I find myself in an interesting situation. I had a chimney fire in my living room and basically am going to have to rebuild the entire room. No one hurt / blessing in disguise... I tend to ramble in posts so I'll try to be short.

sketch of room with dimensions. In light gray I numbered the walls for ease of reference.

http://www.ahreno.com/living.png

My Equipment (or soon to have equipment)

panasonic AE3000U projector
42" plasma or 52" LCD (if i decide to get a Samsung LN52a630)
Monoprice electric drop down screen with remote
Denon 3808
Xbox 360
Xbox
MacMini or AppleTv or something similiar running Boxee or XBMC to be the main content for everything.
DirecTv (probably HD)
4 Paradigm Titans and a Paradign Center
12" paradigm sub (will probably change this).
Harmony One Remote

my usage:
mostly movies / tv shows with a bit of sports. 95% is downloaded. Most will be 720p / 1080p movies.

The ceiling is torn down and the walls will be opened up mostly so i can run wires inwall easily. I plan to run HDMI from receiver to projector. Speaker wire will be run in wall but speakers will not be in the wall. I'm thinking I should run speaker wire for zone 2 / 3 to dining room / kitchen and/or porch outside the dining room.

My thought is to put the plasma/lcd on wall 3 with the screen dropping down just barely in front of it. This gives me surround sound for both tv and movie theater.

Then get a sectional couch either U or L shaped.

1. How would you light the room? I'm thinking recessed lighting around the edge and one central light (all dimmable by harmony remote hopefully)
2. Where would you place things? (screens/tv and also receivers and the like)
3. What gauge wire?
4. Should i run more than one HDMI cable from receiver to projector? I feed everything through my receiver.
5. 5.1 or 7.1 - but lets not turn the thread into that debate PLEASE. I might wire the room for 7.1 but only use 5.1 to begin with.
My budget is somewhat limited so $400 per window motorized shades and stuff like that is out. I would so appreciate any advice given.

bump

anyone help?

I'll send you a six pack if you can help me!

1. How would you light the room? I'm thinking recessed lighting around the edge and one central light (all dimmable by harmony remote hopefully)
2. Where would you place things? (screens/tv and also receivers and the like)
3. What gauge wire?
4. Should i run more than one HDMI cable from receiver to projector? I feed everything through my receiver.
5. 5.1 or 7.1 - but lets not turn the thread into that debate PLEASE. I might wire the room for 7.1 but only use 5.1 to begin with.
My budget is somewhat limited so $400 per window motorized shades and stuff like that is out. I would so appreciate any advice given.


I'll give it a shot.

1. Not sure. Pictures would help to see how much light is coming through windows, etc. The schematic isn't that helpful (at least to me) in that regard.
2. See # 1 above. It seems the screen will have to go on wall 4, but as for components...do you want a built-in rack, freestanding rack...what other furniture will be in the room? Need more info on this one.
3. Go as heavy as your wallet will allow. Thicker gauge is more important for mains than surrounds, but I like heavier everywhere.
4. I wouldn't, but you might want to have component run (or at least pull strings for later cables).
5. 5.1.

Here is a picture of the #2 and #3 wall. I really don't have any furniture (will be buying that as well) I have a Bell'o free standing stand but i don't have to use that either... the room really is a blank canvas

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nCA1Wt3qmK0/RsDk2s_rlrI/AAAAAAAACZU/tQFOT2qBanQ/s640/IMG_2297.JPG

and one of the whole room looking at the #3 wall (the big fish tank is gone). This picture is post fire so excuse the mess ;)

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nCA1Wt3qmK0/ST94QFKfLqI/AAAAAAAAHr0/S7zVOG3g99g/s640/100_3466.JPG

wow... not getting much response... is there something I forgot to do / say / include?

how's the build coming?

You really don't have many choices... if you want a TV on a wall and a couch directly across from it, seems the only option is TV on wall 3 and couch on wall 4 (as that is the only wall without something on it. Your other option is to put the TV in the corner of the room, but that is not the ideal option as you will be staring at windows regardless of where you put it.

You are in tight spot with that room, and I think that is why people aren't commenting, because there doesn't seem to be much of a choice.

So my official vote is plasma over the fireplace, dropdown screen in front of that. Sectional "L sofa along wall four with "L" coming out on the wall 1 side.

run conduit from the source equipment to the projector so you can pull wires in the future... that way you don't HAVE to run 15 wires now just in case. Wire gauge... I would go with a nice quality wire from monoprice, gauge really isn't that important (12 or 14 is what I went with... I think) For your setup 5.1 is plenty! If you think you want 7.1 wire for it now... but with that layout and size of room, it is most likely a bit overkill.

Hope that helps... sorry there aren't more options for you!

Haven't started yet. insurance is still waiting on some structural drawings which will move the fireplace to be flush with the wall... so it doesn't stick out like it does now.

The only problem with a tv over the fire place is that i don't like bending my neck up to watch. I had one above the tv previously and i would get neck cramps from watching it...

I can understand that, especially with how close you would be sitting to the TV.
Definately a tough call.

speaker wire.....at least 14 gauge with a CL2/CL3 rated sheath so your wiring will pass any electrical inspection. http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=100-734 and here is a reference to an excellent on-line site for info on speaker wire http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm look at the "Wire Table"

Monoprice.com is also an excellent source for electric box covers with 5-way wiring connections for your speaker wire system
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10425

cables to projector.....two HDMI cables and maybe a VGA cable for computer hookup ??? Second HDMI is a "spare", realitively cheap insurance against a cable failure in the future.

I would not recommend the TV over the fireplace mantle....for the very reasons you mentioned. If you have an active fireplace, heat/smoke is also an issure for the HDTV set.

It seems like the only real place for the tv to go is in front of those windows... probably on a short media stand... maybe something nice and wide... then the components either under it or somewhere else.

Where would you put the wall plates for the inwall 5.1 surround and HDMI(s) to projector? Woudl you put them directly under the window in the middle or off to one of the sides? i'd like to minimize the amount of visible wires.

Sorry this is a little of topic, but in the picture below I see you have a mini-split system for this room? It looks very similar from that distance like the Klimaire model I recently purchased for the unfinished bonus room over my garage. It is still in the box and has not been installed yet and will not be for a couple months.

I was just wondering what brand yours is and if you have been happy with it? Is it as quiet as various manufactures claim they are? And most importantly does it actually work well compared to a standard ducted system?


As for TV location, I've always been a fan of over the fireplace because it keeps both main focal points of the room in the same place.

My living room is about 13' wide as your is and I have a 50" plasma on the wall and there is no way I would want to go any smaller from that distance. I'm constantly watching it thinking I should have gone 52" or 58" and may do so in the future if I can find a local buyer around VA for my samsung 50".

Although if you gonna have a projector too it may not be a big deal.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nCA1Wt3qmK0/ST94QFKfLqI/AAAAAAAAHr0/S7zVOG3g99g/s640/100_3466.JPG

If i put the tv over the fireplace that means i lose 5.1 surround for the projector (or for the tv). I could just have stereo for the tv but that just turns into a ton of speakers for everything. I couldn't really have the projector screen drop in front of the fireplace due to heat etc..

I think i may run wires there jjust in case (to above fireplace) but I think the tv and projector pretty much have to go in front of the window. perhaps with a short entertainment stand for the tv (like 15") the tv won't block too much of the window.