Home renovation - wired for sound?

[Blim_bug]

Hi all,

I'm after some advice for a home audio solution.

My house is undergoing a fairly extensive renovation, and whilst I've got various floor boards up and wires being chased in the walls, I thought I'd consider installing a home audio system.

Ideally I'd like a system that allows me to play-out audio in every room, content such as music from iTunes (Macbooks, iPhones and server), audio from the TV (Sky Plus box) and any future sources.

What I envisage is installing a round, ceiling mounted speaker (in the hole left by the light ceiling rose - I'm installing LED downlights so the hole will be reduntant) in each room, the speaker cables being routed to a central point in the house. From their I'd have some sort of speaker splitter box that would allow me to turn off / on certain speakers (rooms) and the splitter box would be connected to an amp. The amp would be connected to secondary outputs from the various devices that I want to stream (Sky Plus, media server etc).

Does anyone have recommendations or past experience they can share? Which speakers should I consider? Can I wire in a "dimmer switch" that would allow me to control the volume of the audio in each room? What amp would be recommended for such a solution? Etc...

Thanks!

[ammark]

One speaker in the middle of each room might sound a bit odd. I fitted some of these,
http://www.ceiling-speakers.co.uk/KEF-Ci50R-BRUSHE... in rooms which have down lighters they are the same size so are barely noticeable. Sound is pretty good too, would benefit from adding a sub somewhere in each room.

You can buy volume controls that look similar to light switches, also speaker terminals etc to link wires back to an amp. http://www.av4home.co.uk/acatalog/Speaker_Switches...

Sure I found some brushed steel ones before but can't find the link now.

Hope that helps.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

i have a systemline system in my place it works and does what you want http://www.systemline.co.uk/

i can listen to audio in any room where there are speakers obviously and can change the volume in each room also you can change sources in each room and even plug things inlocally

budget a few k to do it at least the more features and rooms you want the more it costs you can even send hd video around the house if you spend enough

[Griff Boy]

Hi, why not fit a Sonos wireless system?

It does basically everything you need in your post, but mostly wirelessly. Most of the zone players have a line input option or can be connected to amps to feed the sound through existing setups. it can also be controlled wirelessly so no chasing wires into Walls for control boxes, it just needs one of the zone players, minimum, to have a hard wired Internet connection.

I'm not sure about the central speaker option, you can get "stereo" single I'm ceiling speakers ( I've got one in a bathroom and it's fine for this type of use, I'm not sure what quality you would get (or want) in a lounge etc. Certainly if your trying to play tv sound through it, I'd not expect too much!

[74merc]

+1 for Sonos! It would make the installation much simpler too.

[Blim_bug]

Thats for the reply chaps - I'll have a look at the Sonos stuff.

Regards to the stereo circular speakers - have you got any recommendations of the name of the manufacturer you used?

Thanks!

[justin220]

I'm looking at doing the same thing, and Sonos is the way to do it.

If you want sky etc to come out the same speaker, just get a ZP90/120 and hook it up to your amp/surround sound

[VEX]

I install Monitor Audio for general listening in rooms and then look further up the range if my clients want a bit more punch. 9 times out of 10 they are perfect for most requirements.

Also look at Kef and B&W as good ranges, along with plenty of others.

Sonos is a great solution for people, especially if they have all there music digitally. To be honest though, don't get blinkered (as some do) by the ticket price, if you are installing in the ceiling then you have to add speakers, cables and install time as well.

The big beauty of Sonos is its scale-ability. If your budget will only allow you a couple of zones then go for that and add one's as you can afford it. There are very few other music systems that scale like that.

HTH

V.

[BenM77]

I would look at the apple gear aswell.

Airport express and apple tv are very good.

I have 3 x apple tv2 and with home sharing means my media is only on one computer, it works very well and is simple to set up .

Ben

[PKLD]

BenM77 said:

I would look at the apple gear aswell.

Airport express and apple tv are very good.

I have 3 x apple tv2 and with home sharing means my media is only on one computer, it works very well and is simple to set up .

Ben

+10 - what with airplay really working now this is how I'd do it. Simple high quality multi-zone amp fed with a couple of airports (if you want to listen to different things in different rooms at the same time) add a pair of decent ceiling (or wall) speakers and an iPod/phone/pad and you've got a very slick system

[Driller]

PKLD said:

+10 - what with airplay really working now this is how I'd do it. Simple high quality multi-zone amp fed with a couple of airports (if you want to listen to different things in different rooms at the same time) add a pair of decent ceiling (or wall) speakers and an iPod/phone/pad and you've got a very slick system

I have two Apple TVs and they are fantastic controlled by the remote app. iPod, iPhone and iPad are the best touch screens out there.

Can you access music directly using the remote app on those Airports though like you can with Apple TV? I thought you had to muck about in iTunes each time to redirect the music to different "speakers".

[BenM77]

From the remote app you can go to the library and choose playlist or album, then you can choose where it plays via the envelope button.

Have you turned on home sharing on you phone/iPod ?

I found out about it because I was looking for an app to stream music from mac to phone, apple added home sharing early this year depending on your iOS version and it is great

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3819

Ben

[Driller]

BenM77 said:

From the remote app you can go to the library and choose playlist or album, then you can choose where it plays via the envelope button.

Have you turned on home sharing on you phone/iPod ?

I found out about it because I was looking for an app to stream music from mac to phone, apple added home sharing early this year depending on your iOS version and it is great

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3819

Ben

Thanks for that. I don't have Airports for the moment I only have Apple TVs.


I have each Apple TV linked to remote and and iPad or whatever linked to the that particluar Apple TV all the time. As long as the amp is on all I do is open the remote App and the music plays directly in that zone.

I don't use the "TV" part of the ATVs, only the music, so was wondering if an Airport Express would be able to function in exactly the same way. I don't want to have to configure iTunes each time.

The other thing is that I have a system which uses iTunes on the Mac as a multiroom source. Could I have iTunes going on this and at the same time play different music somewhere on an Airport Express?

I have been looking for this info for absoluitely ages so I'm hoping you can answer this!

[BenM77]

Driller said:

BenM77 said:

From the remote app you can go to the library and choose playlist or album, then you can choose where it plays via the envelope button.

Have you turned on home sharing on you phone/iPod ?

I found out about it because I was looking for an app to stream music from mac to phone, apple added home sharing early this year depending on your iOS version and it is great

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3819

Ben

Thanks for that. I don't have Airports for the moment I only have Apple TVs.

Hi mate, i can't see a problem with the multi stream.

As a quick test i have just had a music video playing on the mac, a different music video playing on apple tv and then another one on homesharing to my lads itouch. all from the same source no problems.

I only have apple tv's aswell because i use them for rental movies and my film library

Ben


I have each Apple TV linked to remote and and iPad or whatever linked to the that particluar Apple TV all the time. As long as the amp is on all I do is open the remote App and the music plays directly in that zone.

I don't use the "TV" part of the ATVs, only the music, so was wondering if an Airport Express would be able to function in exactly the same way. I don't want to have to configure iTunes each time.

The other thing is that I have a system which uses iTunes on the Mac as a multiroom source. Could I have iTunes going on this and at the same time play different music somewhere on an Airport Express?

I have been looking for this info for absoluitely ages so I'm hoping you can answer this!

[Disco You]

If it were me I'd just use a squeezebox network.

Also, if you aren't doing so already, take the opportunity to wire cat5 cable to as many rooms as you can (not needed for squeezebox as it is wireless, but could prove very useful).

[Zod]

Disco You said:

If it were me I'd just use a squeezebox network.

Also, if you aren't doing so already, take the opportunity to wire cat5 cable to as many rooms as you can (not needed for squeezebox as it is wireless, but could prove very useful).

Squeezebox works with wired networks too. In rooms with wiring in the right place, I use Cat 5 with Squeezeboxes. Otherwise wireless.

[Driller]

Thanks for that Ben, I can confirm also that multistream works with a Mac and ATVs at the same time as this is what I'm running too, I was under the impression you had Airport Expresses, must pay more attention

[Disco You]

Zod said:

Squeezebox works with wired networks too. In rooms with wiring in the right place, I use Cat 5 with Squeezeboxes. Otherwise wireless.

Indeed, but in my experience there is no benefit to using wired.

[BenM77]

@driller

It is a good question mate, ask apple support and get a definite from them

Ben

[Zod]

Disco You said:

Indeed, but in my experience there is no benefit to using wired.

Agreed. When there's a switch in the rack and other devices are connected, it just seems the natural way to do it.