This is an area of expertise for me, please feel free to send me any questions you might have. Most home systems are placed either in a dedicated entertainment room, den or living room Every room will be different depending on your goals, but some rules of thumb; Most systems are 5.1 or 7.1, Meaning 1 center Chanel speaker above or below the TV, two front speakers, two rear speakers and 7.1 systems will have two in the middle of the room. The .1 is the subwoofer which is typically run over an RCA type cable to any corner of the room. You will want all of these wires to terminate in one convenient place where your receiver and DVD player will go, and have an HDMI v1.3 run from the receiver location to the television location. Installing speakers symmetrically in the room will give you the best sound, one in each corner with a centered seating position. As a rule of Thumb, the highest quality speakers are full sized floor standing speakers like Polk, MB Quart, Martin Logan, Focal.. The list goes on. Have your speaker termination plates near the floor for these. Next option are small sat speakers like bose or mirage or any other small box speaker, surface mounted. These typically mount on the wall or ceiling and your jacks should be high on the wall or on the ceiling. In wall speakers typically have a high fidelity, look for MB Quart, Niles, Bose, Infinity or Polk speakers no less than 6.5" in diameter, perferable with multi speaker arrays. The sound in the wall tends to have much better definition since it is directed, compared to ceiling speakers. Finally, in-ceiling speakers are an option. They are out of the way and can be painted to match your ceiling. The real issues comes down to Quality, bigger is better, dont skimp on the speakers of you go in-ceiling. You will probably still want a subwoofer with ANY system setup you choose. Please visit my site for more info, or contact me directly. -Tracy Here is a link that might be useful: From Plat to Place

jejvtr, FWIW: The arrangement I suggested for the surrounds is directly from DOLBY LABS specs. Now if they who invented Dolby Surround don't know where the speakers should go, then I suppose no one does. Crutchfield? Now there's a true professional outfit. Sort of like Best Buy/Circuit City for the internet. Gauranteee they know ALL there is to know (sarcasm if you don't recognize it) about AV systems. "You offer such great advice and in such a polished tone, it makes me want to hang on your every word, follow all your threads and responses - let me guess you are in your 20's and you really do "know it all" don't you? (sic)" I'm sorry I don't come across with a "polished tone" as you would like. But it REALLY bothers me when someone NOT in this profession gives such glaringly incorrect advice. I have a difficult time being politically correct when dealing with ignorance. My bad that. But I can't see sugar coating it. Out of ignorance you gave bad advice. And, to me, giving bad advice is stupidity. I equate that ging of bad advice with giving road directions when you really don't know the way. Not a smart thing to do. And FYI I actually do not claim to "know it all". And, unless I started in this industry before I was born, I am not some 20 year old (30 or 40 either for that matter).

How was the system sizing determined? Was there a heat gain/loss calculation done? Post the model numbers of the furnace, coil, and condenser. The model numbers should be on the quote. If not, call them back and get all of the model numbers in writing. What are your electric rates (cents per kw-hr)? What are your gas rates ($ per therm)? Georgia would be a good climate for a heat pump. You may be quoted a heat pump but need model numbers to confirm. What are your winter temperatures like?

I thought the whole point of a template was to scribe to the wall so you can imagine my dismay to hear a supposedly reputable fabricator say otherwise. Also the thing that bugs me is I am not telling them I have to have a certain size sink. I would rather buy a sink that is recd for my base than modify the base to fit the free sink! Plus I told the fabricator today that I actually want a top mount sink and he basically laughed at me, said it wouldn't save that much and insistented that his free sink would fit with modifications of course. I get that a top mount isn't popular but I found several that will work in my base as is, no modifications and plenty of sink space. I am content with that solution and it bugs me that a fabricator would decide that I don't know what I am doing !