It very much depends on your use/interest in technology. It might make good sense to have COAX and CAT5 in every room likely to have a TV or computer. There are wireless receivers for TV's and WiFi for computers but hard wiring is generally faster and less problematic.

I think between BluRay, Roku & Apple TV, wireless television is definitely a possibility. Probably more important is to have the right kind of wiring for high-speed internet connections so all your wireless devices work as seamlessly as possible. And I suppose, since the walls gotta come down, it would be foolish not to do wiring for a whole-house sound system. Does this sound reasonable?

Any recommendations on inexpensive, decent sounding speakers with plates that can be painted to go throughout the house?

Also, I'd hate to botch this up and want to shop around for a good person to do the wiring. Any suggestions on the best way to go about finding one? My house is in Los Angeles.

Here is a guide to everything and then some you wanted to know about wiring a house. Even if you dont want to take it as far as automation, the basics are discussed as well. We are building and I just finished pulling low voltage wires in my house. I did pull wires for phone/data/tv, whole house audio, surround sound, etc. Hope it helps as much as it helped me.

http://ourhomebuildtn.blogspot.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Wiring Your New House 101

Run conduit and leave it empty for now. That way you can run whatever you need, if anything at all, in the future. Cat-X, fiberoptic, whatever.

Don't make sharp 90-degree turns when running the conduit, use a larger radius "sweep" turns.

If you have a basement (or attic) you could drop the conduit down into the basement for a home run type of station.