Multi Room Audio Control Pads

[oohsam]

Hey Guys,
I've had some helpo with prewiring my house.
I've wired every room with speakers and there is a cat5e cable going to every room for the addtoin of a control pad to change sources etc.

I need some help.
I have no idea what kind of connectoins will be attached to the end of my cat5e cable at the source unit. (Im using wall plates)

I can find units that can do this but I cant find out how they are wired up etc.

I have no idea what kind of unit to get, and what control pads to get. I was going to just put some volume pods in the door ways and upgrade to control pads later, but I am thinking of just lashing out and getting it properly the first time.



Can anyone help.
BMXTRIX if you are there...help a boy out!!
Cheers.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The short answer: It depends.

The follow up...

Every manufacturer which is using an umbilical between their controller and keypads is free to design it however they wish. Crestron, for example uses only 4 wires - 24 volts, ground, and Y & Z communications. They are wired into a phoenix type connector. I double up pairs of CAT-5 to use in this setup. (or more often, I run 4 conductor wire)

For stuff that uses CAT-5, the pinouts may be different from product to product.

What do you do? Well, I would just leave the ends of the CAT-5 sitting behind the wall unterminated until you get the product or know exactly what you want to get. Then, download the product manual, or call the company, and find out how it is wired.

You may be told that it should be done with standard ethernet terminations on the ends of the wire. Pinouts to do this are available all over the place online via Google. I don't make many ethernet cables, so everytime I do, I Google the pinouts.

If you want to wire a wall plate ahead of time, I would use one of the 'standard' ethernet pinouts and then make a jumper between the wall plate and the control system when you need to.