Speakers in a different room

[slickric]

Hey guys, just after a few tips or hints. Im building a new home and looking at putting speakers into the ensuite so i'll be able to listen to music or hear the tv while in the spa. also looking at a couple of speakers into the rear patio so i'll be able to play the stereo from inside and hear it clearly outside without having to move speakers and stuff each time i have a gathering.

at the moment im thinking that in-ceiling speakers in the ensuite would be the best way to go there and wire them back through to the tv and also through to the stereo in the study. probably look at either in roof mounted or in-ceiling for the patio aswell.

any suggestions or tips on how to go about this?

cheers

 

[BMXTRIX]

Pick one location for an equipment head-end where everything will go. That is where everything should be wired to. Also consider EVERYWHERE you want, or may want wiring.

I have the following rooms wired, or fully outfitted in my home for not just speakers, but for control, phone, lan, cable, and sometimes conduit:
Family room (everything plus)
Kitchen (speakers, control, phone, cable, future access)
Rear Deck (speakers, control)
Dining Room (speakers, control)
Living Room (speakers, control)
Study (speakers, control, conduit, LAN, phone)
Garage (speakers, control)
Front Porch (speakers, control)
Master Bed (speakers, control, conduit, phone, lan, cable, lots of extra access)
Master Bath (speakers, control, conduit (for possible future behind mirror TV)
3 more medrooms (speakers, control, lan, phone, cable)
Guest bath & laundry (speakers, control)

It is all wired to the basement under the stairwell where all the equipment resides, including phone, lan, and cable distribution. Since the area is under the stairs it doesn't cut into the rest of my home or intrude at all. The basement is unfinished so there are endless possibilities down there.

There is a pre-wire your home guide on the main AudioHolics site that is a good read, as well as the post in the forums that discusses it.

EDIT: Bottom line is that during construction is the time to prewire, prewire, prewire. Conduit is a big plus, especially from the head end to the attic or rooms that really may need to be upgraded. Once the drywall is up, it is the wrong time to decide that you need an antenna on your roof (dish, DirecTV, off-air) if you haven't prewired for it, or put conduit in for proper access. Plus, you can usually roll the prewire labor into the mortgage.

 

[slickric]

thanks for the response, i'll head over the guide your referring to shortly. i've already drawn up a bit of a plan for networking the home as for as ethernet cable goes and guess it does make sense to have speakers wired back to the same area (which will be the study in this case)

 

[MDS]

Bottom line is that during construction is the time to prewire, prewire, prewire.

That really should be Bold and in a giant font!

Being relatively new (built late 2002), my home came pre-wired with a 'structured wiring' system where all the cables are home runned to a network connection center in the master bathroom closet. However, they didn't follow the BASIC minimum recommendation of at least two RG-6 and two CAT5 wires to each room. Even more inexplicably they didn't run ANY CAT5 to the master bedroom, so there is no possibility for a phone in that room other than using a wireless phone with the base in the kitchen.

My office has only 1 CAT5 - so I have to choose between network and phone in that room. It will have to be network so other rooms in the house can have network access to the modem and router in the office. Just like the master bedroom, that room can only have a phone if it is wireless OR if I pay someone to rip open the walls and run another CAT5 that should have been there in the first place.

For speaker wire, there are wires to two locations in the ceiling of the bathroom and another blank wall plate on the wall, presumably that could be used for a volume control. The living room also has 5 speaker wires that come out on the wall behind where the TV would be placed. Nothing is labeled! So now I have to figure out which wire is which and where the other end goes. It annoys me, because I thought I would be a step ahead with the structured wiring package already being installed.

Just felt like venting about my own situation and to reinforce what BMXTRIX is telling you. Too much is far better than not enough. Run as many RG6/CAT5/speaker wire as you think you might possibly ever need and label everything. It is far easier (and cheaper) to run all the wires before the drywall goes up.