We actually had a house very similar to what you describe when I was a kid, forming basically a "C" shape around a patio/pool area. In fact, from some rooms it had a view of Camelback Mountain, too, as it was smack between Camelback and Mummy Mountains!
Ours had the living room and family rooms (with glass on both sides) along the middle/front part. Between them was a section with a fireplace on each side, so each of those rooms had a fireplace. In between the fireplaces was a sort of closet-room, accessible only from a door on the outside (facing the pool). Inside that space was the motor and fan, etc... for the central air-conditioning. The entire walls around both fireplaces were made of stone.
The dining room opened off of the family room, and beyond that was the kitchen and breakfast nook. There was also a "guest" bedroom with bathroom off a small hallway (to get them past the living room on the 'arm' of the "C" shape, without having their doors directly enter the living room), and laundry room. The garage, storage rooms and car-park area was off that end of the house, too, sticking out from the bend of the "C" shape.
Going the other direction past the living room were the other bedrooms, which opened off of an interior hallway. That hallway should have had more glass like the living room and family rooms; it would have been brighter. The guest bedroom and Master bedroom (at the end of the hallways) both also had arcadia doors (large sliding glass doors) opening onto the patio/pool area.
The roof extended well past the rooms on the patio/pool side, and along part of the front of the house, too), providing a strip of covered patio along the 'lengths' of the house. This gave shade to the walls (and glass doors), helping to keep the interior cooler during the peak daytime hours in the desert sun. That one design feature probably saved a fortune in air-conditioning costs. Of course, you'd still get direct sunlight in the early morning and late evening hours.
DO have both an interior corridor (one sealed off from the outside) and an outside covered walk-strip (veranda or whatever you want to call it) like that. You won't want to have to go outside to get from one room to another, during the hottest part of the day or during a dust storm!
Although most roofs in the desert are flat (no need to slide snow off of them!) I'd recommend a higher roof, and making the attic space usable with floor, insulation, etc... You'll gain a ton of useful storage and "fun" space, for not too much more expense, plus --especially with fans to send air through the space-- you'll have an extra "buffer space" to lower air-conditioning costs.
DON'T use wood-shingle for a roof! The house I'm describing eventually caught fire, and those sun-baked shingles that might have been fire-resistant when new, just went up in a hurry! Put a truly non-flammable roof on, if you can.
It's a very workable design, very comfortable to live in. As a kid, I found it 'cool' to be able to open the door from my bedroom, run a few steps and jump straight into the swimming pool! The big glass doors were handy when a chemistry experiment would go awry and I needed to air out the room quickly, too.
It was also nice being at one end of the house, with all the other bedrooms at the other end of the house, because I could watch TV or play music late at night without keeping anyone else awake. I could also sneak out of the house late at night without anyone noticing, hehehe...
You might consider putting the listening room at one end like that, or at least in a 'corner', at the far end away from the bedrooms, so that the sound is well-removed from sleeping areas.
Remember that glass is not a great insulator. Get those tinted, double-paned doors that provide some insulation value, and extend the roof as I described above. Your air-conditioning bills will be high enough already, because of the surface area of glass, so do what you can to minimize that.
I'd recommend the fireplace and central air-con equipment being stuck in the middle, as described above. More efficient to have it centrally located. You don't need a fireplace if you don't want one badly enough to spend on it, but it was nice to have in the winter. In any case, put the aircon near the middle, for efficiency's sake, unless you plan to have more than one air-con system within the house.
Incidentally, that fireplace section did not cut entirely through the 'thickness' of the house; it was truncated on one side, to leave a square space between the living and family rooms, which served as an entry hall. People entering the house could either go left into the living room (and towards most of the bedrooms) or right into the family room (and towards the dining room, kitchen, pantry, breakfast nook and guest bedroom).
As I said, a very comfortable and 'livable' design. I think you'll enjoy living in the house, once you've built it. The only negative factor I can think of is if you have to get from one end of the house to the other, it's a longer walk, but as often as not you'll just cut across the "c" by going outside across the patio space by the pool.
Oh, make sure you lay 'cool-crete' between the covered area and the edge of the pool, if your pool isn't too close to the house itself. You want to be able to dash barefoot from the house to the pool in the summer, without burning your feet!
I won't try to touch on acoustic design for the listening room. Plenty of websites, books, and expert consultants to help with that. Do look at the listening rooms here and elsewhere online for ideas, tips and suggestions. If you like to "crank it", consider the room-within-a-room approach. It obviously costs a lot more, but will get excellent sound insulation. Make sure you avoid a square shape; it sets up bass problems. Aim at a room with "golden" rectangular proportions, for optimal sound.
Since you are starting from scratch, you might even consider what that guy did with building huge bass horns into the floor of the room! Plenty of ideas around; just look, think and decide what is practical and worthwhile for you to do.
The building period will be a little stressful, so take it easy and enjoy the interim change of environment as 'an adventure', if you can. Build the house, and enjoy it!
Nice to see someone building a dream house, instead of having to abandon one, in the current economy! :thmbsp: