Question on home theater lighting positioning
 

I hope its ok to post in this forum, but I have a general question on my home theater/living room:

I've got a condo I want to install some recessed lighting in my living room. Nothing fancy, just 4 cans and a Lutron Maestro fade dimmer w/remote.

The living area in question is the carpeted portion of my living space, which is a 12 x 13 rectangle....Where would you place the recessed cans? I cut out some 6" circles and placed them on ceiling, right now I've got them 36" in from the walls, and 24" in from the carpeted egde.......The carpeted edge turns into a hardwood area with my table that will not have the recessed lights:


Here is a crude paintbrush of my setup.....

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/1...ingroom7dy.jpg

1)Where would you put the cans?

2)Also, do you like the smooth inner baffle or ridged inner baffle? I am going with white housing and inner baffle.

3)5" or 6" cans?

Not sure how to advise you. I placed mine as symetrically as possible

I have 4 of them in a 10x15 HT room and love them. I went with the ridged baffle but it is not noticeable if I use a wider bulb.

Just a suggestion ... if you have tower speakers I have seen quite a few people place two recessed lights over them. Looks pretty cool IMO.

Seems like you already answered your question by cutting holes. You have to think about resale value also...unless you plan on living there forever.

I believe the OP was stating that he cut out holes, or circles, really, of paper or cardboard, that he tacked up on the ceiling just to get an idea of what it would look like.

I don't think he drilled into the ceiling quite yet.

Then again, I might be on crack.

Looks fine to me. But I'd probably put the one over the TV on a different switch so it could be turned off independently. If you have an RPTV, this becomes a little more important, perhaps.

Don't know about baffles or sizes, no experience.

I didn't actually cut holes yet, just cardboard circles and taped them in place.

I am slightly concerned about the one over the TV, my display is a DLP...think it will be a problem?

^Serious HT viewing should be done with the lights off -popcorn-

Yes, I think you will want it off for any TV viewing. And all of them off for movie night.

I would be concerned with the can close to the TV. I could see that causing an issue for sure. Do you need to light that corner? If so, I agree with the recommendation to put it on a seperate switch.

Yeah, I would definetely put in a dimmer for sure. Possibly have two circuits to control the front and back lights....if possible.

Are you doing this yourself? I'd either leave it up to the contractor (unless you hire some wacko, then you should slap yourself), or take your picture to the room designers at Home Depot. I'm sure they can answer your question in two seconds!

This works great at my dad's house. He has an old RPTV and both track lights and some recessed cans like discussed here. Both are on dimmers, which works very well, although it requires using incandescent or halogen bulbs. The track lights also have individual switches, and the one or 2 nearest the TV are basically always left off, otherwise the lights either wash out the TV or blind you depending on which way they are facing.

The cans are in a row along one wall, pointing towards the wall, which is light in color. This gives pretty good illumination for the whole room even though the opposite wall is dark wood. And the dimmer makes them fine with the TV.

I plan on keeping the bulbs dimmed almost all the time, completely dim during movies.................

Anyway I scheduled to have this done, next question........over the phone I told electrician I was picking up the recessed lighting fixtures myself.....he said something about make sure I get "old work style" or "old world style"....As opposed to new work style or something........He referenced the fact that I had a sheet rock cieling...anyone know what he was talking about?