Hello all. It's been a while since I've checked in but it seems I was taken in by the great deals at a Brand Smart grand opening and drove home with a 52" Sharp Aquos LCD TV that cost about the same as my 36" 720p tv did about two years ago.

However, the living room is keeping the 36" TV so here is my situation and questions which I'm confident some of you veterans and newbies alike could answer accordingly.

Is it feasible to get an effective 7.1 surround set-up in a room that only measures 11' by 11'? (spare bedroom)

My other choice is to use the unfinished basement. It's a dry basement, concrete walls. Now go easy on my next question because I got slammed previously concerning the use of this material.

If I were to use the basement, is it possible to make bass traps and acoustic panels from carpet? Since it is an unfinished basement, aesthetics is a non issue.

And my last question is; are there still those who extol the virtues of magic speaker wire on these boards? :rolleyes:

In advance, I thank any and all who might respond.

unless there is 3 to 5 feet behind the seating area, 7.1 is fairly useless in a small room...just optimize a 5.1 system.

I know esthetics are not usually a "guy thing", but hanging carpet on the walls might be taking the man-cave ethos a little too far. Yes, you can use carpet for sound deadening, but you would need to finish out the basement a bit with at least an acoustic panel drop ceiling and then carpet and padding on the floor. You could then experiment with carpet panels and bass traps to control the acoustics.

"magic wire" still has it's supporters, along with wire risers, massive wood stands to acoustically improve the equipment setting on them, and unspecified magical improvements performed on the innards of electronic equipment. But as far as speaker wiring, Mr. Roger Russell, formerly of McIntosh Labs has put that flim-flam to rest.
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

I have a 7.1 system that is within 1-2 foot of my rear row and enjoy being able to hear the sounds coming from both the sides and behind me during a movie.

"tomsHT" - very nice home theater you have put together ! Do you normally sit in the second row ? I'm curious because my personal run-ins with very close rear speakers have not been all that great. Maybe it was the balance between the speakers, who knows.

Thanks and yes I usually sit in the rear row.