New house setup

[snake1]

We're looking to build a house this coming year and I'm looking for advice and tips on setting up my current system in a new house. I'm hoping to have a finished basement area, open room layout, and carpet flooring. Currently I have an Onkyo NR809 AVR, Parasound 2250 amp (perhaps moving to a 5 or 7 channel in the future), and a decent 5.1 system of Polk RTi12s, CSi5 center, FXiA6 surrounds, and PSW505 sub. I would like to get to a 7.1 or .2 system in the future and should have plenty of room to upgrade later. I'm not looking for a dedicated theater, just a family room with movie and music focus.

My concern mainly lies in the setup of where to put equipment (ie amp, receiver, BR player, music HD) for a clean setup and powering it all and keeping it all cool. Can all this be put in a rack? Would you make an in-wall area for it possibly? I'm thinking also 4 or 5 separate 20amp plugs for receiver, amp, sub or subs, and TV. What do ya'll think?? What else do I need to be thinking about?? A bigger TV will also be in the works later down the road as well.

 

[TheWarrior]

Yeah, hang around here long enough and that "...just a family room" will go right out the window!

Always be thinking of the future, which means future needs, future power, upgradeability etc. Start at square one and make sure this space is ready for whatever you throw at it. Proper insulation between floors, keeping your electric cable as far away or at least perpendicular to your speaker cable. 20 amps are complete over kill for your current system. However, having several 15amp circuits in place will promote good upgradeability.

Your room dimensions also come in to play. Regardless of this being a home theater, or maybe someday a musical instrument room, the dimensions of your room will make great impact on what things sound like. You do not need to be obsessive over finding the 'magic ratio' but I am just making you aware that there are dimensions that will just sound awful, period. Over square rooms come to mind.

But I think you will find that the more time you spend planning this, the more it will start to lean in the direction of home theater. So just be sure to have the essentials intact!

 

[snake1]

Thanks for the info! All good stuff to keep in mind that I have not thought about yet.