Need Some Help, Advice, and Recommendations.

["Chris Difani" <csdifani@xxxxxxxxx>]

Guys:

I'm the usual newbie.  I'm converting my 1600 sq ft barn loft into living
quarters.  One advantage of the loft is that first, my shop is right
downstairs.  Second, I can get to the loft floor really easily so running
wires "below" is a piece of cake.

What I want to do is a "whole house audio", a decent home
theater, and HD television signal to four different locations throughout
the loft. Of the four locations, two will be some level of "home
theater", while the other two will be a simple 20" or so, flat
panel TV.  For the HT installations I plan to use "in wall"
speakers.  The living areas are somewhat small, and I don't have enough
room to perch humongous speakers all over the place.  I'm also a retired
fireman, and my ears are not the best.... too many years of loud noises
before we realized that ear damage was cumulative.  So going to a multi
million dollar sound system would be pointless.  I want something that
sounds reasonable, and that's it.

My first specific question has to do with "in wall" speakers. 
Since this is essentially "new construction", I've got all kinds
of options as to the speaker installation.  Should I build a box/enclosure
for each speaker?  Should I simply install them in the stud bay?  Hang them
off of plywood instead of sheetrock? Or is there something else?  In the
home theater I'm planning on all "in wall", and "in
ceiling" speakers, including a 10" subwoofer, a dual center
channel speaker, then a pair of two way 6.5" speakers about 8 ft
apart, 4 ft above the floor mounted in the same wall as the 50" LCD
panel is.  Then a pair of two way 6.5" speakers "in
ceiling", in front of the sofa, and another pair mounted just behind
the sofa (the 7.1 style).  Last is maybe one of those Clark transducers
directly under the sofa.  Since I don't hear that well, "feeling"
the sound is always a good option.

If anyone's got some thoughts here, I'll be very grateful.

But before I close, a couple of questions regarding control, and remote
extension systems.

I'm also installing a Breathe Audio whole house sound system.  It's a 4
zone, 2 source system (eBay for a grand total of about $143, and all brand
new, "in the box").  This system comes with a remote control, and
a remote IR system for each of the four zones.  I'm wondering if I can
"piggy back" on the IR capabilities for control of other devices
besides the Breathe Audio sever?  I want to have a HTPC as one of the
sources, and a Blue Ray DVD player for the other.  In the HTPC I'll have an
XM receiver, and other sound sources.  But the problem is the HTPC needs
quite a bit of "control".

Or should I bite the bullet, and install a second IR remote control system
specifically for the HTPC?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Chris

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