to be the biggest source of distraction - for that I have selected a fairly dark (dark greenish) wall paper. Side walls and sofa should be less distracting.

Quite the contrary actually. If you switch off all lights for the projector, and the projector is lighting up only the screen as it should, there is no source of reflections from front wall. Reflection is much more from side walls and sofa etc from light reflecting off the projector screen.

 

[anm]

I already have a projector. Projector central says even at 120 it is going to be fine for some ambient light. Will keep in mind and try to reduce reflections. Will try watching a movie tomorrow in day to see how bad it is in ambient light. Is 120" acceptable width and brightness wise.

 

[Raghav]

The viewing distance in my room varies. The prized position is at the back where I have Lazy-boy recliners. They provide a distance of around 14-15feet from the screen. The screen looks fabolous from there, though I would not mind 120" from that distance. 100" would not satisfy me from there.

The other position for viewing is the side sofa-cum-bed. This gives a distance of around 6 - 10 feet from the screen. The image does look huge from this close and 100" would be a better bet from the sofa. However, i would go below that size.

Why do you not consider the 8 feet wide screen that I have. its between the 2 options you are looking at and a fair compromise. it translates to 108" diagonally. Do not forget to install the trigger sysem on your screen and PJ.

raghav, what is your viewing distance?

 

[manoj.p]

I already have a projector. Projector central says even at 120 it is going to be fine for some ambient light. Will keep in mind and try to reduce reflections. Will try watching a movie tomorrow in day to see how bad it is in ambient light. Is 120" acceptable width and brightness wise.

When the review sites say the projector is fine for ambient light, it means it can still show bright enough picture to see it in some light with artificial sources. If that some light comes from sun, it will completely wash out the picture. The sunlight, even if indirect has very much wash out effect.

Anyways, you can still see the projector with some artificial sourced ambient light, but that viewing is usually sports etc, which does not have dark scenes etc. Its fine for those. When viewing the dark scenes, you would find that even little ambient light is causing the dark details to do away, making the picture look very flat and without details.

Now, that brings to the point Sarge_in was talking about. Let's say you switch off lights, make sure no outside light creeps in the room etc. that's full ambient control. Picture will be really good, punchy and with high contrast. Over the time, you will start noticing the reflections off side wall, ceiling etc on the screen. It will make the picture near the boundary areas of the screen "little" wash out. These reflections will be very small, but your trained eye will now start noticing those. If the side wall/ceiling is closer to the screen, then the reflections will be more. Those areas will have slightly less contrast compared to say, the middle of screen. It's this varied contrast across the screen that bothers the regular viewer.

Because this is your living room, you can only do so much and that's perfectly fine. Each av setup has its own set of compromises and your's can't be an exception. What's important is you do the best possible setup given the room, decor and budget.

 

[anm]

thanks Raghav for heads up on trigger. Great!! I was thinking of RF remote on the screen, but a trigger would be way cool. Just switch on the PJ and screen rolls out! One less remote as well.

Raghav - which screen is that? Any more details other than 108" size?

Why do you not consider the 8 feet wide screen that I have.

Thanks Manoj. I will keep this in mind. All walls in my room are white and I thought making the mail wall dark should do a job to a great degree. Let me see how can I get this done.

 

[Raghav]

Vuemax - Projection Screens

the model I have is PSAA108. It is not a well known brand as Da-lite or Panoview etc. But I like working with Designer Audio and have peace of mind with them. It is motorized, RF remote and has a 18" drop before the screen starts which makes for good viewing.

thanks Raghav for heads up on trigger. Great!! I was thinking of RF remote on the screen, but a trigger would be way cool. Just switch on the PJ and screen rolls out! One less remote as well.

Raghav - which screen is that? Any more details other than 108" size?


Thanks Manoj. I will keep this in mind. All walls in my room are white and I thought making the mail wall dark should do a job to a great degree. Let me see how can I get this done.