# New house, projector mounting place?



## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

Hello everyone,
I am moving to California, Sacramento area, here in about a month, and I was wondering what your opinions are on where to mount the projector(Epson 9700UB), and where to put the surround sound speakers. Here is a picture of the wall where I will put the screen.

DSCN1015 by ariel.77.pow, on Flickr
I am in texas, my wife was able to fly out and take the pictures and sign things so that we can close on the house about the time we are ready to move in. 
We have a large sectional from Ashley's that we will put in there, and we can buy speaker stands, or maybe hang them from the ceiling. There is a spot for a ceiling fan, so power is available for a ceiling mounted projector, I would just have to run cables to it. 
What cables should I run to future proof the house? I am not planning on retiring here, the AF won't let me by any means lol, so I would want something that would handle any projector I might buy(if any) for the next 3-4 years. I am thinking either a normal HDMI cable, or maybe a CAT5/6 pair with the wall boxes to run HDMI through the cat6 cables. It doesn't look like it would be a very long cable, so maybe a 25' HDMI would work, I just would have to make sure the projector is at least 14' away from the wall so that it can fill up the screen, oh and I would disconnect the switch so that the power in the ceiling would be always on .
Thanks for all the help!


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I suppose it boils down to personal preference. Do you want a fixed screen or motorized? You will need to block the light from the window. Amazon sells light blocking curtains that work very well.

The wall to the left of the door appears to be a good place for the screen. As for speakers, it doesn't look like the room is big enough for a 7.1 system. If you put the screen on the wall mentioned above, then L/C/R will go there. The side surrounds could go in the upper corners on the window wall.

Acoustically, the seats need to be away from a wall. But, you may be too close to the screen if you pull the seats out much.

Not sure the best place for the equipment rack. You would not want the gear on the same wall as the screen - the front panel lighting will be a distraction/annoyance.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

I guess I forgot to say that I have a diy fixed screen already and a 5.1 system (pioneer receiver with Polk audio speakers). We have a small TV stand that I was thinking of putting all the gear on, I wasn't sure where though. If we put the screen on the left wall like you suggested, I would probably put the gear on the right wall. I was originally thinking of putting everything on the right wall between the window and the door. With the receiver and screen there all I would have to do is run the hdmi through that wall to the ceiling, then to where ever the projector ends up because there are plugs there. We have black out curtains already that we will use for the windows on the far right wall.
What do you think about getting power to the projector? The spot for the ceiling fan has power, but it is on a dimmer switch, so I was thinking I might want to add some dimmable lights to the room at some point.
What about the cable to run, any thoughts on running some CAT5/6 cables instead of hdmi through the walls. Monoprice has the wall plates that adapt from one to the other for a decent price.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

I just talked to my wife and she said that the wall to the left of the door is only about 6 feet long so the screen won't fit. So my current thoughts are to have the screen on the big wall in the little alcove area, the receiver and PS3 and 3 speakers on the TV stand under the screen, then the surround speakers either on their own stands behind the couches, or hanging from the ceiling. With the projector, are there any issues using the lens shift? I would prefer that the projector be to the side of the room instead of dead center in the ceiling, That way if we stand up in front of it there won't be as big of chance of having a shadow cast on the screen, but if it will be a better picture I would put it aligned with the center of the screen. 
Let me know what you all think, thanks!


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Really either wall will work. It all depends on preference and where everything will fit, as well as ease of wiring.

I have not used HDMI to Cat 5/6 cable adapters - I have used long (50 ft) HDMI cables to get a blu ray changer to a bedroom TV. Had to use a HDMI amp, but that was before Monoprice's Redmere cables. I would use them now if I had to do it again.

Power for the projector - you may want to put a UPS on it so that the fan will stay on if the power blinks. A computer type battery backup is fine - that is what I use on mine. Just get one with true power - the $50 ones won't put out the 300 or so watts needed for the projector. Note that most backups are rated in VA (volt-amps, which includes power factor); check the watts rating to make sure you have enough to power the projector for 5 minutes or more. I put my DirecTV DVRs on battery backups as well, but my area has a lot of quick power blinks.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

I like the UPS idea, never thought of it before, and I don't know the quality of the electrical grid around where the house is. where would I put the UPS? in the ceiling? or run a long power wire?


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I would run a long power cable. Kinda heavy for mounting on the ceiling. Plus, you want it to be accessible - most beep rather irritatingly if you lose power and you will want to stop the beep if the power is off for a while.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

That makes sense, thanks! I forgot about the beeping.

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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Some UPS models allow turning the beep off. But, some have a fan that will turn on when the power is lost. At any rate, I think you would want to turn the UPS off after the projector bulb cools down.


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## CHTCEO (Mar 13, 2013)

You can hard wire the switch for power within the wall box (dimmer switch is located) at the ceiling install a standard duplex receptacle. As for speaker mounting if you can mount the rear speakers in the ceiling corners and the front left/right along side of the screen, that will provide functionality and a great look. If space is limited in the room, you might consider placing all the electronics in the closet (remember to install electrical) Utilize a RF remote for closed door operation.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

I have now seen the house, and that picture is very deceiving, that is a 9 foot ceiling, and the wall is at least 15-16' long. That leaves a few feet on either side of the 125" wide screen. We have a sectional, but we can adjust how far from the screen the seats are by a few feet based on the amount of space that is in the room. Behind the seats will be a dining room area with a table, and the kitchen is connected to that in an L shape. 







here is the floorplan of the house, so as you can see there isn't much room anywhere else for the projector. 
What does everyone think? should I have the projector closer to the screen, or further away? it has a large zoom lens, and there are windows right there, but we will have blackout curtains up for daytime viewing. 
also, what do you think about the extra white space around the screen? the bottom will have a tv stand, but there will be space above the screen and on both sides, and I would like to paint them a dark color. Any recommendations on the color? or should I put some type of fabric there?


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

So I am thinking that I want to "futureproof" the projector install, so I am thinking that I should run at least 1 HDMI, 1 Ethernet, and maybe one VGA but I'm not sure if that is necessary or would be beneficial. What does anyone think? do I want the VGA, or should I not worry about it? and would 1 HDMI be enough, or should I have 2? and should I worry about the Ethernet since HDMI has that built into it?
As you can see in the floor plan, there aren't any good places to hide any equipment so most of it will be underneath the screen on a TV stand for now. The receiver can dim the screen so the only lights that are going to be there to annoy will be from the PS3 and a power light on the receiver. 
I want to install a wall plate to hook everything up to, that way I won't have a huge mess of wires all over the living room. I am thinking I will need one behind the receiver, one by each surround speaker, and one by the projector for power and video. 
Thanks for the input!


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## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Definitely run some cat6 up there. Maybe you'll use it for Ethernet, but it can carry a lot of different things so it is a nice future-proofer. If you run 2 cat6, you could turn that into an HDMI later, or an Ethernet and an rs232, or 12v triggers, or a lot of things. You might also want to pull some nylon twine. Then if you come up with something else later, you can tie it to the twine and snake it through easily. Bottom line, while you're pulling wires, you might as well pull some extra stuff.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks for the reply, unless anyone has a better idea I think that I will run 1 hdmi, 2 cat6, and a length of twine of some sort. I am not sure if there are fire blocks in the wall, I imagine that there are, but an antenna line is already in the wall so if I do it right I might be able to use that line to pull the first string, then use that for the rest of the cables. Bad idea? Or would that work ok?

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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

Finally got moved in and the "theater" is mostly finished. I have to do the speaker wall plates for the 2 surround speakers and then I'm done with the theater.... Now onto the backyard to get it landscaped lol. I will post a pic of the room in the next few days 

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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

Here are a few pictures


The blinds are going to be covered by black blackout curtains, and the long part of the sectional is on the other side of the room under the blinds. I like it and the wife is happy 
The surround speakers are wired at the 3 and 9 o clock about 5 feet on either side of the main seating positions and the projector is right about 14' from the 138" screen. It is pretty cool if I do say so myself!


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

ticopowell said:


> Now onto the backyard to get it landscaped lol.


Is this payback to your wife for allowing you to build your HT?.

Seriously, very nice room. I am sure that you will spend many hours there unwinding with the latest blu rays.


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## ticopowell (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks, we just bought the house and we are the lucky first owners so we get to make the backyard as pretty ad the rest of it lol... as soon as we painted it she wanted to change colors... but she is happy enough so I'm happy lol

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## adamdivine (Jul 31, 2009)

+1 for the redmere HDMI cables from Monoprice. They will handle long distances just fine and are much more flexible and easier to work with then the regular gauge cables. Plus it will be much cheaper than going with Cat5/6 and using HDMI adapters.


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