# Panasonic AE 7000 owners



## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

Looking to purchase the Panny AE7000 in the future. Currently constructing a home for it. Had a question in regards to framing and electrical rough in for the mount and signal. I will have two rows of seating. First row is about 11' back and second row is about 15' or thereabouts. Screen size is planned to be 96" wide ~110 diagonal 16:9 with screen gain of 1.0.

Projector central recomends a throw distance of 14'5" where as the PJ manual recommends betwen 10'9" to 21'7" max. Shooting for the middle of the range that gives 16'2". Which is correct or will it not make much difference? Just want to be sure I'm not operating against the limit if the zoom function. Would like a little flexibility on the screen size in case I change my mind.

Also I have a ceiling height issue. Since I floated the ceiling for noise isolation, I'll only have 7'6" finished ceiling height and in the back row there's a 5" riser, so head clearance with mounted PJ will be low. It would be optimal to have the PJ mounted over one of the seats to eliminate any possible head bumping by taller viewers, but that brings up the concern of fan noise.

So the room is a dedicated theater with total light control and size is about 21'x14.5' wide. Does any of this sound like a recipe for disaster in one way or another? I have concerns about screen brightness. I would like to use the PJ in eco mode for lamp life but according to some sites I've seen posting realworld brightness information, it seems like it may be too dim in 3-D (worst case) with the screen I'd like. PJ central only uses what I'm sure is a lab conditions created lumen rating, kinda like the ZILLION Watt HTIB's in my book. IIRC, seems the PJ only had an output of ~500 or so (maybe less) lumens in 3-d mode (not sure of Eco status). At any rate much less than the published 2000 lumens in normal mode. 

I've researched the best I can to determine placements and such but this is my first foray so I was hoping for some more experienced opinions as to whether this get up will work before I plunk down $3K on it only to find I screwed something up that's impossible or very expensive to fix.

Merry Christmas to all and may your stockings and tree be lined with all the A/V gear you asked Santa for.......


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

memarcus said:


> Looking to purchase the Panny AE7000 in the future. Currently constructing a home for it. Had a question in regards to framing and electrical rough in for the mount and signal. I will have two rows of seating. First row is about 11' back and second row is about 15' or thereabouts. Screen size is planned to be 96" wide ~110 diagonal 16:9 with screen gain of 1.0.


One question for you here - are you planning on recliners for seating? If so, you may want to move the 2nd row back as most need at least 5.5 feet - pretty sure I have seen Roman from RSH suggest doing at least 6'. 


memarcus said:


> Projector central recomends a throw distance of 14'5" where as the PJ manual recommends betwen 10'9" to 21'7" max. Shooting for the middle of the range that gives 16'2". Which is correct or will it not make much difference? Just want to be sure I'm not operating against the limit if the zoom function. Would like a little flexibility on the screen size in case I change my mind.
> 
> Also I have a ceiling height issue. Since I floated the ceiling for noise isolation, I'll only have 7'6" finished ceiling height and in the back row there's a 5" riser, so head clearance with mounted PJ will be low. It would be optimal to have the PJ mounted over one of the seats to eliminate any possible head bumping by taller viewers, but that brings up the concern of fan noise.
> 
> ...


You and I have pretty much the same exact room size. I decided to go with the Panny after a bit of discussion - you can read more on it here. Unfortunately, I am still in the build process so I can't provide any "this is what worked for me" views. I can tell you that the range provided in the specs is at the edge of the zoom ranges and it was suggested to me to try to stay away from those to maintain location flexibility.

As far as mounting, I am planning to mount mine in my soffit which will not extend over my seating. This way, I can hide all the conduit / cords in the soffit while still allowing 6'6" clearance (I am the tallest in my friends and family at 6'3" :bigsmile. The venting for the 7000 is in the front so it works in that location. If I recall correctly, when I read the reviews on this projector they stated the fan noise is negligible and should not be an issue. The full review can be found here if you have not seen it already. Not sure if this will work in your situation or not, but I thought I would toss it out there. 

As far as 3D mode, I am pretty certain that to get any kind of picture quality one of the brighter settings will have to be used.


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## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks for the reply. As far as the seating goes I just listed what could recall at the moment. The 11' for the first row is "to the head" so I figure the seating is about 1' thick from that. just behind the first row is the riser, its the width of the room (14.5') and 7' long. So the distances I listed aren't exact but I'm not real concerned with the rear row. I planned on situating the seats as close the the screen as possible (to pull them from the back wall) and still having a bit of a walkway in front of them. Hopefully there will be enough space for a walk with the legs extended but if not, no big deal. The back row is for overflow and most of the people likely to sit there won't be able to tell the difference in this once its finished from plain TV speakers. I sort of concerned they won't notice the screen is bigger too......definitely shouldn't be hard to please. My only real concern is that the middle seat in the front row performs well.

I understand the zoom limits I think. The figures listed in the book are min's and maxes so I interpolated the middle value (I assumed it's a linear thing) and it's 2 feet further back than what PJ central recommends so I was wondering why the discrepancy. Is the math for that not linear? I could see how it wouldn't be, but I can sort reason that it should be too, but I'm totally ignorant of that subject. Would it be safer to err to the closer value for brightness? I think either or would work and I'll probably just pick one of the values or somewhere in between that falls in a spot over a seat so it will be out of the way. Sound like a bad idea?

I've done much considering before I arrived at the Panny but came to the conclusion it was the highest value choice. I will have gone through considerable effort for noise control, double drywall, resilient channel (yes I know about green glue......), spaced and staggered stud walls, insulation, mini split A/C, floated ceiling, proper acoustic treatments, etc, etc. I am hoping my noise floor will be around 30-35 Db. Mostly it will be set by the A/C fan. the PJ is supposed ot be 22Db in eco mode but what about normal mode.......?

My image brightness concerns were based on this reviews which touts a lot of data.
http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae7000/performance.php
Seems to lead me and my rudimentary math skills and knowledge of the issue to conclude that eco mode probably won't be all that usuable except for films with the lights out. Problem is I've not had a theatre before and am not sure how I will use it most often, video games, listening, Tv with the lights on etc...


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

memarcus said:


> Thanks for the reply. As far as the seating goes I just listed what could recall at the moment. The 11' for the first row is "to the head" so I figure the seating is about 1' thick from that. just behind the first row is the riser, its the width of the room (14.5') and 7' long. So the distances I listed aren't exact but I'm not real concerned with the rear row. I planned on situating the seats as close the the screen as possible (to pull them from the back wall) and still having a bit of a walkway in front of them. Hopefully there will be enough space for a walk with the legs extended but if not, no big deal. The back row is for overflow and most of the people likely to sit there won't be able to tell the difference in this once its finished from plain TV speakers. I sort of concerned they won't notice the screen is bigger too......definitely shouldn't be hard to please. My only real concern is that the middle seat in the front row performs well.
> 
> I understand the zoom limits I think. The figures listed in the book are min's and maxes so I interpolated the middle value (I assumed it's a linear thing) and it's 2 feet further back than what PJ central recommends so I was wondering why the discrepancy. Is the math for that not linear? I could see how it wouldn't be, but I can sort reason that it should be too, but I'm totally ignorant of that subject. Would it be safer to err to the closer value for brightness? I think either or would work and I'll probably just pick one of the values or somewhere in between that falls in a spot over a seat so it will be out of the way. Sound like a bad idea?
> 
> ...


I wish I could provide more"what worked for me" data for you, but untilI get my room done, that won't be possible. :R

As far as being linear, I do not think that is the case. I wish PJcentral listed what setting the projector was on for the calculator, but I have not found anything so far stating which is used. I would assume Normal mode which is 1300 lumens, but unfortunately cannot say for sure. One of the suggestions I read (from Mechman if I recall correctly) was when using PJ centrals calculator, shoot for 12-16 FL as this is the optimal range for brightness. So, you can tweak the projector's throw range and your screen size and gain to get within this range. For me, I left the gain at 1.0 and only adjusted the other 2. I tried to shoot for 16FL figuring this would give me more life on the bulb.

As far as fan noise on normal mode, I have not read the manual cover to cover as of yet to see if there is a specific db rating. All I have found at this point is a review stating that the fan is a "low whisper" in Normal mode and virtually silent in Eco-mode. I will try to look in the specs tomorrow to see if there are any ratings provided. 

I agree -eco-mode will more than likely be only used in an all-lights-off setting unless you mount it closer to the min range. But, the nice thing with the AE7000 is that there are seven different lumens settings which gives you lots of flexibility for how the room is used.

What screen size have you contemplated at this point?


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## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

96" wide ~110 diagonal. That's about all I have room for giving the corner door room to swings and a front left main of decent size. I'll have some entry level Infinity mains, center, etc that I've had for a long time at first until I get around to building Jed's Clearwave Dynamic set for the room and those mains are of a healthy size. I'd like to go a bit wider and do a scope screen but mainly I watch 16:9 stuff.

I had planned on a DIY paint for screen as I'm more into the audio than video, but if screen shots are anything to judge by, I can't tell the difference in most screens unless its very obvious. Most of the paints seem to a do an excellent job and they allow versatility. I wouldn't hesitate to repaint a screen bigger or smaller if desired later on but if I had to throw out a $1500 screen........ to me thats a a big chunk of cash wrapped up in something that might change over time and would be hard to liquidate. I'd much rather devote that to the sub system or some thing else I can sell if wants change in the future.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Bill (wbassett) inquired about the calculator a couple of years ago:



Projector Central said:


> Our calculator pre-ages the lamp by 25% before it does its calculations. We do this so that people do not setup their projectors at maximum lamp performance, but rather halfway through the lamp life. This ensures a quality viewing experience throughout the life of the lamp. Therefore, you can expect our fL to be 25% lower than you would calculate with a new lamp.
> 
> We also assume a projector has an ANSI lumen rating calibrated for presentations (9000+K) unless the manufacturer states that it is calibrated at a different color temperature, such as 6500K. This means that if you take a projector that is calibrated for presentations and select Video/Movies or Games as your Primary Use, we will automatically reduce the lumen output of the projector based on the new color temperature that is required for video.
> 
> Dave


Hope that helps some.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks Mechman - that helps loads!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Just FYI - I searched through the owner's manual and did not find any specification for the fan noise level.


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## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

ALMFamily,

What screen setup, distance, gain, etc. combination were you figuring?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

memarcus said:


> ALMFamily,
> 
> What screen setup, distance, gain, etc. combination were you figuring?


At this point, the only for sure is the distance - 15' 3" (roughly). I am currently thinking I will go with a 92" manufactured fixed frame CIH screen at 1.0 gain, but I am going to take many people's suggestion and hang a sheet once I have the projector in place to finalize the size and gain.


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