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OmniMount PJT40 Universal Projector Mount

Remember when installing a video projector was a huge deal? When I started in this industry, nearly every projector we sold was $9,995 or more and required a mount provided by the manufacturer.

The OmniMount PJT40 arms have a curved J-hook “foot” allowing you to easily adjust the height up to 1.6 inches to accommodate and level projectors with an uneven mounting surface or extended for wiring and circulation. Remember when installing a video projector was a huge deal? When I started in this industry, nearly every projector we sold was $9,995 or more and required a mount provided by the manufacturer. And these mounts weren’t always the most user friendly, especially considering that ceilings and front walls are often out of square or level. In fact, I can remember more than one CEDIA EXPO where our lead installer sought out Runco techs to discuss the multiple ways in which their mounts could be improved.

In those “good old” days, projectors didn’t offer much in the way of adjustment, especially if you were working with a CRT model. Your tolerance for lens positioning was measured in mere inches, these beasts weighed hundreds of pounds, there was no lens shift, and you needed to be really good with shimming and obscure things like Scheimpflug and astigmatism adjustments. (Don’t even get me started on CRT convergence. The hours spent in a dark room staring at green grid lines and H-focus patterns is practically like living inside The Matrix!)

You kids today have it so easy! Projectors generally weigh less than an AV receiver and offer a huge amount of installation flexibility. There are also a ton of mount options available, making your life even easier. When I heard about OmniMount’s new PJT40 universal projector mount, I was really intrigued. We seem to be in the “mount-of-the-month” club a lot, trying different things with each projector, but this looked like a design that would not only support a ton of different models, but was also designed specifically with installer ease of use in mind.

I was fortunate enough to get a review sample just days before we were scheduled to perform an actual, real-world install of a new JVC DLARS46U projector in a client’s home. This was an opportunity for the PJT40 to prove itself—or fail miserably—in a real-world scenario.

Unboxing the mount reveals baggies of various screws, washers, and bolts along with four “spider” arms, the projector and ceiling mounting plates, a three-inch section of NPT (National Pipe Thread) pipe and the main articulation unit.

I assembled the mount ahead of time in our showroom to get a feel for how it worked. This turned out to be fortuitous because the included 15mm M5 screws weren’t long enough to thread into the JVC projector. My installer rustled up some 25mm M5s that fit the bill, but this potentially could have derailed an install. (According to, Kevin Paulson, OmniMount’s director of product management, “Our goal is to provide installers a complete hardware kit. We will be adding some more lengths of M5 screws, and now we are just researching to see how many lengths we need to add.”)

The mounting arms cover a span of 7.1 to 13.9 inches, and you can use three or four, depending on the projector’s mounting pattern. On smaller projectors, the arms may hang over the sides of the projector quite a bit, bringing more attention to them than you (or the home owner) might like. With the JVC, however, they fit perfectly. The arms have a curved J-hook “foot” allowing you to easily adjust the height up to 1.6 inches to accommodate and level projectors with an uneven mounting surface or extended for wiring and circulation. Once these legs are installed, you center the projector plate for center-over-lens placement and then tighten and lock it down.

The ceiling plate offers four screw holes, aiding in hitting studs on at least two points. Once the plate is lagged into the ceiling, you screw in the drop pipe and lock it down with security screws. The mounting plate accepts standard NPT pipe, so getting a longer downpipe for tall ceilings won’t be a problem. (Omni offers 12-, 18-, and 24-inch pipes.) A cover plate is included for a nice, finished look on the ceiling, but my minor quibble is the cover plate doesn’t cover the entire length of threaded rod extending from the ceiling plate. If the cover plate’s center lip extended an additional half-inch, it would look nicer, in my opinion.

The OmniMount PJT40 ceiling mount features three MicroDials on the articulation unit with finger adjustments providing +/- 16.5 degrees of pitch and roll, letting you level and square the projector in seconds. Once the downpipe is installed, the articulation unit screws onto it, and locks into place. Omni’s Lift ‘n’ Lock design utilizes four tabs on the projector mount to slip into channels on the articulation unit, enabling one person to do the install. It’s really a simple “up-and-in” process. Security screws then lock the projector in place.

At this point in a projector install, you might need to think about tightening or loosening or shimming to get the projector straight and level, but the three MicroDials on the articulation unit have finger adjustments providing +/- 16.5 degrees of pitch and roll, letting you level and square the projector in seconds. Throw up your favorite test pattern, adjust zoom, and focus and then, perfectly dial in and square the edges. The dials are easy to turn, but tight enough to hold their position.

Let’s face it; mounts are rarely sexy or cool, but at $179.95 MSRP, the PJT40 comes about as close as possible. It also does its job extremely well and could be the one mount you use/stock for your sub- 40 pound projector installs.

800.668.6848
omnimount.com

Kudos
Greatly speeds up projector mounting; MicroDials allow super quick and precise positioning; one mount to rule most

Concerns
Included hardware limited; arms can extend over side of smaller projectors

Product Specs
• Fits most projectors weighing up to 40 pounds
• Includes all necessary mounting hardware
• Easily adds longer down pole via standard 1.5-inches threaded pipe
• Lift ‘n’ Lock design allows installation by one person
• MicroDial makes fast work of perfectly leveling projector post install
• Allows +/- 16.5 degree pitch and roll adjustment and 180-degree yaw

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