Almost there...stay on target.

This picture won't win any awards, but it gives you a sense of how it's all coming together. (Try and ignore the warped fisheye lens effect that makes the screen and walls seem curved.)

Some things to note here: The garage door hinges have finally been covered and the side masking added, thus completing the front wall. The speaker stands are a DIY special. They are a bit ghetto under close examination, so step the %$#@ back and nobody gets hurt. I still need to work on the base trim for the room. And lastly, if you look really close you should be able to make out the faint image of the Windows XP login screen.

Now that everything is hooked up, each evening of work on the HT ends with me getting sucked into some random scenes of this and that. That's a bit of a "no no" in the HT construction world and for good reason. Too easily five minutes turns into twenty. Focus.

Deft and dexterous.

Here are the side surround and rear surround speakers mounted. I went with some basic Sony bookshelf speakers. I could have gone with some higher grade surrounds and dropped $500, but I didn't. One, it would've been overkill for the space I'm in. Two, I'm on a budget. Three, any audiophiles out there who find this offensive can bite my ass.

When I was growing up I played a little bit of Dungeons & Dragons. One of my friends played as a thief. He called his character Dexter Nimblefingers. Well, that's what comes to mind when I look at this picture. You see, I stole this 7.1 surround sound wallplate from a Best Buy down the road. Like candy from a baby. The cost....five fingers and a pair of balls.

The other reason I'm reminded of my adventures with Dexter is because of the cramped quarters when it comes to hooking up wires to this gold plated baby. I ran 14 guage wire for all my speakers and they all terminate right behind this plate. Connecting the wires to the binding posts had me wishing I had the hands of a 4 year old for that hour of my life. Getting everything stuffed into the two gang box the wallplate is mounted to, defied more than a few laws of physics. Luckily sound came out of all the speakers during my test run.

Oh, and I was kidding about that whole stealing the wallplate from Best Buy thing earlier. Actually, it was Circuit City.