# Ideas for Home theater on upper story with not attic



## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

dustyboot said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I am wondering how I might best set up a Home theater system in this upper family room, in a 1.5 story house with vaulted ceilings and no attic.
> 
> ...


What's on the opposite walls from the windows?


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## dustyboot (Jun 27, 2019)

Here's a photo


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## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

Hard to tell how long the room is, but it looks like you have the perfect spot for your components in the back there. If this were my space, I'd go with a ceiling mounted projector, in-wall speakers with external sub, and a motorized (or manual pull down) screen that drops down in front of the windows. That way when it's not in use, you can still have the natural light. Something like this:


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## dustyboot (Jun 27, 2019)

Thanks! That's a good idea. However I wonder how I can run the speaker wire? I don't have a crawl space beneath me, as it's the upper story, and there's no attic either, since the vaulted ceilings.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

dustyboot said:


> Thanks! That's a good idea. However I wonder how I can run the speaker wire? I don't have a crawl space beneath me, as it's the upper story, and there's no attic either, since the vaulted ceilings.


Take a picture outside of that end with the windows. We will have some ideal just how much room you have outside that room and inside the roof.


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## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

You don't necessarily have to use in-wall speakers. Get some regular free standing speakers with stands to get them at the correct height, if necessary, and run the speaker wires along the baseboards in cable raceways.
I really like the suggestion for the ceiling mounted projector in the same location that JohnnyVirgil suggested. You didn't mention a budget so adding that would help to figure out what kind of components you can afford. My first front projector was a Panasonic AE500 (720p) that set me back about $2k. My current projector is a BenQ W1070 (1080p) that was about $850. I use a 96" diagonal pull down screen.


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

You do have a small attic above the flat ceiling. Depending on the roof layout, you might also have "attics" behind each kneewall on the sides.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

3onthetree said:


> You do have a small attic above the flat ceiling. Depending on the roof layout, you might also have "attics" behind each kneewall on the sides.





He has power in the nee wall so running power and other cables up to the ceiling would not be that hard.


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## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

dustyboot said:


> Thanks! That's a good idea. However I wonder how I can run the speaker wire? I don't have a crawl space beneath me, as it's the upper story, and there's no attic either, since the vaulted ceilings.


Under the baseboard, or behind the knee wall. That's why I suggested in-wall speakers. They are neater looking, (most have white grills) and you could do a 7.1 system that would disappear when you weren't using the room for movies. Depending on your budget, there are some decent in walls that are affordable and sound good for movies. They aren't audiophile level by any means, but even the monoprice in-walls sound surprisingly good.


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## lug-nuts (Jun 17, 2019)

My projector is also a BenQ W1070 I picked up a manufacturer refurbished for about 450 bucks. Ive been using it for over 2 years now, and it great. My screen is 141" so 69" X 121" I went with stand alone speakers and Onkyo receiver 7.2 surround. Luckily for me I was able to run all the wiring before everything was dry walled. My room is 14'X25' and I sit about 12' away from the screen. Its awesome !


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