Whole house audio solution ?

[nofears]

I need advice how to design a solid whole house audio system. My wife and I are building a home next year and my contractor has bid the job with pre-wiring each room for two speakers.

I just don't know:
1. Which speakers to use (Polk, Boston Acoustics, Paradigm, etc).
2. How to get streaming audio to all speakers at one time.
3. If wireless systems (such as Sonos or Music Cast) are a good idea.
4. Which method is the most cost effective.

We don't actually plan to put speakers in every room since the great room will double as my HT and I will have 7.2 (minimum) in that room. The home will be 3,600 sq ft, 3 bdrm, 2.5 bath.

I plan to put a couple speakers in the following areas:
Mstr bath
Mstr bdrm
Bath #2
Kitchen
Dining rm
Garage
Covered entry

I will also install two speakers in the covered lanai/patio but currently plan to run them from the Zone 2 of my Denon AVR 4810. I will likely install Sonace Mariner 82's here.

I have researched the new Sonos system quite extensively and I must admit it does look nice but having to place a box in every room is kind of a drawback for me and I'm not sure the wife would be okay with that.

Any advice or previous experience would be very helpful.

Thanks!

[apcarandang]

Are you planning to just route the same audio to each area? Or do you want different sources for each area?

Since you are building a new home I would check Russound.com.

APC
S & V Moderator

[nofears]

Originally Posted by apcarandang

Are you planning to just route the same audio to each area? Or do you want different sources for each area?

I'm actually open to either scenario although the research I did on the Sonos system did look attractive...being able to play different music in different rooms. I'm just not sure we (my wife and I) would really need this functionality (except for when I'm in the garage/shop).

[Haywood]

I few thoughts.

1. Logitech Squeezebox would be far less expensive than Sonos and give you the same result.
2. A-Bus is an IP-based distribution system that is simple to install and gives you the ability to distribut central sources as well as use local sources.
3. You can distribute HDTV with a multi-channel HD RF Modulator if you want distributed video.

The combination of A-Bus, HD RF and Squeezeboxes would be both very powerful and reasonably affordable.

[nofears]

Originally Posted by Haywood

I few thoughts.

1. Logitech Squeezebox would be far less expensive than Sonos and give you the same result.

I couldn't find anywhere on the Logitech site that Sqeezebox could access/play from my iTunes library. Do you know if it can? I would really like to have that ability.

I do plan to have the home wired with CAT 5 or 6 throughout.

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by nofears

I couldn't find anywhere on the Logitech site that Sqeezebox could access/play from my iTunes library. Do you know if it can? I would really like to have that ability.

I do plan to have the home wired with CAT 5 or 6 throughout.

So long as the music is not DRM encoded, yes. Sonos has that same limitation. The Squeezebox can even use playlists created in iTunes.

[nofears]

How do I know if the music I have in my iTunes library is DRM Encoded?
Is DRM encoding an all or nothing deal or could certain songs/videos have that encoding and others not have it?

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by nofears

How do I know if the music I have in my iTunes library is DRM Encoded?
Is DRM encoding an all or nothing deal or could certain songs/videos have that encoding and others not have it?

If you bought the music from iTunes prior to the last couple of months, it is DRM Encoded. That means it is copy protected and can only be played back on Apple-approved devices. Anything that is DRM Encoded is useless on most home playback devices, such as the Sonos or the Squeezebox.

Here is how you get around it: Burn it to disc. Rip the disc to a different format (i.e. WMAL, FLAC, MP3) in a separate directory structure. Problem solved.

[nofears]

Supossedly you can un-DRM encode and DRM encoded songs in your iTunes library by going to a place on the iTunes site and converting them. I hear it does cost a few cents per song (of course).

After doing more research the Sonos system is looking more and more attractive to us and if we did go with it we would plan to hard wire all units to a common ethernet system running throughout the home.

[malsackj]

Stores and restaurants use a system that has 70V or 25V leads to provide the in ceiling speakers with sound. This is typically mono, 80 hz to 15 k, using 4 inch to 8 inch speakers. Altecpro makes some nice 4 inch speakers support 70V. Ebay has some TOA amps and other Commercial amps for a fair price.

70V is like a balanced system in that it will reject interference on the long speaker leads. The speaker leads can go for 300 meters with out much loss or degrading. You could also wire in a mike and allow for the general anouncing when wife wants your assistance. You could also wire in alarm system for intuder or fire alarm.

With mikes in the rooms you could evan start into computer based home control.

Hello startrek home.