The client had unused attic space that seemed large enough for a serious home theater. The problem was how to fit the room beneath the roof framing and above the multiple floor levels created by tray ceilings below. We used some simple architectural modeling software to show him what we could do in the space.

The finished room is dramatic, with its steeply sloped ceiling and step down to the lower row of theater chairs. Everyone enjoys an unobstructed view of the 106" screen and unobstructed sound from the KEF Reference speakers mounted in the wall above the screen.

You'll notice a projector is not visible in the room. Because of the ceiling shape and screen location, we would have needed to hang the projector almost in front of the people seated in the rear row. Instead, we located it behind the Stewart screen in a 'projection room' that's tucked beneath the roof.

The owner's grandchildren love to play PC and console games in the theater. The Sony Qualia projector performs its magic on these just as well as it does on DVD movies. The PC, game console, and all the other electronics are located in a custom rack which is serviceable from outside the room.

The two problematic pieces of roof framing are visible in this 3-D model of the theater. Using this model we were able to demonstrate that we could deliver the screen size the owner wanted while fitting the structure into the space available. The 'projection room' is visible to the right.

We believed that with the acoustic panels and good speaker placement we could deliver a good sounding room — but we couldn't model it to be sure. When we began our final sound calibration we were more than pleased. It required almost no tweaking. The room measures and sounds great!