New Extension .. hard wire, or trust wireless
Discussion
Afternoon all.
Having a new extension built which will be a garden/living room with extended dining room.
Sitting area will be about 5x5m with TV wall mounted on centre of one wall. Bi folds will be to the right so will only have 2 large couches. One opposite TV and one to left.
Now I am determined to get a nice sounding loud Hi-Fi but know next to nothing about them. I'm also thinking to have it double up as a 5.1 surround system.
I am at the stage of putting electrics in and was initially planning on laying speaker cables into corners of room for the speakers but is this even needed anymore??? I'm not a huge music nut or audiophile so a lot of the systems are wasted on me, but I do appreciated some good quality music and do like a gadget.
I was very impressed by a Devialet Phantom gold a few years back in Harrods and that has also stuck with me. Although not sure I like the design (more the colours)
don't want to spend more than 4k.... So should I even bother with running speaker cables? Just some power points so am free to decide at a later date?
Having a new extension built which will be a garden/living room with extended dining room.
Sitting area will be about 5x5m with TV wall mounted on centre of one wall. Bi folds will be to the right so will only have 2 large couches. One opposite TV and one to left.
Now I am determined to get a nice sounding loud Hi-Fi but know next to nothing about them. I'm also thinking to have it double up as a 5.1 surround system.
I am at the stage of putting electrics in and was initially planning on laying speaker cables into corners of room for the speakers but is this even needed anymore??? I'm not a huge music nut or audiophile so a lot of the systems are wasted on me, but I do appreciated some good quality music and do like a gadget.
I was very impressed by a Devialet Phantom gold a few years back in Harrods and that has also stuck with me. Although not sure I like the design (more the colours)
don't want to spend more than 4k.... So should I even bother with running speaker cables? Just some power points so am free to decide at a later date?
I'm doing a renovation at the moment and as I'm doing a full re-wire and the whole house need plastering, it made sense to future proof things as much as possible. My AV system is probably a bit more complex than what you require, but the core renovation bits are:
Power points around the room (only had 1!)
Speaker cabling built in to the walls and terminated by a speaker plate with banana plug connectors. If you are going to wall mount small speakers then I guess just cable coming out the wall is fine, but I have floorstanders so wanted the connection between speaker and wall to look as neat as possible as there aren't speaker stands or brackets to conceal anything.
Everywhere there is a power point, there's an ethernet connection too. Wireless is fine (I use Sonos and my TV streams 4k content fine), but if I have something that warrants a permanent wired connection, then I will. As I'm doing a renovation,, can, so have
All speaker connections need to be plugged in to the AV receiver so need to think where that will live and how they will pop out behind it. My AV receiver is in a rack under the stairs in a different part of the house so is the same problem, it just needs more cable! If I had a big long with a TV on it and room for gadgets to sit under it in a cabinet of some sort, I'd probably do that so end up just dumping the speaker cable out behind the TV in a fairly organised fashion and that would be fine. I'm not against wireless in the slightest, as I say, I use a Sonos system around the house and it's great, but if the opportunity is there to run cable and a new extension or renovation is the best time to do it, I'd at least run the speaker cable to some plates in the wall.
As my AV receiver is in a different part of the house, I've gone down the HDMI over CAT6 route. If I had a long wall where I could but a low cabinet under the TV, that's what I'd do!!! Having the AV Receiver elsewhere makes it much more complicated.
Power points around the room (only had 1!)
Speaker cabling built in to the walls and terminated by a speaker plate with banana plug connectors. If you are going to wall mount small speakers then I guess just cable coming out the wall is fine, but I have floorstanders so wanted the connection between speaker and wall to look as neat as possible as there aren't speaker stands or brackets to conceal anything.
Everywhere there is a power point, there's an ethernet connection too. Wireless is fine (I use Sonos and my TV streams 4k content fine), but if I have something that warrants a permanent wired connection, then I will. As I'm doing a renovation,, can, so have
All speaker connections need to be plugged in to the AV receiver so need to think where that will live and how they will pop out behind it. My AV receiver is in a rack under the stairs in a different part of the house so is the same problem, it just needs more cable! If I had a big long with a TV on it and room for gadgets to sit under it in a cabinet of some sort, I'd probably do that so end up just dumping the speaker cable out behind the TV in a fairly organised fashion and that would be fine. I'm not against wireless in the slightest, as I say, I use a Sonos system around the house and it's great, but if the opportunity is there to run cable and a new extension or renovation is the best time to do it, I'd at least run the speaker cable to some plates in the wall.
As my AV receiver is in a different part of the house, I've gone down the HDMI over CAT6 route. If I had a long wall where I could but a low cabinet under the TV, that's what I'd do!!! Having the AV Receiver elsewhere makes it much more complicated.
With the money you are planning on spending you WILL notice the difference :-) it won't be wasted on you at all.
Good speakers need a good signals and wireless is not it. There will be some amazing esoteric wireless systems out there for sure, but the vast majority of good speakers want oodles of power, via wires. Having cables also keeps all options open to you.
Run chunky speaker cables to where you think they will be, back to where your amp will be, and run LAN cables to your amp location too. Same for surrounds.
So worth doing it now.
I spent £4k on speakers (5.1) around 15 years ago and I still have the same ones now. Mirage omnipolars with a B&W sub. Worth every penny, and they all need cables :-)
Good speakers need a good signals and wireless is not it. There will be some amazing esoteric wireless systems out there for sure, but the vast majority of good speakers want oodles of power, via wires. Having cables also keeps all options open to you.
Run chunky speaker cables to where you think they will be, back to where your amp will be, and run LAN cables to your amp location too. Same for surrounds.
So worth doing it now.
I spent £4k on speakers (5.1) around 15 years ago and I still have the same ones now. Mirage omnipolars with a B&W sub. Worth every penny, and they all need cables :-)
Plastic flexible conduit is as cheap as chips to put in.
Make sure you include a draw wire and ensure the conduit is fixed at regular intervals.
We put floor boxes in (power and data) as well to sit under speaker positions and next to end of sofas.
You may consider a bit OTT but we put in a dedicated ring for Hi Fi AV.
Make sure you include a draw wire and ensure the conduit is fixed at regular intervals.
We put floor boxes in (power and data) as well to sit under speaker positions and next to end of sofas.
You may consider a bit OTT but we put in a dedicated ring for Hi Fi AV.
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