DIY 100″ Home Theater for Under $1700

Projector
Basement converted into 100″ theater

So your tired of watching television on your 27″er from college? Want to impress the shit out of your neighbors and/or overbearing in laws? Maybe you have a small penis and need to compensate? Either way this will achieve all of the following and then some. For under $1700 you can have a 100″ theater that plays your flicks in 1080p as well as your local cable television.

Here is what you’ll need:

  • Projector (I Recommend the Optoma HD20 HD 1080p DLP Projector $820)
  • Projector mount (I recommend Sanus Systems VMPR1 for $64.99)
  • Long HDMI cable (Category 2, 15ft long from Amazon $3.75)
  • 100″ screen (I recommend Elite Screens 100″ screen for $273.48)
  • Speakers and Blue-ray player (I recommend the Samsung HT-E5500W for $345.13)
  • Optical audio cable (around $8 for 15 feet)
  • Desire to not be lame (Priceless)

…and begin!

Step one

Your going to want to start with the screen, place it so the bottom of the viewing area is about 32″ above the floor on the center of the wall (if you have to place the projector anywhere but the middle of the room make sure your screen is placed directly in the middle of the screen). Use a level to make sure that bad boy is not slanting one way or another.

Step two

Now place the projector mount dead center to the screen about 12 to 15′ back. The best resource to find the correct throw distance to is open the manual of the projector you buy and search for throw distance. Make sure you screw your mount into the floor joist so it doesn’t come crashing down mid Twilight Saga on you and team Eddie. If your feeling lazy just fire up your projector holding it above your head and adjust it until you can get the picture to fill the entire 100″ screen and mark the ceiling right above you. *Side note: make sure that you flip your image upside down on the projector before mounting it on the ceiling… you know, since the projector will be upside down and all.

Step three

Connect the projector to the mount and screw that puppy in but don’t make them too tight because you’ll have to make fine adjustments once all your cables are plugged in.

Step four

Lay out your speakers where you think they will best fill your ears with the wonderful sounds of every movie you own while in turn pissing your neighbors off. Make sure your HDMI cables are long enough to stretch from the projector to the Samsung unit (you’ll want the cords to be long enough to run along the ceiling and down the wall to inconspicuously run along the floor boards rather than draping from the projector and catching unsuspecting visitors around the neck.) If you have cable your going to want to connect the HDMI cable as well as the optical audio cable to the back of the Samsung unit and then connect the HDMI cable from the projector to the Samsung unit.

Step five

Tighten everything down and meticulously adjust the screen so that its not cockeyed or spilling over the screen. Done! Fire that bitch up, call all your friends over and pretend like its no big deal while they hate you on the inside. Check mate Billy from across the hall who thinks his shit doesn’t smell but it really does and you hate his face. Check mate…

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