Why didn't I install a 5.1 system in the LHC house? Too lazy. You have to run the speaker wires through the walls, which means drilling holes in the framing and fishing the wires through the holes to desired wall locations. So, you're down in the crawl space, slithering through dirt, cobwebs, pipes, wires and dead mice, toting your electric drill, trying to avoid knocking yourself silly on the beams.
But, the LHC house is built on a slab, no crawl space, gotta run the wires through the attic. Oh boy! All the aforementioned fun stuff, plus you have to keep all your weight on the joists at all times, and those joists are hidden, covered with insulation. If you slip off the joist or miss it altogether, you're toast. You break through the ceiling, impaling yourself on the floor lamp, or landing on the dog, the cat, or your (soon-to-be-ex) wife.
It gets worse: if the speakers need to be located on an exterior wall where the rafters angle down and meet the wall, you have to wedge yourself into that tight angle as far as you can. Then, you reach forward and drill through the double top plate at an angle, making holes for the wires, praying your drill bit misses all the screws and nails embedded in the wood - all the time being careful to remain balanced on the joists. Finally, you have to fish the wires through those holes and down through the wall, trying not to get hung up on the fiberglass insulation.
Browsing through a recent Costco sale brochure, I saw a sound system on sale, $50 off. The ad said it was a 5.1 wireless system. Huh! Wasn't aware such a thing even existed. I bought it, hooked it up and voila! It's not totally wireless, has wires running from the subwoofer to the rear, wall-mounted speakers but I can live with that.
This is it.
Regular Costco price is $280, good deal, major hassle avoidance.
Very timely info. We have a new sofa--arriving this afternoon, in fact,-- which means that we can't keep the amplifier and CD stuff where it's been, or the floor speakers or any of our outdated system. Ron thinks we can get by with an ipad (or is it ipod) thing attached to a good speaker system but I don't know if I can function without physically handling the CDs into the player. I want surround sound, more or less, but I don't want to have to find a little gizmo that keeps getting moved around the house before I can play my tunes.
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