Trust in the experts or my own ears? - need advice (1 Viewer)

[davrud]

I am in the process of building a new house and need some advice with the mixed use home theater. It is a 22'(L) x 15'10"(W) family room with coffered ceilings, open to a kitchen. For the WAF I want to keep it clean but not sacrifice on excellent sound. So I am planning to install good quality in-walls or on-walls.

Here are my questions:
1) I have been searching this and many other sites for a nice set of in-walls or on-walls and narrowed it down. The problem is, although I am in the Washington DC-metro area, very few places have the higher-end stuff on display (e.g., sunfire, atlantic technology, bg corp, morel, triad, paradigm, dynaudio, magnepan) and available to listen to. When I call the "dealers" listed on the respective company Websites, they all tell me to trust in their expertise. If speaker quality is largely subjective by each listener...why should I "trust" them? What do you suggest I do?

2) The builder is affiliated with Guardian and they are contracted to do all the low-power wiring (e.g., alarm system, whole-house audio, HT, etc.). They want to charge an arm-and-a-leg for their HT setup. I am having them put in the wiring for the Front L&R speakers and the in-ceiling rears. Should I also have them pre-wire an additional set of surrounds for 7.1, or is it not necessary?

3) Anything else you think I should get/ask for before the dry-wall goes in?

Thanks...

 

[JohnRice]

I wouldn't get in-walls. You are kind of stuck with them as it's an ordeal to change models. Install small shelves, but which are large enough to handle at least reasonably sized bookshelf speakers for the front. And, yes, trusting the "experts" will get you what they want to sell. You need to decide if you want to be involved in the system or not. If so, look for speakers yourself. I assure you, there are plenty of good brands on display in the DC area. Who are you trying to kid?

I wouldn't bother with the 7.1 wiring myself. It depends on your budget.