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Am I ready to wire my speakers and whole house audio

post #1 of 7
8/26/12 at 4:59pm
Thread Starter 
Wondering if I'm on the right path...

Building a new house and going to get in this weekend to wire for whole house auido system and 2 5.1 home theater setups. Whole house auido will be HTD lync 6 system.

Wanted to check and see if anyone noticed I'm missing somehting. My first house and first time wiring for speakers. Electrician is taken care of coax, I'll be running the CAT6 and speaker wire.

So far I'm setup for CAT6 in each room, 2 drops and electrician is going to run 2 drops in each bedroom for coax.

Im setting up the 2 home theaters and master bedroom with flat screens. Just going to run some PVC in the wall and cables through there unless there is better options.

For speakers and whole house audio setup.
1. What wire do I need? Is 14 gauge good for whole house audio? No runs should be over 100ft
2. For home theater setup in 2 rooms. 12 gauge? 1 room will have 2 in wall ceiling rear speakers other room I haven't decided yet. Thoughts?
3.Run wires to these two in both home theaters http://www.amazon.com/Quality-Banana-Binding-Two-Piece-Speakers/dp/B002OY9QKU/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1346020882&sr=8-27&keywords=binding+post
4. Got 2 speakers that are going to be outside. Do I need different wire for the oustide?
5. Are banana plugs worth it?


I know there are details that I'm missing. What are they and who can help me out?

Thanks
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post #2 of 7
8/26/12 at 5:48pm
Use in wall rated speaker cables. 16 gauge would be adequate, for distributed audio.

Run category cables to keypad locations. Be gentle with category cables, they're more easily damaged than speaker cables. You'll also need a hardwired LAN, for PCs, receivers, media servers, Access Points, and TVs.

Run speaker cables for every conceivable future zone, e.g. garage, powder rooms.

Your local electric supply house carries cables, if you can't wait for online purchase delivery.

If buying cable locally, buy more than you need, and make sure you can return the extra.

You may not have power at the job site, for your drill. Recruit some friends to help, will cut the install time by 75% if more than 1 person.
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post #3 of 7
8/27/12 at 4:26am
Run the cables outside of the conduit, leave it empty. It's for future cables you forgot.
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post #4 of 7
8/28/12 at 1:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neurorad View Post

Run the cables outside of the conduit, leave it empty. It's for future cables you forgot.

Yes I have heard that before and do plan on doing the same.
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post #5 of 7
8/28/12 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neurorad View Post

Use in wall rated speaker cables. 16 gauge would be adequate, for distributed audio.
Run category cables to keypad locations. Be gentle with category cables, they're more easily damaged than speaker cables. You'll also need a hardwired LAN, for PCs, receivers, media servers, Access Points, and TVs.
Run speaker cables for every conceivable future zone, e.g. garage, powder rooms.
Your local electric supply house carries cables, if you can't wait for online purchase delivery.
If buying cable locally, buy more than you need, and make sure you can return the extra.
You may not have power at the job site, for your drill. Recruit some friends to help, will cut the install time by 75% if more than 1 person.

Thanks for the advice. Got the in wall cable and the category cable for the keypad's.

I think I'm all set for now.
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post #6 of 7
8/29/12 at 3:18am
You're on the right path, but not all set.

I don't think 2 category cables to each room will be enough, as you don't know where all the furniture will be. I'm not too familiar with the HTD system, but does that need category cables to keypads?

Every TV location needs a LAN drop. I'd wire for a few wireless access point locations. Alarm system should be a consideration, with category cables to alarm keypad locations. POTS isn't gone, I'd use category cables for that. Coax to satellite dish location. Many people would wire 2 coax to each TV. The front and rear doors should have wired doorbells, and I'd add some category cables there too.

Take lots of pictures, dozens per room, so you can find buried cables down the road (if they're not being stubbed out through the drywall.
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post #7 of 7
8/29/12 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neurorad View Post

You're on the right path, but not all set.
I don't think 2 category cables to each room will be enough, as you don't know where all the furniture will be. I'm not too familiar with the HTD system, but does that need category cables to keypads?
Every TV location needs a LAN drop. I'd wire for a few wireless access point locations. Alarm system should be a consideration, with category cables to alarm keypad locations. POTS isn't gone, I'd use category cables for that. Coax to satellite dish location. Many people would wire 2 coax to each TV. The front and rear doors should have wired doorbells, and I'd add some category cables there too.
Take lots of pictures, dozens per room, so you can find buried cables down the road (if they're not being stubbed out through the drywall.

Yes the HTD system requires category cables to the keypads.

I was planning on running the CAT6 for the LAN drop's by each TV or is there something else I should do?
I have been thinking about the wireless access points, probably one on each floor. Anyones in particular that you would recomend? I dont need to do anything now to set those up correct?
My electrician was taking care of the coax and we should be all set there.

The pictures are a sure thing and we will be snubbing them through the drywall. We know the guys who will be drywalling and they know what to look for but I have heard some stories of people seaching for cables and being a complete pain.
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