I am tired of paying top dollar for "biggish" TVs when I see true projection units throwing 12 foot images.

I am thinking about removing my entertainment toys from the bar area of the house and replacing them with a pool table to make a great entertainment area, maybe hang a regular sized TV in there, nothing theater.

That leaves me with an outdated Mitsu projection TV, tuner that needs to go, but a pretty darned good set of Infinity speakers, mains, center, and surrounds, and a powered sub.

Our formal living room is so formal that nobody ever goes in there.

The lay out is a large rectangle, probably 35-40 feet long, but about 15 feet is an unseparated dining room.

I would like to place the projector as far toward the rear as possible, but there wil be 15 or so feet of "other room" behind the projector and rear speakers.

From there forward, it's a conventional three sided room, except for the entry to the area, which is a 7 or so foot wide pass through adjacent to the wall the image will be thrown on.

Mechanics wise, there is a false wall where I can recess the components below the screen, with power and access to the DIRECTV inputs.

The image wall has a brick fireplace for about 1/2 of the width, so it looks like a pulldown screen will be needed.  I can recess it because the joists run in the correct direction.

I'm looking, then, for general comments about the idea of true projection,

The fact that the rear of the room will be several feet behind the rear speakers, and the gap to enter the room vis a vis acoustics,

Equipment advice--I am eyeing the Panasonic AE900, a place has a pretty good package deal with many of the cables and an upconverting DVD

For a receiver, I have always gone with Onkyo, but that's old information in this area.

Any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, anyone in Soucal that has a setup up and running, I'd love to see it in operation.

Thanks to all, including Smiling Bandit, who hatched the bug that has bitten me.

Lastly, where to get this stuff.  I realize the internet makes pricing easy, but I want ot work with people who know what the heck the equipment is capable of.          

your journey starts here....

Thanks, Professor, I've already spent hours in there over my head, that's how I got the Panasonic AE900 in my head.