*Urgent* Advice needed please! (1 Viewer)

[scholty]

Hi All,

From reading this forum I have come to admire the collective knowledge on this bulletin board so I would like to ask the "pro's" some questions if I may.

My wife and I are converting our Garage into a room in our house to double as office, guestroom (sleepersofa) and home entertainment area here in Arlington, Texas. Basically off limits to the kids EXCEPT to watch movies.

Our contractors are going to put up sheet rock within the next week so I have VERY little time to decide on wiring etc. (I'm pulling Cat6 for computer stuff tomorrow morning).

I have attached a pic of the layout here:



Here are the things I would like:
Watch whatever output is on the TV Screen on a little flip down monitor in the office area.
Send whatever I am doing on the PC in the office area to the TV
Hook up XBOX360, DVD, VCR, MediaPC to TV

Questions:
I am seesawing between the Yamaha HTR-5950BL 6.1-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver and the Sony STR-DG800 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with HDMI Passthrough but can not make up my mind. Which one will be able to better support me in my endeavor?
Currently I have about a $1000 to spend on speakers. Should I go with In-Wall (which the wife likes cause its cleaner) or regular speakers and which ones are best? (Currently looking at Klipsch)
Most important question right now: Which wires do I need to run to do what I want to do depending on the receiver I get? (Or is there a better receiver at the $300-400 ranger that will do what I want?)
What things do you think I should watch out for and maybe pre-wire for future use?
Should I put soundproof matts into the walls and if yes what kind?
Anything else I'm forgetting? What can you think of that would be cool as hell but INEXPENSIVE to do?

Any and all help is appreciated since at this point I am kinda lost and have a limited time to make a decision.

Budget is about $1000 for speakers, $300-400 for receiver, TV prolly around $2,000 HDTV, and a couple bucks here and there for wiring and stuff...

This is my one chance to do a project like this over the next couple of years (got another child on the way ) so I want to do it right with room to grow.

THANK YOU for reading this far and helping me out!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Go through the "things I would have done differently thread. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=204901 I wouldn't worry about a which receiver you are getting as they should all be wired the same way. I don't think you have enough $ budgeted for speakers to do in walls as you will probably be upgrading them in a few years. As to soundproofing if sound leaks to outside or the laundry room I don't think that will matter much.

 

[Bud Huey]

The most important thing you have to do right now is run all of the wires you can think of before the sheetrock goes up! I did not see a reference as to what type of TV you are planning to use, but it will make a BIG DIFFERENCE is the wiring configuration. Most mid/high end projectors have multiple inputs - including VGA for computers, so my suggestion would be to go on Ebay and buy enough cables to "future proof" your wiring and get busy before your contractor hangs the sheetrock!

Good Luck,
Bud