New home theatre project. Advice required.

[Spesh]

Hello all, this is my first post here. I'm a member on similar forums however.

My mum has just bought a new house, and it's all been fully kitted out with ceiling speakers, surround sound, cctv, ethernet in every room etc. However, she has no idea how to use any of this equipment, but would like to have it all working. This is why she asked me to have a look at it for her.

I can't post any photos of the setup until I've reached 5 posts so for now any advice on HTPC's would be great, as I'm sure she'll be wanting one. I'll post some pics of the infastructure when i've met my post quota.

 

[KASR]

You got your 5 posts...waiting for the pics.

 

[Spesh]

Right now I can post some pics.


Living Room- the black cable coming from the bottom panel is HDMI going to the TV.


The following pictures are from the control hub at the top of the house:









Any ideas on how this might all be routed and what equipment will be required to get it up and running would be great. I'm fairly clued up when it comes to this sort of thing. I build computers and sound systems etc. But AV is a bit of a new area, so i'm not familiar with equipment and brands.

 

[Spesh]

Nobody keen to have a go at this?

 

[adwilk]

Looks pretty straight forward... Do you have a receiver? Are there any amps at all?

 

[Spesh]

I have a couple of Arcam amps. But I don't have a receiver.

I'm in the Pro audio business, so i'm used to using XLR's, Speakons, Ceeform connectors etc. The connections pictured are all fairly alien to me. The main concern is having the surround sound in the living room working with the HTPC that i'm about to build, and the ceiling speakers in the kitchen and bedroom fully working.

 

[adwilk]

You'll need a multizone receiver with zone pre-amp outputs...

 

[Spesh]

Can you recommend one and possibly give some indication as to how this would be wired up?

Cheers for the response btw.

 

[Phil Taylor]

At least it's all very nicely labeled and terminated ... I've done a few "I just moved in here" service calls where all I get to work with is unlabeled bare wires ....

What solution you get can depend on your budget.

 

[Spesh]

I don't really have a "budget" as such. However, I would like to try to achieve what's required in the most cost effective way possible. Before my mum moved into this house, there was a massive 19" rack full of all different types of hardware. I'm sure that ammount of kit won't be necessary, but some suggestions would be much welcomed.

 

[Phil Taylor]

I have a couple of Arcam amps. But I don't have a receiver.

I'm in the Pro audio business, so i'm used to using XLR's, Speakons, Ceeform connectors etc. The connections pictured are all fairly alien to me. The main concern is having the surround sound in the living room working with the HTPC that i'm about to build, and the ceiling speakers in the kitchen and bedroom fully working.

The Denon AVR-3808CI will do HDMI and audio to main zone (living room/sitting room?) - looks like you're wired for 6.1 there, and audio to two additional zones (component video to a second zone too if needed) with no additional equipment (like a speaker distro system) needed.

 

[Spesh]

My mum won't want to spend that sort of money I'm afraid. There must be cheaper units that can perform a similar task?

 

[Spesh]

That model also doesn't appear to be available in the UK?