Pre wire option

[drpiranha]

I've put the down payment on a new home that will be completed in 5 months.
I am turning the Bonus room into a Home Theater. The room is 12 x 19.5.

For the Audio portion of my setup, I will be using Rocket 550's in the rear, Rocket 300's on the sides, and Rocket 760's in the front.

In my present home I'm using Belden 12 gauge wire that I got from Bluejeans Cable and it works great.

I would prefer to have the room pre wired rather than doing it on the outside of the walls. However, the home builder has only one option and that is to use
16-2 Genesis 25 strand wire.

Is this good enough or should I pass and install my own wire after I move in?

 

[jamie2112]

If thats the best your builder can do then I would wait and do it your self. I would suggest not going any lower than 14awg for anything over 15 feet IMO..

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Just go in there and either put conduit in yourself or make him do it so it will be easy to run all your wire. Do this right before the sheetrock is installed. It's your house and the builder is working for you so you should be calling the shots not him!

 

[jamie2112]

Just go in there and either put conduit in yourself or make him do it so it will be easy to run all your wire. Do this right before the sheetrock is installed. It's your house and the builder is working for you so you should be calling the shots not him!

Agreed totally...

 

[markw]

I agree, he should be working for you and use the wire you specify, even if you have to buy it yourself.

The only possible objection I can see him raising is that it may have to do with a building code issue, which may specify flame-retatdant or some such wiring for the speakers and/or other low-voltage wiring. In such case, I cannot see him objecting if you provide him with a code-compliant, heaveier gauge substitute.

So, it may behoove you to check out your local building codes and act accordingly. Perhaps a firm discussion with the general contractor may be in order. FWIW, you can't go wrong using 12 guage wire, even though it might be overkill in some situations.

 

[Rickster71]

Since your builder isn't doing all the work himself, it's up to the individual sub-contractor.
Find out who the electrician is and talk directly to him.
It has to be CL-2 or CL-3 wire to pass inspection.

It's doubtful he'll let you install it while the walls are opened up; too many liabilities.

 

[trnqk7]

I went through this same situation and they told me they would cut it down b/c I'm not a licensed electrician. It's a liability issue and more than that, a union issue I think. They want only union workers to do the work.

 

[drpiranha]

I sent an email in reply to them. I should have more information soon.

If they install 16 gauge, would they automatically do it through conduit and if so, how easy or difficult would it be to yank it and replace it?

They also offer something called a flat panel connect which is an electrical outlet put at the point of origin along with a conduit run anywhere you want (max. length 25 feet) capped with a wall plate. I'm having this done for my ceiling mount projector.

However, it comes with an outlet (no way to eliminate it) and the cost is $295.
If I want to set my home theater up in the front with a 19 1/2 foot room and have the connects 2-3 feet off the floor, that would mean a conduit run of a little over 30 feet and they don't seem to want to go past 25 feet.

If I use this option and have my home theater set up on the side of the room, I would need one connect to other side of the room and one each to the front and back of the room (where I would have to run 2 wires through each conduit for the left and right speakers). Does this sound practical?

 

[Rickster71]

They won't automatically run pipe, that's extra.

Do you have a basement or attic over your theater room? That's the only way conduit will work; and it's not cheap.
Vertical runs, down from the attic, or up from the basement.

I would talk directly with the electrician, (I guess that's the email you're waiting for)and ask him to run 12 AWG.

Rick

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Builders in Texas must be different. I told mine what I wanted and he did it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I've put the down payment on a new home that will be completed in 5 months.
I am turning the Bonus room into a Home Theater. The room is 12 x 19.5.

For the Audio portion of my setup, I will be using Rocket 550's in the rear, Rocket 300's on the sides, and Rocket 760's in the front.

In my present home I'm using Belden 12 gauge wire that I got from Bluejeans Cable and it works great.

I would prefer to have the room pre wired rather than doing it on the outside of the walls. However, the home builder has only one option and that is to use
16-2 Genesis 25 strand wire.

Is this good enough or should I pass and install my own wire after I move in?

If you cannot convince the builder to upgrade the wire or the conduit, ask if he could pull 2 sets of 16ga wire to the speakers. That in parallel would be 13ga, plenty good

Also, if you have a say in where to have the speaker outlet box, make sure they will be in the right place where your seating will be.

How about the other in-wall wires: cable for a powered sub, or two, equipment rack to display and speakers, Internet cable, HDMI and perhaps component cables, etc. Front projection? That needs some prewire.

Oh, yes, 120V at the sub location. and perhaps a 20A outlet by the component rack?

 

[drpiranha]

Well, I got the answers to my questions. Pre wiring won't work, because they will just use the wire with no conduit.

The flat panel connect will be my solution. I will get 4 of them at $295 each.
Basically, they will run 2 inch conduit between any 2 places in the room and put a standard electrical outlet next to whichever end I choose (that's the way it is...no substitutions).

The first FPC will go from the ceiling about 13 feet from the front of the room to my rack at the front of the room. The cables to the front speakers will be external.

The 2nd FPC will go from my rack in the front to the back wall and I'll run two 12 gauge wires through there with1 each going to the left and right speakers.

The 3rd and 4th FPC's will go from the front rack to the side walls somewhere between the 1st and 2nd row of seats (probably 13-14 feet from the front. I still need to decide how high up on the wall to put the speakers.

Now, I just have to make sure that if I use a 120" screen that the viewing angle is OK vertically, if the height of the screen (5 feet) goes from 2 feet off the floor to 7 feet off the floor and that there is enough room to put my components below the screen.

 

[markw]

Please explain why this is not good advice on prewiring.

I agree, he should be working for you and use the wire you specify, even if you have to buy it yourself.

The only possible objection I can see him raising is that it may have to do with a building code issue, which may specify flame-retatdant or some such wiring for the speakers and/or other low-voltage wiring. In such case, I cannot see him objecting if you provide him with a code-compliant, heaveier gauge substitute.

So, it may behoove you to check out your local building codes and act accordingly. Perhaps a firm discussion with the general contractor may be in order. FWIW, you can't go wrong using 12 guage wire, even though it might be overkill in some situations.

Afrer all, since someone anonymously dropped a red chicklet on me for this, I think said someone should at least be man enough to explain why it "is not good advice".

After all, I've seen no posts to publicly contradict what I've said, aside from Rick71 clarifying a point.