Home Projector Comparison Report - Performance-9

$2000 and under 1080p Home Theater Projectors

Ultra-Quiet: Panasonic PT-AE4000, Sanyo PLV-Z700
Quiet: ,
Moderate: Epson Home Cinema 8100, Samsung SP-A600
Significant: BenQ W1000, Optoma HD20, Vivitek H1080FD

$2000 - $3500 1080p Home Theater Projectors

Ultra-Quiet: Mitsubishi HC6800, HC7000,
Quiet: Epson Home Cinema 9100, 8500UB, Epson Pro Cinema 9500UB, Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Sony VPL-HW15, Viewsonic Pro8100
Moderate: BenQ W6000
Significant: Optoma HD8200

$3500 - $10,000 Home Theater Projectors

Ultra-Quiet: Vivitek H9080FD
Quiet: JVC DLA-RS15, JVC DLA-RS25, JVC DLA-RS35, Sony VPL-VW85
Moderate: InFocus SP8602,
Significant: Optoma HD8600, Planar PD8150

Bottom line: If you think you are particularly noise adverse, this can be a real deal breaker for a number of projectors. Remember to take into your consideration, where the projector will be relative to your seating (for example, your ears themselves are directional devices), and will notice more noise above you, than behind you.

Also consider that a projector on a shelf will allow the shelf to deflect some noise. By using a larger shelf and maybe some sound absorbing materials to cover it, and that may help quite a bit.