I'be been contemplating over the past few days about the system that I want to setup in our living room/kitchen area and cannot decide on the equipment I should use. I have attached a diagram of my layout. Its one large open room. The Redline that splits the room is where the vaulted ceiling ends and the kitchen area is a standard flat ceiling. The blue dots are my initial plan, and I would think this makes sense for a 5.1 or 7.1. The green dots are my proposed location if I were to go with a 7.1 (I dont know if this would be a good spot or not, which is why I'm posting). The 2 orange dots would be my outdoor speakers that I'd like to get wired up as well, so I will be looking for multi-room functionality.
I'm looking for advice on whether a 7.1 would be worth the extra cost in this setup, and the general direction most of you would use in order to get the best sound available for maybe a $700-$800 budget. The outdoor speakers are not a huge concern, just something that plays average quality stuff.
Thoughts?
The room layout is attached as my avatar...
