Just more brainstorming.... I think instead of a normal dining room table, I'm going to have two long tables made custom that have spaces below them for holding PCs or video game consoles. The tables will face each other, and on the bottoms of the far sides of the table will be power strips. I'll keep the look as simple as possible, but of course I'll want it to match the rest of the basement. Perhaps bench seating, if that can be comfortable for extended LAN gaming sessions. I'll have ethernet jacks on the wall that the tables will be pushed up against. A bookcase may provide some separation between this dining/gaming area and the theater area. The space under the stairs will also be its own computer/gaming desk. I'll have to play with the space to see how I can get this to work. I know it'll work now, with my 60" screen, but once I move to a projector, I'm not sure what size screen I'll end up with, and how far back I'll need the seating. I'm also hoping to somehow mount the rear surrounds to the bookcase instead of ceiling-mounting them like I originally planned.

I've never actually hosted a LAN party, but I've always wanted the capability.

For the media closet, since I was thinking I would want it wide enough to accommodate two shelf spaces, I might want half to be actual rackmount, and the other half just normal open shelving.

I bought "industrial" USB 3.0 hubs to be attached to the theater seating riser, for whatever peripherals I may want running from the gear in the media closet to the seating. One for my PC, one for my Xbox 360. I seem to prefer using the wired Xbox 360 controllers versus the wireless since battery life is not an issue, and I've never really minded the cord.

I've decided not to put subwoofer jacks around the room, as I'm not sure on final placement, and I think I'll be fine with paintable surface-mount raceways (or something along the floor) for the cables after I do find the best locations. I'd also want to wire for both RCA and XLR ends if I did the subwoofer jacks, and that seemed like a lot of hassle.

The Kinect may be an issue, since that should still be at the front of the room. The official extension cable for it extends the length to 20', but that might only get it to the left edge of the front of the room. Obviously, I'd want it closer to the center of the display. It's $50 for the official extension cable, too, and I'm not sure why I wouldn't just try a longer, non-sanctioned USB cable. I'm sure I'd be able to tell pretty quickly whether the increased length was affecting play.

I sure am looking forward to experimenting with placement of the LFR1100s. I'm looking forward to a lot more experimenting in general, now that I'll have more space, and the media closet will make the backs of each piece of equipment easily accessible.

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, so I'm really anxious to see progress on the whole project soon. We still need to meet again with the first designer who stopped by. We're waiting on a quote from a second guy who can at least do the bathroom for us. Hard to be patient.