That looks like it could be a great space! The biggest key is going to be how tall the space is. I can see an ante-room/snackbar in the space to the top of the big rectangle in the middle, and gear in the space to the bottom. Depending on height, you could get a couple of rows of seating.

In my last house, I had two rows of seating in a 12' 2" x 16' 6" x 8' 6" room, with a 10' wide acoustically transparent cinemascope screen, with 7.2.4 Atmos surround (7 identical bed speakers, 4 overhead speakers, 2 independent subwoofers). And shakers in the furniture.

By DIY'ing everything, including building my own subs (twin 15 inchers) and my own screen (Falcon Screen material), my total construction cost, including gear, was around 4k.

For the best advice, head over to avsforum.com, and check out the Dedicated Home Theater sub-forum.

Joe, The ceilings are 8 ft tall. One issue i was looking into was, If i have the screen on the large 290 inch wall, mounting just the front three speakers might look odd. Wouldn't it ?

Here's a rough sketch back of my first thoughts—

It wouldn't look odd with speakers if you hide them. That is, put the front speakers behind the screen—you can get screens and screen material that are made to have speakers behind. This also can give a better, more cohesive front soundstage as you can use three identical speakers for L-C-R, instead of using a so-called 'center channel' speaker.

You can do in-wall speakers with the screen in front (which is what I did), or, if you want to use floor-standing speakers, you can build a false fabric-covered wall (you look to have plenty of room to do this) with the speakers behind the wall.

Here's a pic of my last theater (forgive the cell phone pic distortion that makes the screen look curved in places). All of my walls and ceiling were fabric covered. The front wall and ceiling were black, and side walls a dark blue. By covering the walls and ceiling in fabric, all my speakers were hidden. And the darker the room, the better contrast you'll get.

To alleviate some of the projector placement issues you might consider some of the new 4k short-throw projectors out there. Some have cabinets that can fit a center channel in them-- then all you need to do is decide on your fronts. I demoed a few of them at CES earlier this year and they have really come a long way. They have pretty specific instructions on setup as well to alleviate any concerns you might have about picture degradation.

Hi to all,

When you envision a theater-like video experience, you probably think first of a projection system and a very large screen. That's certainly the display of choice in the prototypical home theater. The two-piece projector/screen combination is generally best suited for a dedicated theater room in which you can completely control the lighting, although many manufacturers now offer high-brightness projectors and ambient-light-rejecting screens that are specifically designed for use in brighter environments). Companies like SIM2, Barco, and Digital Projection International offer projectors and services targeted more at the high-end marketplace, around $20,000 and above.

Image taken from AudioReputation

I think a large TV would be better if there is some ambient light. Of course, you will put shades or curtains on the windows.

I did a movie Theater layout in the basement for one of the houses we built a while back, the room size is very similar to yours. Not sure of the ceiling height in your proposed area, but if there is headroom you can do tiered theater seating which is very nice, but as everything else will depend on the budget. Here is the layout to give you an idea.