i sit about 5 feet from my wall that i use, and my projector is about 6 maybe 7 feet total from the wall, and im using 16:9 format, its great, huge picture compaired to where im sitting, almost as good as when i used my 135" screen....
mdrew brings up a lot of good points, but in the end everything you said pretty much leads to this guy spending way more money than he is probably planning on spending. while you have valid points, i think the best thing that could be taken from your post, is set the room up correctly, with the construction aspect. if you get the room solid, no matter what equiptment you have in there currently it will sound the best it possibly can, and if you decide to spend more money on other stuff it will be just that much better.
Also, you havent said now much you plan on modifying your HT area, that would be the first decision that I would make if I were you, if you decide you don't want to do any drywall, or modify your basement at all. Then you should probably get bigger speakers, but if you don't have a problem doing some drywall, and setting your HT area up the best you can afford, then the smaller speakers will most likely work just fine.
oh yeah, btw i hate all you people that get to have all the fun and make your own dedicated HT area....(not really, just jellous)
