>It's a dilema easily solved. Put in lot's of conduit.... +1! That's exactly what I did--smurf tubing from a media distribution box to all of the main rooms. If the need should ever arise, I can pull fiber-optic cable to anywhere in the house as easily as Cat-5e/6 or coax. Bigbird: >Everything in the future will be wireless Everything? No offense, but this sounds wildly optimistic, if not short-sighted. Don't get me wrong, I hate the tangle of wires. I've often said that everything should be wireless. But historically, data transmission requirements have increased even faster than Moore's law, and wired has always been at least an order of magnitude faster than wireless. There's no reason to expect these trends not to continue. The physics of radiated energy are vastly more controllable through a conductive corridor versus OTA transmission, plus you have the full bandwidth of the wire at your disposal versus limited wireless spectrum. And fiber blows them both out of the water. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I envision a whole-house high-speed digital communications backbone, supporing multiple simultaneous streams of everything from HD-TV, multi-channel audio, phone, internet, fire/flood/security, home automation, photo/video/file storage and sharing, you name it. Naturally there will be wireless interfaces to this backbone available for low-demand devices that would be too impractical or expensive to run cable for. IMHO, a fully wireless system would struggle mightily to provide this without serious latency and throughput issues. My $.02

Questions like this always amaze me since in-wall rated LV wiring such as: speaker, coax, HDMI, video, low level audio, communication, control, and CAT5/5e/6 is so readily available, you actually almost have to go out of your way nowadays to find wiring & cable that not in-wall rated. Usually it comes up when somebody is attempting to run that "speaker wire from the 80's" through walls - that clear zip cord junk that starts oxidizing before you even strip it. In-wall rated speaker wiring, besides being proper from a jacket safety standpoint, is easier to work with, has a more durable jacket, and is much smoother to pull. And the other thing - it is usually less expensive than the cheap stuff. The NEC does not specifically address low voltage "home theater wiring" such as in-wall drops from a display device to equipment below, and in-wall connections from finished product, in residential settings, since is not always considered "structured wiring". However, NEC articles 640, 725, & 820 come closest to addressing this and would probably be what most AHJs would reference if the installation was being inspected.

The way most people listen to music, the convenience and reliability of the Sonos ecosystem products are far more important factors than the quality of the speakers and sound systems. Which, everything else considered, are average at best. When it comes to the quality of the sound produced, remember most users use their Sonos systems to listen to low quality streamed lossy sound sources or, less frequently, equally mediocre and equally compressed lossy MP3 files. All very much sub-CD quality, which itself is a compromised sound source. When the sound source itself has limited bandwidth to provide, what it plays through doesn't matter that much. And most people don't know the difference. It doesn't mean there isn't a huge difference, there is. It's just that most people's ears aren't accustomed to discerning the difference.

First of all way too much stuff on this mantel. No speakers on the mantel. I don't think sconces will work with this fireplace mantel. I have a similar mantel and put some unusual lamps on the mantel. I also rotate out an oil painting with a mirror depending on my mood. I also ad a spot light put in above the mantel which can be done, you just have to pay an electrician.