If it's feasible to get the room almost completely dark, go projection - there's no other option. I finished my basement last year and used the following equipment. Everyone who's ever come over is completely amazed at the size and quality of the picture:
- Panasonic AE-900U 720p LCD projector (~$1,500 at the time, but you can get good 1080p projectors under $3K now) - w/ a 15' throw I've got ~130" of screen - you really can't imagine that big of a screen until you're sitting 10 feet from it watching the Cowboys stomp the Redskins in HD.
- Hsu Research "Ventriloquist" surround speaker system (center channel + 8 satellites)
- Hsu Research VTF-2 sub.
- Yamaha receiver that has two front "effects" channels (that's where the 8 satellites come from - 7.1 + the 2 effects speakers)
- Oppo (model=?) DVD player w/ DVI output which is basically HDMI less the audio.
- Verizon FIOS HD
- Screen = drywall painted w/ a couple coats of Behr "Silverscreen" color
I used to be an A/V purist (I still have Adcom seperates and old Klipsch horns running in the study), but have since leaned toward a "bang-for-the-buck" attitude because you can spend a heck of a lot of money on very marginal gains. All tolled I think I spent about $3,800 on my current setup and that includes 10 guage wiring to all speakers, ~40' worth of HDMI, optical cables, banana plugs, etc.
Here are some general recommendations and resources:
avsforum - the BA.com of A/V - you can spend more time at this site than you do here.
Hsu Research (speaker systems) - very highly-acclaimed yet economical subwoofers (when "Audio Critic" says "On a per-dollar basis, direct from the factory, the VTF-2 is the best subwoofer known to me." trust me it's worth the money), plus great satellites.
Blue Jeans Cable - NEVER, and I mean NEVER, pay retail for interconnects. Compare their prices for HDMI to bigbox or speciality AV shops, and trust me when I say that wire is wire and the rest of the hype is just that.
OK I need to get back to work now
