Integrity Home Systems (IHS) speakers, anyone?

N

newaudiophile

Audioholic Intern
Hi,

I am building a new home and wanted to know has anyone heard of Integrity Home Systems (IHS) speakers? My builder uses these as their standard in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, and they said they are excellent. I am getting the home prewired and debating whether I should get their speakers installed or go elsewhere for them.

Should I go with IHS speakers? Or, should I go with more mainstream in-wall speakers (Bose)? Or should I go with more well known speakers (Niles)?

I will be using these speakers for all zones except the family room where I will be buying floor standing speakers (Axiom vs. Paradigm), to go with my Denon-3805 receiver.

I guess the main question really is, what should I tell my builder....to IHS or not, that is the question!

Thanks!!
 
R

rpizzo

Audiophyte
I did the same thing when I built a house 1-1/2 years ago. I used the Niles ZR 4630 multieroom amp and Niles CM 6's in all rooms except the family room, which has 4 Niles HD 8 speakers and a Niles HD center speaker powered by a Dennon 2805 AV receiver. I also have a Velodyne sub.

The CM 6's cost about $250 a pair. I am quite happy with them but, of course, they are only good for background music - definitely not critical listening. Since I can only running 30 watts into them, it didn't make sense to me to buy anthing more expensive.
 
N

nm2285

Senior Audioholic
Don't know anything about the speakers you're considering. I do know that you shoudl stay away from Bose. I've heard Niles and they sound very nice. A lot of other well respected speaker companies make in-ceiling/walls too.
 
N

newaudiophile

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for the info.

I have heard a lot about Niles, and know that they are a pretty good bet.

I am trying to figure out if I should go with the builders speakers, Integrity Home Systems (IHS) or not.

Thanks for the advice!
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
It's hard to say what the quality of speakers from a company like that will be. Their website has some reasonable specs on the speakers, but how good they sound is definitely up in the air.

http://www.integrityhomesystems.com/integrity_ceiling.htm

Now, their prices don't seem to be much better or worse than Sonance, Niles, or Speakercraft which are the three that I would be looking at if it were my money. I am a particular fan of Sonance for reliability, quality, and ease of installation, but Niles and Speakercraft also have excellent reputations.

If the price isn't significantly better, then I would tell the builder that I don't want off-brand equipment. If he can't help you, then go elsewhere for your equipment. Builders are 99.9% clueless almost all of the time about distributed audio and the possibilities available to you. They know building, they know that speakers exist and they can install them. But, the odds of him actually having compared different in-wall/ceiling speakers to one another is very low. I am SURE those speakers sound fantastic... when compared to the on-wall intercoms that many other builders offer. But, do they sound better than a major manufacturers speakers? Highly questionable. I think I would ask for a pair to listen to before dumping a few thousand bucks into speakers to put all over your home.

Multi-zone multi-souce fully distributed audio is someting every new home building audio lover should consider. Look around the Sonance website for some products and the new Sound & Vision has an article about 4 different distributed audio systems.

The main rule is: Wherever you would have an inwall volume control (not good) also pull a piece of Cat-5 so that you can add a keypad later on.
 
N

newaudiophile

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I think Sonance or Niles is a better way to go aswell

I checked out the article on Sound and Vision....it is great! The Zon player is pretty cool! Crutchfield sells a combo unit for $4,000, though which is kinda steep.

I posted this elsewhere, but mabey you guys have heard of Sonos (www.sonos.com). Basically it attaches up to you speakers in different zones and you get a wireless controller and it takes music from your PC and sends to your different zones....any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
 

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