Cool. Thanks so much for that input. I'll check out the link rumson. Thanks. DallasBill, are there some small bookshelf, or satellite speakers that can be added to the rear of the room to coordinate with the current speakers we have? How does one use the same speakers for music (AM/FM receiver, CD player, phonograph) as well as for the movies on the DVD player? I know I need an "impedence matching" (is that it?) speaker selector to tie in the speakers throughout the rest of the house (2 pair in the great room, one pair outside, one pair in garage, and the one pair and subwoofer in the fourth bedroom with the TV and DVD). (DOES the subwoofer get hooked into its own selector switch, though???) So for the fourth bedroom, where TV/DVD will be needing speakers, as well as CD needing speakers, how do the same speakers get tied into two different sources? We just want a basic set up, with basic entry-level price points. We are not entertainment hardware geeks. Remember, this is AV for Dummies for me!!! Thank you, Sherry.

First off, thank you. It's refreshing to hear when somebody knows that television surround sound does not go into the ceiling - however music is right at home there. I'm guessing this is somewhere around 20' x 30' split down the middle. To decide on the number of speakers you'll need to think about where you'll be in each area, and if the stereo sound and image will be correctly presented in that space. I think it will be 4 speakers, though. Don't know if this is raised ceilings or not but plays a major factor in layout as well. Speakercraft has been a good middle of the road installers brand and I'm surprised they now sell through retail online. Martin Logan of course has a very good reputation with their electrostatic speakers but does that mean the standard in-walls are worth the price? I don't know. What I do know is that the ceiling/wall, the acoustics of the room, and the placement, are now part of the equation. I've done speaker calibrations on high end speaker installations, average, and low end speaker installations and it's a toss up - there are just too many variables. Going the Sonos route and Zigbee is fine but may create complexities you may just not want to deal with. What about a second zone from your main receiver? If not, another receiver may be a simple setup for this area - many have auto calibrate modes. Bose can be great for a plug and play setup but tends to be a little too proprietary for my tastes. Look around a little and see what else is out there.

cara For in wall speakers, you should look at www.hometech.com - they have basic speakers that produce good sound and run between 70 and 90 dollars per pair. You can also look on Amazon for closeouts and sometimes find good deals (check for Polk and Jamo closeouts. As far as how to hook it up, the first device you need is a speaker selector. They sell them on the hometech site and you can also look on amazon. You should look for a selector that has both volume contols for each zone as well as impedance balancing. If you don't care about controlling volume in each room you can get by with a cheaper unit like the one on hometech, but I would not recommend that. The selector will allow you to take a single input source (from a power amplifier) and distribute that to 4, 6, or 8 pairs of speakers depending on the size selector you buy. See the Sima SSW-L6EX Speaker Selector for 6-Sets on Amazon for an example. It costs about $175. The next device you need is a power amplifier. This device will take the output from a stereo receiver (that has your CD player, MP3 player, etc connected to it) and amplify the signal so that you can drive all the speakers hanging off the selector. Make sure that the receiver you purchase can drive a load impedance of 4 ohms. See the Niles Audio SI-275 High-current stereo amplifier on Amazon as an example. It costs around $575. The connections are easy - the output of your stereo feeds the power amp, the power amp feeds the selector, and the selector feeds the room speakers. This setup should meet your needs. If you want to remotely control the stero equipment, they make devices that can do that but walking over to the central location works too! Best of luck.

Not an area of expertise for me, but with no replies I can fill you in a little. Wireless systems are making inroads, the technology and transfer rates are getting there...but "wireless" speakers, while they don't need speaker wire, still need line voltage, or household current, to work. If you can't get your specific system hammered out, at least try to anticipate the locations of your speakers, as well as the location of your theater/TV components. Then you can at least run speaker wire through the walls/ceilings. The drywall crew can do their thing, and then when your speakers do get installed the speaker wire will already be in place. Conduit for "future proofing" could be an option, but in your case, just running the speaker wire now would suffice. You could even run wire below the floor for seat rumblers. Subwoofers can be located most anywhere, but you'll usually need line voltage available so the subwoofer can be plugged into the wall, plus a cable running from the receiver to the subwoofer. If you have your screen location chosen, you'll typically want: 1) a center speaker, located centered and just below the screen. 2) front left and front right speakers, located...yup, to the left and right of the screen. 3) left and right rear surround speakers. if the room is open behind the seating area, then these are usually put in the ceiling. 4) subwoofer. As far as sales people giving you the ambiguous design vs budget run-around...yeah, that happens. It is good to have a ballpark estimate, as systems can run form a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. However, it seems like you're just doing surround "TV" versus a full-blown home theater, so they should winnow their offering to you based upon the practicality of what you are trying to accomplish. The best thing to do is to hear the speakers and decide what sounds good to your ears. In a basic setup, decent in-wall and in-ceiling speakers can be had for roughly $150 each, +/- $25. You can get a very good free-standing subwoofer for $250-$350. Mongo