Ok, I've been reading and rereading and everything seems to be clear as mud regarding whether for the PRO setup I should split or unsplit the lenses.

My only goal is quality and clarity, i have no interest in keystoning.

I'm still unclear as to which choice will provide better quality/clarity/brightness, or if either choice is pretty much equivalent, aside from the difference in difficulty of implementation.

If unsplit will yield the same results as split, are the unsplit fresnels to be touching completely? or is there to be space between them?

How far from the lcd should they be?

Thanks in advance.

There isn't a clear answer, one theory is that going split means that the front (field) fresnel is in the optical path and anything in the optical path will degrade quality, the other therory is that with an unsplit design the light comes from the bulb radiating passes through the two fresnels and is contracting towards the triplet as it passes thru the LCD and light passing at right angles straight thru the LCD should be better than light passing at an angle (the center is at a right angle, but the closer yopur get to the edge the sharper the angle). Both make sense, both have pros and cons, I don't think anyone has proven one better than the other unless you need keystone. Unsplit is certainly easier to build and align. People have gotten great results both ways so yo really can't loose. Flip the coin and go with it!