Veiwing distance.....

Chad,

It depends on whether you care about stereo music. If not, and assuming you use a center channel, let the video consideration be your guide, say 2 to 3 times the image diagonal, but I'd prefer 6' (2 X) rather than 9' (3 X ) for a 36 XBR.

In my experience, good sound is much easier to achieve for movies than for music. My Sony ES receiver was fine for movies, but lacked transparency and openness for music, so I returned to my high-end separates, and moved the receiver to a secondary system.

db

OK thanks, I will try pulling the loveseat up to 6 ft for movies..I just want to be as close as makes sence for a good movie experience.....thanks alot all!

5 feet for standard definition (seating distance is 2.0x to 2.5x times horizontal screen width for standard definition. 1.5x to 2.0 for high definition or 35mm) You might not like to sit that close, but for a real cinematic experience, these numbers are accepted to be best. I sit 12.33 feet back from my 80inch wide (92inch diag) screen. Which works out to a seating distance 1.85 times the width. It's just about perfect. At first it was overwhelming, but now I'm used to it.

I suspect some audiophiles are just trying to *not* justify a front projector [or at least a 65 inch]. ;-)

With DVD or better source material

In the absence of objectionable projection artifacts 1.5 widths on a 16:9 screen is a nice compromise trading a good sense of immersion against loosing some sharpness on standard definition sources. Good transfers look _exceptional_. Low quality ones are OK. 4:3 DBS is not unwatchable. This gets you a seating distance of 39". You need to think in terms of small movie screens not big TVs. That subtended field of vision will match what you get when you go to a THX certified theater meeting the recomendations and sit in the _FARTHEST_ seat from the screen.

You will be unable to visually resolve 1080 line HD at a seating distance beyond 46".

3 heights works better. This gives you a seating distance of 42" for 1.85:1 sources and 33" for 2.35:1 scope movies. This is not close enough to require moving your eyes to see the image.

When you play with those numbers you'll find that seating distances beyond what you have in a modest living room require two-piece projection equipment. Front projection will require light control. Both space and financial costs are expensive for two-piece rear projection.

With a CRT projector (no visible projection structure) I find that 11' from a wall mounted 87"x49" screen (100" diagonal 16:9) is a good compromise although 9' works better for nice scope transfers. If I wasn't stuck with my space and speaker placement constraints I'd run a 103 x 44" screen for my seating distance.

This is in a 13x19' room. My speakers are 8' apart and 4' off the front wall thus forming an equilateral triangle with my listening position. You don't have to choose between acceptable speaker placement (60 degrees in my case) and a reasonable sized visual field (36 degrees). Getting the box out from between my speakers was also the best thing I've done for my 2-channel sound stage.

You might put your TV stand on casters so you can move it.