re: Tell me about you home audio systems, and DIY?

I used Home Theater Direct out of TX, their customer service was spectacular. Installed 12 8 inch ceiling speakers in bedrooms, kitchen and den, 3 6.5 DVC speakers in the bathrooms and dining room, and 4 outdoor speakers. Does not sound like you are doing this much but I went back and forth between them a Crutchfield gear. Later I put 4 in the living room ceiling, but those are for Atmos when I upgrade my home theater.
I do have the 2 systems connected to each other, via Audio balans, so I can feed home theater to whole house or vice versa. They are not located in the same room

My ceilings are old celetex tiles over plywood, so I bought hole saws in the exact sizes needed off of Amazon.