[Villages Kahuna]

Galaxy Electric from Wildwood was the electrical sub-contractor who wired our home--a Latana block-and-stucco with raised ceilings thruout--and is also an authorized Bose in-home installer/dealer. I wanted to have the same high-end Bose Lifestyle 5.1 system installed that you are considering. After an hour of crawling around above the front bedroom which we wanted to make the "media room", the installer sheepishly told me that it couldn't be done in that room. There simply was not enough space between the interior ceiling and the roof rafters to permit installation of the wiring and particularly the 65-lb. sub-woofer. We settled for the Bose 3-2-1 system that is both cheaper and doesn't require any in-wall wiring or speaker installation. It's working just fine.

Maybe a more frustrating problem was the need for two cable lines to enable the use of a Hi-Def DVR which would record one program while watching another (or record two at the same time). Making a long story short, the only way we could figure to get that second line into the room was to come from the cable entry point on the garage wall, up into the attic, down a garage wall, thru the garage wall to the exterior of the house, under the front sidewalk, thru a planting bed to the exterior wall of the front bedroom, and finally thru the wall to the cable connection plate on the wall behind the TV set. Villages houses are wired with only one cable line per room. If you opt for a satellite dish and order a DVR to record and watch at the same time, you need a second line. Some rooms can be accessed quite easily and inexpensively. Others, like the front bedroom of a CBS Lantana with raised ceilings is more difficult (and expensive).

Of course, exposed baseboard wiring and floor-mounted speakers/sub-woofer is a less elegant solution--bit it will work!

[gfmucci]

At this point in my life and finances, my priorities are: 1) Cost 2) Function
3) Form/elegance