How should i put together a whole home audio system?

Question

I have 13 Rooms that i want to have speakers in (3 Bedrooms, 4Bathrooms, 2 Halls, Entry,Kitchen,Pool Deck, Living/Dining Room(1Room) ) The walls in the house are currently open and so is the floor on the second floor. I currently own two recievers. I would like the system to have at least two zones. Any Suggestions? how much will this cost?

Answer 1

The cost of setting up a whole home system can vary greatly, depending on the quality you are looking for and other factors.

The best way to get a good idea of what you will need is to find a home theater installer that will come to your home and walk it with you, and give you suggestions. They can reccommend products as well as give you an idea of how hard the installation will be.

Answer 2

Russound and On-Q make 4 source A-bus system that runs on Cat5e. This allows the choice of listening to up to 4 different sources, all rooms are independant and can select which source they want to listen to. It won't blow your doors off but with good speakers it's great for background and entertaining. After 8 rooms A-bus becomes very cost competitive with the standard speaker switcher(impedance matcing) and amp system. This type of system is structured wiring, usually with a "low voltage" pannel someplace in the house that also usually contains phones, tv, ethernet, etc....

An A-bus system has a small amplifier in each volume control, usually about 7w per channel. The singnal and power are transmited through the cat5e (4 twisted pair). It usually means less wire at a lower cost, but wire would only be a small part. A-bus also allows you to remotely operate your equipment back through the volume controls, so you could change radio stations, or skip cd tracks etc.

On to money: A system this large would not be "low price" but in the long run it may be "low cost" when all things are factored in. When it comes to house wiring avoid the lowest price like the plague, you will pay way more in the long run.

12 rooms is easier as these units are produced for 4 rooms, then the units are daisy chained.
12 pairs of speakers better than $100 pair (please don't spend less)
On-Q or Russound equipment for 4 rooms about $1000 to $1200 multiplied by 3 to cover 12 rooms.
Labor: I noticed some one else posted a price of around $35/hr, labor but that varies greatly by region. West and North east would be closer to $50 to $70, while the south maybe closer to $35. I would plan at least 20hrs probably more depending on if mudrings are used for the speakers, framing, house layout, if other contrators are in the way and on and on.

unless you really know what you are doing it's usually beter to let a pro do it. Some smaller shops may let you "help" to lower the labor cost a little.

Answer 3

No matter what you're looking at a pretty expensive system...a powerful multi-zone receiver with a speaker switch that has volume control and the custom install to have the wires run for the central location. Look into what is called a Sonos System. This unit is designed to use digital music...MP3s or a streaming musis service like Rhapsody. You can run up to 32 zones. Basically this system is like an iPod for your house...you get two channel audio in each room and the zone players have built-in amps...you use a remote control device to change the music and volume and you can use a different source in each zone.

Answer 4

If you just want to play music through the speakers then all that you need to do is run some wire and install some wall plates so that you can hook up your speakers. Alternativley you can hook up some in-wall speakers as well. However if you will have a room that will have also be used for watching movies then I suggest in that room you run wire and install wall plates so that you have then on either side of the room. This way if someday you decide you want to switch around your furniture you don't have to cut through your walls to run speaker wire to the opposite side of the room.

Price will depend on the size of the house, but a good estimate would be around $35/hour plus materials.

Answer 5

It sounds simple enough to do but I would consult a professional if I wasn't 100% sure about what I was doing, especially since it involves your most expensive investment.
There are people out there who are willing to work with you and meet your needs. They will do what you want them to do, either just act as a consultant and let you do all the work or design and do the work for you. Either way they will furnish you with a estimate of what it will cost to set up your whole home audio system.
You might try Crutchfield .com , they do have audio consultants and they may be able to help you and make suggestions.

Answer 6

well first you have to sit down and decide what you want the final setup to sound like and how you want it to function. Then decide where you want all your equipment because that is where all the wires will be run back to. You will need volume controls, Choose where you want these to be, then choose a good 14 ga cable. At this point you will have to decide if you will do the install yourself or go with an installer (recommended). Now before you do anything else, check out this site:
www.smarthome.com
lots of good info there. good luck