How to wire our existing house for whole home sound

[AussieDaz]

Hi
Im a noob so be gentle, I have looked at some of the setups and had some specific questions on what I already have
So our house is 9 yrs old and the builder had each room with a AV connector (Rg6 U 75 ohm) and phone cable, now the phone cable was CAT5e cable so I rewired them all to be Gig ethernet.

So everything meets in the basement so the Ethernet are set to a switch, the AV cables are all run into a Cable TV splitter.

Now my questions are on the hows, what do I need and how to configure it since I want to do all the work myself (if I can) so hoping for some help here.

I was hoping to use the RG6 cables to run the actual speakers(after taking them off the Cable TV splitter) and the ethernet to do the audio/room control.

Now since its an existing home, I was thinking pull up the baseboards to run the speaker cables across the rooms, since its a 2 story house can get into the attic to run cables for the top floor and others in the basement (which isnt finished)

So now what will I need to run this , what components will I need and can it be run remotely

As a noob there is alot of tech terminology I probably dont know so please explain it to me

Thanks again and Happy Fathers Day

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

I’d suggest checking out Home Theater Direct, which specializes in affordable whole-house audio. I’m sure they their tech support can tell you what wiring is required for your needs.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Latent]

The RG6 is designed for high frequency low level signals like satellite or antenna for TV distribution. So you would only normally be able to use this cable to connect up multiple cable/DVBT Receiver boxes/TV's.

Note that there is one other use for this cabling and that is to pass HDMI with a HDMI over Coax converter. This would allow you to have just the one Cable TV Box and pass its HDMI signal (along with other sources like roku/bluray/AppleTV etc into a modern AVR and then run HDMI out over coax converters to other rooms so they can share these central Video sources. Also note that with such a setup each room with a second TV would also get Audio signals along with the video which can be output over low quality TV speakers or via a connected sound device with speakers that is connected to TV's audio output port (this could be a soundbar or powered speakers or an amp/AVR with passive speakers).

Normally for mulitroom audio you would need to run proper speaker cables to speakers mounted in the room, walls or ceiling. And at the central cabling point in the basement you would have a small rack of multichannel amps and sources and control etc. Quite a lot of work to do all this and get all the cables pulled. If you have access to underfloor via basement and room spaces etc you may be able to do this cable pulling but it may be very hard to do it yourself with some house construction types...

I would actually recommend you don't go down this traditional route yourself and look at some of the more modern options instead. If you have Ethernet over cat5 and wifi to all rooms then you can get separate sound setups in each room and then join them up over the network. This setup requires no cable pulling or anything and is simply plug and play. The only issue is choosing the system that suits you. There are systems that are simple to use and very easy to control but you have to use all the same brand product so they work together. Sonos, Yamaha MusicCast and Denon Heos are examples of this and they each have their own advantages and limitations but they are not cheap. They often work best with speakers mounted in the room directly but you can connect them up to in-ceiling mounted speakers if you like the WallMart sound experience but the speaker wires have to go to the amplifier which can be located in the room or in any space you can find near by.

The other solution that is a bit more budget friendly is to use cheap ChromeCast Audios. With this setup each room just needs some powered speakers or an AVR/amplfier with separate speakers. And then you add a ChromeCast audio per device and you control the audio in one or more rooms from a phone/tablet. The only downside I see with this setup is that the power on/off control (and input selection on some audio devices) is not controlled from the casting application on your phone. You may need to walk up to your speakers/amp and push the power button etc or use their remote control to get them powered on and ready to output sound in that room. Some powered speakers may have auto signal detection power on/off control though. Also if sound quality is of high importance to you then ChromeCast audios may sound a bit better using their optical audio output into an AVR and decent speakers.

If you want to have video as well as audio to some rooms the setup would be a bit more complex.

 

[AussieDaz]

The RG6 is designed for high frequency low level signals like satellite or antenna for TV distribution. So you would only normally be able to use this cable to connect up multiple cable/DVBT Receiver boxes/TV's.

Note that there is one other use for this cabling and that is to pass HDMI with a HDMI over Coax converter. This would allow you to have just the one Cable TV Box and pass its HDMI signal (along with other sources like roku/bluray/AppleTV etc into a modern AVR and then run HDMI out over coax converters to other rooms so they can share these central Video sources. Also note that with such a setup each room with a second TV would also get Audio signals along with the video which can be output over low quality TV speakers or via a connected sound device with speakers that is connected to TV's audio output port (this could be a soundbar or powered speakers or an amp/AVR with passive speakers).

Normally for mulitroom audio you would need to run proper speaker cables to speakers mounted in the room, walls or ceiling. And at the central cabling point in the basement you would have a small rack of multichannel amps and sources and control etc. Quite a lot of work to do all this and get all the cables pulled. If you have access to underfloor via basement and room spaces etc you may be able to do this cable pulling but it may be very hard to do it yourself with some house construction types...

I would actually recommend you don't go down this traditional route yourself and look at some of the more modern options instead. If you have Ethernet over cat5 and wifi to all rooms then you can get separate sound setups in each room and then join them up over the network. This setup requires no cable pulling or anything and is simply plug and play. The only issue is choosing the system that suits you. There are systems that are simple to use and very easy to control but you have to use all the same brand product so they work together. Sonos, Yamaha MusicCast and Denon Heos are examples of this and they each have their own advantages and limitations but they are not cheap. They often work best with speakers mounted in the room directly but you can connect them up to in-ceiling mounted speakers if you like the WallMart sound experience but the speaker wires have to go to the amplifier which can be located in the room or in any space you can find near by.
"So I have Gig ethernet in each room via Cat5E cable, so if its a straight ethernet setup do I have to change the plugs/wiring (no huge issue), the speakers I was planning to pull the baseboard and run speakers into the wall, now does that connect back to the Ethernet connection in each room and will a need an amp in every room? The Ethernet cables all go to a central switch in the basement next to the RG6 splitter for the TV.
The idea of one of the systems you mentioned is what I was looking for, a pad in each room to control the source/volume etc all leading back to a central amp/control system in the basement.


So one question I had do I lose the ethernet port or can I install a switch to keep it for occasional data usage? As my wife works from home and uses our bedroom as her office and plugs her laptop into get the Gig ethernet speed? We have AC wifi so Im not too heartbroken if you say no.

The other solution that is a bit more budget friendly is to use cheap ChromeCast Audios. With this setup each room just needs some powered speakers or an AVR/amplfier with separate speakers. And then you add a ChromeCast audio per device and you control the audio in one or more rooms from a phone/tablet. The only downside I see with this setup is that the power on/off control (and input selection on some audio devices) is not controlled from the casting application on your phone. You may need to walk up to your speakers/amp and push the power button etc or use their remote control to get them powered on and ready to output sound in that room. Some powered speakers may have auto signal detection power on/off control though. Also if sound quality is of high importance to you then ChromeCast audios may sound a bit better using their optical audio output into an AVR and decent speakers.

If you want to have video as well as audio to some rooms the setup would be a bit more complex.

As for video we have only young kids so at this stage no TV in their rooms but thats something to worry about in 5 or so years

 

[Latent]

"So I have Gig ethernet in each room via Cat5E cable, so if its a straight ethernet setup do I have to change the plugs/wiring (no huge issue), the speakers I was planning to pull the baseboard and run speakers into the wall, now does that connect back to the Ethernet connection in each room and will a need an amp in every room? The Ethernet cables all go to a central switch in the basement next to the RG6 splitter for the TV.
The idea of one of the systems you mentioned is what I was looking for, a pad in each room to control the source/volume etc all leading back to a central amp/control system in the basement.


So one question I had do I lose the ethernet port or can I install a switch to keep it for occasional data usage? As my wife works from home and uses our bedroom as her office and plugs her laptop into get the Gig ethernet speed? We have AC wifi so Im not too heartbroken if you say no.

be careful not to inline reply inside a quote as it hides most of the quote unless it is very short. So easier to read if you put all your content outside of the quotes.

If you have cat5e terminated as RJ45/8P8C sockets (make sure it has all 8 copper connectors in the socket!) then you shouldn't need to change anything there. You would use this network port for any device in the room that you don't want to run over wireless. This may be a network connected sound device or a laptop in the room. If for some reason you needed two wired network devices in a room then you do have the option to run two 100Mb ethernet links down the one cable with an adapter at each end or you can get a small 5 port gigabit Ethernet switch. This is most useful in the home office location where you might want 2-4 devices connected like printers and laptops.

Anyway you were thinking of having in wall speakers wired in. You have to decide between two options to begin with. First option is to have long runs of speaker wire going back to the basement from each room. This takes a bit of effort to get the cables where they need to go and there are many tricks that experienced installers know to get this done without having to rip too many holes in your wall/floor/ceiling linings. Getting a pro into do this may be a good idea.

Option two is to run all speakers to a location in each room (or to use in room speakers mounted on the wall or somewhere else). The wires can be connected to a speaker terminating faceplate.

Now with option one you need to locate all your equipment in the basement location. There are specialized multiroom audio solutions that are often designed as one part of a complete home automation system. These solutions can be expensive unless you can find a second hand unit. Each control unit has a number of source inputs and outputs like 4 sources and 4 stereo outputs for example. And if you want to go beyond the initial 4 output rooms you need an expansion unit or buy the bigger unit to begin with. The output of this control box goes to a set of multichannel or stereo power amplifiers that connect to the audio outputs and connect to the speaker wires to send the amplified signal to the speakers. Also some solutions have built in power amplifiers saving you needing to add these but they also have the option to add extra external amps to get more power for bigger rooms or hard to drive speakers. You also have sources you connect to it and you can't use just any source device as it has to be controllable by the main controller unit ideally. And some controllers will have some built in sources for streaming internet or local mp3 music for example. Then the solution will have some way to control it which can be in wall control panels connected back to the controller with dedicated wires or wireless wall controllers or iOS/Android Tablet applications which run over Wifi. There is a lot of complexity and research required if you want to do this all yourself which is why many people will recommend getting professionals to do it for you.

Now with option two i mentioned earlier each room is a basically separate system. Each room that has in wall speakers needs it's own amplifier to power them. To make each separate rooms audio system work together to do multi room controllable audio requires amps with a built in multiroom audio streaming system (Sonos, MusicCast, Heos, Play-fi). And you have to use the same brand solution for all rooms as they will not work with each other. The other option is to use ChromeCast Audio's as these allow you to add multiroom audio to any sound system with an analog stereo or Optical input. Also many of the other multiroom systems are based mainly around the idea of in room speakers that have everything you need in one small unit and just plug into power and use wifi. They do have options to power external speakers but it can be expensive for their special amps that do this. When it comes to controlling these types of systems you can have an iOS/Android tablet in each room dedicated to the task but it can also make sense for each family member just to use the existing phones and tablets they already have as the control devices.