A 60-inch Pioneer Elite plasma and Definitive Technology Mythos speakers are installed along this townhouse’s staircase. “Dreamgirls” (C) Dreamworks, Paramount. Photo: Laurence Taylor.
When it comes to optimizing a home theater, townhouses can be tricky. This Florida resident thought outside the box—in this case, his 13-by-13-foot box of a living room—to make way for a 60-inch plasma and surround sound system.
To create about 4 more feet of viewing depth so the screen didn’t overwhelm him or the room (his old TV jutted out almost two feet in front of the railing and virtually hid the nearby fireplace), the owner wanted the plasma mounted onto a staircase wall.
The only problem? Two installation companies told him it would be impossible. A third company, Magnolia Home Theater of Sanford, Fla., finally took him up on the challenge—or in this case, challenges. Magnolia had to build 8-foot-long scaffolding just to work on the wall. The installation team also dealt with three wooden fire blocks in the wall’s framework. It then had to run the wires 50 feet to a back bedroom because the owner did not want an equipment rack cluttering the wall’s adjacent guest room. And on top of everything else, the owner wanted the job completed in one day because he was heading out of town.
After a 14-hour installation—whew!—the owner could look forward to sitting back and enjoying his Pioneer Elite screen, as well as the Definitive Technology on-wall and SpeakerCraft in-ceiling speakers that deliver the surround sound.
“You’re probably a good 17 to 18 feet away when you walk in the door and look up at it, but you look upstairs and say, ‘Oh my God, there’s a 60-inch TV running up there with speakers,’” says lead installer Tim Farris. “The owner loves it. It’s beyond what he imagined.”
And why exactly do you need 4 more feet of viewing distance for only a 60 inch display? Is it at 480x240 resolution? If the screen is overwhelming you, get a smaller one! It’s all about FOV and resolution, not physical size. I have a front projector with a 92” display size at 15 feet viewing distance and it is just about the right FOV.
Now if the wall over the stairs happened to have the right ambient light characteristics and happens to be the only large-enough wall area without windows or doors (including how it affects rear channel speaker placement, and wife-acceptance-factor), it would all make sense.
Two contrasting colors like that are very common in smaller spaces to provide a break or illusion of more space. Likewise if you look at the picture closer that is a computer monitor, a PC tower and what looks like to decorative pieces on a table, it is not a “rack full of equipment”. Which is easy to understand because they specified in the store that: “It then had to run the wires 50 feet to a back bedroom because the owner did not want an equipment rack cluttering the wall’s adjacent guest room.” So learn to read next time, and people likely would make fun of your home decor if you were ever actually highlighted in a magazine (which is unlikely because of your simple lack of simple details like READING).
I think the solution to the issue was a great idea, and sitting on their couch it likely looks great!
I think the use of the space was very imaginative. Just the fact that you have access to watch tv on one of the new inovative screens without having to take up a space in the room itself was great thinking.
I like it!
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Rocky, Maybe I can suggest some glasses for you. Blu Ray will always look and… 
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The guy’s going to have to get one of those wireless sensor bars for his Wii ;)