New home construction - Time to do it right

[griffter]

I am in the middle of having a new home built. I started wondering, while the studs are still exposed, what should I do to make my HT setup efficient, cost effictive, eye-appealing and scalable/changable?

I want to start with my living room setup and tie in all the rooms that I have targeted for media type activity. I'm a network specialist by trait and because of this I'd like to tie as much back to a central "closet" as possible (save for set top boxes and other wireless IR type of devices). Making this hard is I'm not sure what technology to even use! I'm not sure if that's the right method either.

A starting point is all I'm interested it at this point. I still have a lot of research to do to find out what capabilities I want to have. I need to find this all out while the studs are still exposed though as I don't want to go back and re-do it!

 

[TLS Guy]

I am in the middle of having a new home built. I started wondering, while the studs are still exposed, what should I do to make my HT setup efficient, cost effictive, eye-appealing and scalable/changable?

I want to start with my living room setup and tie in all the rooms that I have targeted for media type activity. I'm a network specialist by trait and because of this I'd like to tie as much back to a central "closet" as possible (save for set top boxes and other wireless IR type of devices). Making this hard is I'm not sure what technology to even use! I'm not sure if that's the right method either.

A starting point is all I'm interested it at this point. I still have a lot of research to do to find out what capabilities I want to have. I need to find this all out while the studs are still exposed though as I don't want to go back and re-do it!

That's pretty tough to ask people to plan a complex system. We don't even have your house plans.

I would just recommend that you place conduit anywhere you might place a speaker, control or electronic device. Make sure it is large enough diameter. HDMI with the connectors need pulling through gently.

This will may be give you an idea. I only have AV gear in two rooms. Having media free areas is a good idea. I don't see the benefit of plastering speakers through out a house, but I see a lot of things differently.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/Walberswick Studios

 

[jcPanny]

HT wiring

Check out some of these HT wiring articles to get started:
http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/home-wiring-construction
http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/home-wiring-construction/whole-house-wiring-basics
http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/home-wiring-construction/whole-house-wiring-basics-part-2
http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/do-it-yourself-diy-topics/in-wall-speakers

Don't expect that your general contractor or electrician knows how to do this correctly. I would supervise the HT wiring or do it yourself.

Try to decide what type of speakers (bookshelf, floorstander, in-wall, etc.) you will have so you can wire accordingly. Wire for 7.1 and a couple sub locations even if you plan to start with a smaller system, wire is cheap.

Also consider running speaker wire and possibly cat 5 from the main HT cabinet to several rooms with a low voltage box for a VC in each room. This will allow you to add a distributed audio system down the road.