Home Stereo

[JackF]

I am in the middle of a home remodel. The place is about 1870's build with assorted re-do's through the years. We are adding a new kitchen, bathrooms and utility additions. The rest of the downstairs will be opened up. I have my old amp and cd player as well as several hundred CD's. As open as the floor plan is, I can wire the speakers. Is that a good idea from a sound quality standpoint. I don't know whether the quality of the wireless systems is equal to an old amp and wired speakers. I'll only do the kitchen, dining room & living room. What would you recommend?

[robspeed]

Hey Jack!  I would definitely pre-wire.  You don't need to do anything fancy with the wires themselves (don't waste money on "Monster" cable crap.  12 gauge Romex (solid-copper electrical wire) is perfect for in-wall wire as that is exactly what it is designed for.  12 gauge is plenty in terms of wire size too (pretty good overkill) and can handle 1000w with no problems.  Solid wire eliminates "skin effect" distortion as well as corrosion.  Run that to your in-ceiling cans or to wall connectors and then run stranded wire to the speakers (solid is good there too as long as you aren't moving anything around much).  Check out www.parts-express.com ... they have a ton of good stuff.

[robspeed]

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-617

[ndog]

thats exactly what i did for the final connections the speaker wire is fire rated inwall /it was cheaper than romex.hard part is speaker placement for 5.1 s sound.good luck sir, and dont fall through the roof.

[robspeed]

Gee I wish I could delete spam again....

[ndog]

^?

[jgerock]

How about a garage stereo?  Pioneer receiver given to me by my grandparents along with the JBL speakers from college.

 

 

 

[eurotrash]

SONOS - hands down.  Its the shit.  Wire your house as usual, to a MEL (main equipment location), and stack as many ZP120s as you need for zones.   Do it, you won't regret it, ever.  Rip your CD's to your compy or NAS drive and you can access them with your phone or ipad.  As many zones playing as many songs at as many volume levels as you can handle.  Or, all playing the same song at different volume levels, or one zone.  Your call.  I did this for a living.  You can trust me when I say that no other configuration can beat it.

We have 5 zones here at my house and its the greatest. Deck, Garage, Kitchen, Bath, Master BR, and upstairs Bath.. Add a Rhapsody account and you have a party in your palm.

 

Put your modem and router in the MEL too. and Run a wire to one of these in an upper room, centrally located.  You need killer wi-fi coverage anyway.  For everything.  Particularly Sonos control.  Message me for advice if you want to look into this.. But seriously, we have had if for 6 years and its been irreplaceable.  And I have a serious stand alone system as well...

 

Oh, and you can just reuse your old speakers..  and each box has an analog input.  So you can literally run a turntable into one box, and wirelessly amplify it for another room entirely.  Its just a matter of imagination.

Edited August 2, 2013 by eurotrash

[ndog]

i have a denon that willl do 5 zones.however iam very lazy and only have 1

[jgerock]

SONOS - hands down.  Its the shit.  Wire your house as usual, to a MEL (main equipment location), and stack as many ZP120s as you need for zones.   Do it, you won't regret it, ever.  Rip your CD's to your compy or NAS drive and you can access them with your phone or ipad.  As many zones playing as many songs at as many volume levels as you can handle.  Or, all playing the same song at different volume levels, or one zone.  Your call.  I did this for a living.  You can trust me when I say that no other configuration can beat it.

We have 5 zones here at my house and its the greatest. Deck, Garage, Kitchen, Bath, Master BR, and upstairs Bath.. Add a Rhapsody account and you have a party in your palm.

 

Put your modem and router in the MEL too. and Run a wire to one of these in an upper room, centrally located.  You need killer wi-fi coverage anyway.  For everything.  Particularly Sonos control.  Message me for advice if you want to look into this.. But seriously, we have had if for 6 years and its been irreplaceable.  And I have a serious stand alone system as well...

 

Oh, and you can just reuse your old speakers..  and each box has an analog input.  So you can literally run a turntable into one box, and wirelessly amplify it for another room entirely.  Its just a matter of imagination.

Sonos system is nice.  I have a friend who wired his townhouse several years ago. He does this stuff for the government (A/V specialist).

[bnam]

Sonos - that's the way to go.  I've installed a Sonos Connect to the rcvr in my tv room, Sonos 5 and 3s elsewhere.

[skipsfcr]

Jason et al any idea where I can find info on choosing / setting up a NAS?...something a layman can understand!