New home - Overwhelmed by options

[Dilbydog]

Hello everyone,
Let me preface this by saying I’ve spent some time trying educate myself by reading old posts and utilizing the search feature. However, AV is not something I’ve dabbled in before, and I feel completely out of my league, and could really use some help.

The wife and I are in the process of purchasing a home, should close this month. During our initial walk though, I noticed that the living room, office, bedrooms, front and back patio have built-in ceiling speakers. Fast forward to the home inspection, I was out of town so the wife met with the inspector and current owner, and apparently all the speakers are wired to a central cabinet in the living room built in. I’ve become lost trying to find the best way to control / implement a whole house system. Here is what I would like the system to do...

1 - 5.1 or 7.1 for the living room. Utilizing the existing built in speakers (5) and adding wireless speakers as necessary.
2 - ability to watch / listen to something in the living room, and play a separate source in the other rooms or outside. So in theory, control 3 areas simultaneously and independently, living room, reminder of house interior, exterior. I believe this is multi zone, multi source?
3 - The ability to stream audio via Bluetooth or WiFi directly to the receiver.
3a - Are there receivers with built in apps? IE. Access podcast directly from receiver without have to stream from a device?
4. - Control the whole thing via iOS app.
5 - Budget... let’s say $2500 not including any additional speakers I may need to add.

Is there enough info above to make a recommendation? Are my expectations achievable without having to have a crazy number of components?
Thanks ahead of time for any help.

Dill

 

[2channel lover]

Hello everyone,
Let me preface this by saying I’ve spent some time trying educate myself by reading old posts and utilizing the search feature. However, AV is not something I’ve dabbled in before, and I feel completely out of my league, and could really use some help.

The wife and I are in the process of purchasing a home, should close this month. During our initial walk though, I noticed that the living room, office, bedrooms, front and back patio have built-in ceiling speakers. Fast forward to the home inspection, I was out of town so the wife met with the inspector and current owner, and apparently all the speakers are wired to a central cabinet in the living room built in. I’ve become lost trying to find the best way to control / implement a whole house system. Here is what I would like the system to do...

1 - 5.1 or 7.1 for the living room. Utilizing the existing built in speakers (5) and adding wireless speakers as necessary.
2 - ability to watch / listen to something in the living room, and play a separate source in the other rooms or outside. So in theory, control 3 areas simultaneously and independently, living room, reminder of house interior, exterior. I believe this is multi zone, multi source?
3 - The ability to stream audio via Bluetooth or WiFi directly to the receiver.
3a - Are there receivers with built in apps? IE. Access podcast directly from receiver without have to stream from a device?
4. - Control the whole thing via iOS app.
5 - Budget... let’s say $2500 not including any additional speakers I may need to add.

Is there enough info above to make a recommendation? Are my expectations achievable without having to have a crazy number of components?
Thanks ahead of time for any help.

Dill

Congrats on the new home and welcome to AH!

1....Living room...what is the est. size of this room? what are your expectations for this 5.1 system?

Based on what you have given...if this is intended to provide surround sound for the main living area of the home and want to use the existing in ceiling speakers...it's possible, but I wouldn't be too excited about the playback ability of an all in ceiling 5.1 system.

If you can get the front 3 speakers as in walls facing the viewer the SQ will improved a great deal depending on what speakers you use.

2....Multi-zone...you need an AVR with 2 aux zones controlled via the AVR...that one is pretty easy...plenty of options out there...a lot of people like the Denon 4300....I have the Marantz version but I would assume the Denon app would work just as well. There some source limitations on zone 3, but I can control the main, z1 and z2 with the app.

3 & 3a, 4...that shouldn't be difficult to cover.

5...a 5.1 main, and 2 additional zones...I'm not sure if you would need aux power or not, but again the Denon 4300 will get you in well under budget.

 

[Dilbydog]

Congrats on the new home and welcome to AH!

1....Living room...what is the est. size of this room? what are your expectations for this 5.1 system?

Based on what you have given...if this is intended to provide surround sound for the main living area of the home and want to use the existing in ceiling speakers...it's possible, but I wouldn't be too excited about the playback ability of an all in ceiling 5.1 system.

If you can get the front 3 speakers as in walls facing the viewer the SQ will improved a great deal depending on what speakers you use.

2....Multi-zone...you need an AVR with 2 aux zones controlled via the AVR...that one is pretty easy...plenty of options out there...a lot of people like the Denon 4300....I have the Marantz version but I would assume the Denon app would work just as well. There some source limitations on zone 3, but I can control the main, z1 and z2 with the app.

3 & 3a, 4...that shouldn't be difficult to cover.

5...a 5.1 main, and 2 additional zones...I'm not sure if you would need aux power or not, but again the Denon 4300 will get you in well under budget.

Thanks for the replay 2 Channel Lover.
In response, the living room is 16x20. The den (13x13) is immediately to the left of the living room built-in and accessible through a large ~10’ opening. The rear of the living room is open to the breakfast nook and kitchen to rear left. Orientation as facing built-in. In reviewing photos it appears there are 2 ceiling mounted speakers at the “rear” of the living room, and no built in speakers at the front. So I’ll assume to use either wireless or wired speakers at this location. Recommendations on the brand and type (wired vs wireless)? Current set up is a samsung sound bar and Bluetooth sub, which I guessing cannot be integrated into the AVR and will have to be moved into a guest room.

I know this will sound like blasphemy, but the misses and I are not audiophiles. As an example, when I would go into the “sound rooms” at Magnolia or other electronics stores, and listen to the same track played though various speakers and receivers, I coudn’t distinguish a substantial difference. That being said, we listen to music, podcasts, primarily TV and the occasional movie. Clear sharp dialogue is more of a desire than “turn it up to 10”

If I have 4+ speakers on one of my zones, I am assuming I’ll need aux power to drive them, regardless if my AVR has powered additional zones? My understanding is that the zone output from the AVR will need to go into the amp and the amp will then drive the additional speakers. Is this correct? And if so what type of aux power would I need? Can the controls be integrated into the AVR? Specifically, if we’re outside and want additional volume and the outside speakers are on zone 2 or 3, can that be controlled via the app?

Thanks and apologies for the long winded posts

 

[2channel lover]

Thanks for the replay 2 Channel Lover.
In response, the living room is 16x20. The den (13x13) is immediately to the left of the living room built-in and accessible through a large ~10’ opening. The rear of the living room is open to the breakfast nook and kitchen to rear left. Orientation as facing built-in. In reviewing photos it appears there are 2 ceiling mounted speakers at the “rear” of the living room, and no built in speakers at the front. So I’ll assume to use either wireless or wired speakers at this location. Recommendations on the brand and type (wired vs wireless)? Current set up is a samsung sound bar and Bluetooth sub, which I guessing cannot be integrated into the AVR and will have to be moved into a guest room.

I know this will sound like blasphemy, but the misses and I are not audiophiles. As an example, when I would go into the “sound rooms” at Magnolia or other electronics stores, and listen to the same track played though various speakers and receivers, I coudn’t distinguish a substantial difference. That being said, we listen to music, podcasts, primarily TV and the occasional movie. Clear sharp dialogue is more of a desire than “turn it up to 10”

If I have 4+ speakers on one of my zones, I am assuming I’ll need aux power to drive them, regardless if my AVR has powered additional zones? My understanding is that the zone output from the AVR will need to go into the amp and the amp will then drive the additional speakers. Is this correct? And if so what type of aux power would I need? Can the controls be integrated into the AVR? Specifically, if we’re outside and want additional volume and the outside speakers are on zone 2 or 3, can that be controlled via the app?

Thanks and apologies for the long winded posts

Noted on the room size...the adjoining spaces do factor when it comes to subs and what not, but we're going to just work with the 5 speakers for now.

If you don't have existing wiring where you want the front 3 speakers to go...a Denon AVR w/ HEOS is probably the way to go. I don't know how that effects your ability to use the existing speakers....relocate them?

If the SQ is not terribly important, I suppose an all in ceiling arrangement can work, but if you end up needing wireless speakers for the fronts...I think you can find some small wall mounted options.

Z2 & Z3 power...the Denon 4300 has 9 channels of amplification, so you'd have available amps on board to power 2 more pairs of speakers for your Z2 & Z3, but I'm not sure how the schematic works there...if you did need and aux amp for your additional zones, a multi-channel amp like the Emotiva A-800 can handle it. If one zone has more than 2 speakers...the A800 is ideal with it's BUS feature.