I thought it might be interesting to post the dumbest home theater setups we have seen. I'll start.
After explaining in detail about how to setup an HT room for a friend, he decided to do exactly the opposite. He spent about 5 grand on a system that included a Bose acoustimax, 50" Sony LCD, Yamaha 7.1 receiver, HD-DVD unit. When I saw it, I just shook my head. This is the setup the Best Buy installers did (I could have guessed)
Notice the front right and center channel are both to the right of the room in the corner high above the 50" Flat Screen. The speakers were in fact 2" from the ceiling everywhere. The left front sound came from the sides because the sofa is positioned against the back wall on the left. The Subwoofer was not even plugged in. The DVR was set to downcovert so that HD-Channels were shrunk down to miniature size while the standard channels were enlarged with no upconversion. It was simply bizarre. I have never seen such a stupid setup. The Best Buy installers have no idea about room acoustics or setup. Why would you put a front channel on the side and the side channel to the rear? And the right rear channel was in front of me on the right! What is frustrating is that he saw my setup before he did his and I explained everything in detail about speaker placement, room acoustics, etc. Everything was done EXACTLY the opposite of what I suggested. I wish I had pictures. It would blow your mind.
For the diagram below, the TV is yellow, the speakers are blue, and the doors are green.