Newbie needs whole house audio advice

[spudz]

Just found your forum and would like some advice. I've used message boards for help in buying cars and found them to be an excellent tool.

My wife and I are building a new home (just dug the hole -- footings go in next week). It's a large home (5,600 s.f.) on three floors (two above grade, with a daylight basement). It will include a dedicated home theater. We'll install our existing 5:1 surround sound system in our upstairs family room as well.

My real question is about whole-house audio. I want to have installed a simple, straightforward and reasonably priced system capable of handling at least four sources going to 4-6 zones. I'm not looking to shake the walls or impress the neighbors -- just have background music for dinner parties or for reading the paper in the morning. My main music source will likely be my PC, from which I access iTunes and Rhapsody. We'll also have satellite TV/audio and may add XM. We'll want a tuner as well.

NuVo seems to be popular among builders and gets reasonably good reviews. Given that I'm looking for a simple, reasonably priced system that delivers clear, clean sound, what is your opinion of this product (probably the Essentia line)? What others are worth considering? What pitfalls should we look for?

I will not be installing this myself -- it'll be done as part of the construction, so DIY ease is not an issue.

Thanks in advance.

 

[j_garcia]

I'd head down to your local HT stores. NOT the big names if you can help it, look for the smaller stores that carry esoteric stuff you may never have heard of and pose that same question to them. When you find one you like, have them do the install. Unless your contractor specifically does HT installs also, I would prefer to have a shop with people who do just that doing the work. I've seen general contractors do the dumbest things simply because it is not their field of expertise.

You might take a look at Niles Audio as a starter to get an idea of what you might need, or might not even have thought of.

 

[spudz]

Niles or NuVo

Thanks for the tip on Niles. I think you're right about using a small local shop -- that is my intention. But I'm not sure they have done all the homework I'm prepared to do -- they tend to get locked into one or two vendors.

Looks like the Niles ZR-4630 is roughly the equivalent of the NuVo Essentia. Anyone have any experience with either?

 

[BMXTRIX]

There are lots of similar products out there that can do what you want. One of the single biggest issues you may have is the long term support from the company you are dealing with. In this months Sound & Vision, there is a letter about a company who made a good whole-house-audio product that went under. No more support! No help if anything goes wrong!

Now, I personally use Crestron in my home and while I think everyone should have it and it works great in 4-40 zones, it is not inexpensive.

Niles, Sonance, NuVo, etc. all make products that basically are a multi-zone amplifier and some keypads for various rooms. They are very limited in functionality, but they tend to get the job done.

I would keep in mind all the things that you may WANT to do that you haven't thought of yet.

1. What about the master bedroom?
2. Bathroom?
3. Study?
4. Rear Deck?
5. Garage or basement?

I currently have my 2,800 square feet of living space broken into 9 zones and have expandability to 16 zones wired in place right now. Yes, a bit much, but it really allows for separation of the areas when music is wanted. The key is, I could have just setup 3 or 4 zones, and I have WIRES IN PLACE to allow a nice upgrade path.

Every room:
Cable, phone, ethernet, control (for keypad), and ceiling speaker wiring.
Some rooms/areas:
Conduit for future upgrades, dedicated video feeds for video distribution, some additional control for motorized blinds and lighting.

No contractor I have met who is good at building homes has a clue how to properly wire a home for whole house audio and to get the job done right. Even less know how to help you take it to the next level.

What area are you in? Perhaps there are some on these forums that can help line you up with a good A/V Integrator or consultant in your area that may be able to give you some solid direction for a fair price.

 

[spudz]

Spudz is in Idaho

I live in eastern Idaho in the shadow of the Tetons and among the spud fields (get it)?

Anyway, we are empty nesters, so we don't have to worry about zones for the kids, etc. We will be the exclusive users. We are spending a lot of money for this house, including a dedicated theater room and some unusual architecture. I'm looking for an elegant, simple and reasonably priced solution here. I've looked into Crestron and concluded that the value for what I want to accomplish just isn't there.

Our zones will MB, kitchen/family room, living room, downstairs family room, loft library and back patio. My PC will be the main source.

Is there any significant difference between Elan, NuVo, RussSound, Musica, Zon, A-Bus, and Niles? Any of those to be avoided?

 

[KBR AudioVideo]

Have you looked into the Oxmoore Zon system?

 

[jcPanny]

Russound whole house

Russound might be another good option for your house systems. To get a few good leads for local installers, get the list of certified installers from the manufacturer's web sites.

I would also recommend running cat5 and 14/4 speaker wire to a few extra rooms in case you want to expand the whole house system in the future. Wire is cheap. Also prewire your HT room for 7.1 speakers.