Hello--first time poster here.

I've been using a BenQ HT2150ST with an inexpensive stop gap screen ( White, 1.1 gain) and am ready to invest in a better screen.

As my room served duty as a living room, reading room, guest room, etc. (typical NYC apartment) I'm not going to paint the walls darker, as the room is cheery and bright from natural sunlight when the curtains are open. I realize that this is not ideal for a home theater.

So, even though I am able to keep all external light out of the room, the reflection from the white walls washes out the image on the screen. I assume getting a grey screen with less gain would help and am looking for suggestions.

Some parameters:
-I prefer a roll down screen as a fixed screen would visually overwhelm the room--but will go fixed if that's the only solution I can afford.
-I'd rather spend less than $1000 but will spend more if needed--understanding that a quality screen will last through a few projector upgrades.
-I need a screen that will play well with a short throw projector. There is not enough room for a long throw projector.
-I'm looking for a screen size of about 100"" diagonal, 16:9

Any suggestion would be much appreciated,

AV Intergrated:

Thanks for all your advice.

I have begun to look at grey and light absorbing screens, and have order samples from Silver Ticket and SeymourAV. Specifically, I’m considering the Silver Ticket gray (1.0 gain), Silver Ticket high contrast (.95 gain), Seymour Glacier Grey (.8 gain) and Seymour Matinee Wide .9 gain, ambient light rejecting).

The person I spoke with at SeymourAV was quite helpful, and suggested I consider the Matinee Wide as it is more likely than other ambient light rejecting materials to play nice with a short throw projector.

I also used the Projector Central throw distance calculator and found out that there are some regular throw projectors that will fit in my space. For example Epson projectors I looked would not but the BenQ would. So that’s another complication/opportunity.