Hey all! My real HT is up in my living room, but I'm currently rewiring the basement, so I thought I'd solicit some opinions from you fine folks for lighting the TV zone of my basement.

The basement is a wide open rectangle. Well, it'll be easier to make a picture. Here go my Paint skills...


The red thing is the couch, the yellow is the 32" Sony CRT. I'd guess I'm 7' or so from the couch to TV.

Note it's divided into 4 "zones", with the TV zone at the bottom left. The top two zones are on a single light circuit and switch, as are the bottom two.

So I'm at a loss as to what sort of lighting to use. The ceiling is low, about 7'. I tried recessed lighting, but it was much too harsh, since the light was always in my eyes at that height. I was thinking about a string of track lights on a dimmer, but not sure how much light I'd need, or if they'd be too harsh, being point sources.

Any suggestions are welcome! As well as general discussion about HT lighting that I can use upstairs when I get around to renovating up there.

-Joe