Wiring / Setup Questions

Hello,

We've bought a new house, and it's already built with all the walls up.

The only wiring it has is one cat5e cable to each room, and it comes down to the basement to a central location.

I want to wire in ceiling speakers on my first floor, and second floor. I also want to run more cat5e cables to each room on both floors in case I ever need them for future use.

I have a closet on my first floor, and right above I have a closet on the 2nd floor and they line up.

I will run a pvc pipe in the corner of the closet from the attic to the basement. All of the audio wires and cat5e cables on the 2nd floor will go up to the attic and then down to the basement through the pvc pipe and then to the central location.

Now, on the first floor, what is the preferred method to run that wiring? My basement is unfinished, so where ever I want to install a speaker, should I just drop that wire into the basement? I will have speaker wires coming down from all over the basement, and then I can lead them along the ceiling to my central location.

Also, should I install 1 pvc pipe and run cat5e and speaker wire together, or install 2 side-by-side and run them separately?


I have made a post in another section detailing my set up. I've included the link below for more info on how my set up will be.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1463977/need-help-selecting-an-amp


TIA!

Thank you for the quick reply.

When the speaker wire comes down to the basement, each zone will be connected to its own amp to power the speakers. Each amp will have its own airport express for audio input.

Initially, I was thinking about getting an AudioSource AMP100 for each zone, but now I am second guessing that.

I can always buy equipment and install it overtime, so it is more important to get the wiring done.

Will the set up I mentioned work, or will I still need a 3rd pvc pipe for power? Even if the speaker wires from the attic are connected to an amp in the basement?

Thank you for all the help.

I have one last question which has to do with wiring the home theater system.

For all my zones, the speakers connect to an amp, which gets input from the airport express.

But for the family room, where the home theater system will be, how can I wire that so when the TV is on, it will use the surround sound, but when it is off, then those speakers are available to be used by an airport express.

When I want the TV to use surround sound, I can turn on the receiver which is in the family room next to the TV... but when I want to use those speakers with the airport express then it should not matter if the receiver is on or off.

I was thinking, I still run all the speaker wire from the home theater system to the central location and connect them to an amp. I also run wire from the receiver in the family room to the central location, and put it as 1 input to the amp, and the airport express as 2nd input.

Is this the correct way to do this?

Since the Russound selector above only has 2 speaker output, I will not be able to make use of all the 5 speakers in surround sound with airport express, but if I get 2 of the automatic selectors can I make use of at least 4?

Front speakers in family room are connected to first Russound selector as output. Input A will be the amp with airport express. Input B will be front speaker output from receiver in family room.

Back speakers in family room will be connected to second Russound selector as output. Input A will be another amp with same airport express input. Input B will be back speaker output from receiver in family room.

Center speaker will be connected directly to the receiver, and will only be used by TV.


Will that setup work?

Thank you for the help.

Btw, your setup in your sig is amazing.

In order to utilize the surround sound, I may just connect one airport express as an input and turn it on manually whenever necessary, as you have suggested.

Is there a similar automatic selector like the Russound one you suggested above, but instead can take 2 RCA inputs or 2 3.5mm as input . Prioritize them and output the correct one?

I was looking for something like this



So I can have 2 inputs for each zone (3.5mm jack on wall in each room and an airport express) instead of just an airport express.

I think I've got most of it planned out.

Will start ordering stuff tomorrow

Haven't bought it yet.

I do plan on getting the Audiosource amp100 as well, but input 1 doesn't have a time delay. So it constantly cuts out.

I was thinking of getting the auto switcher in my last post and connecting it to input 2 on the amp100, and making use of only input 2 for my audio.

Then maybe get a mic, and split it into the input 1 of every amp, to use as a pa system.

I was thinking 6 zones, but also being able to expand in the future if needed. Do you have any suggestions for a WHA system?


If I go the airport express/amp for each zone route when I'm wiring my surround sound in the family room. It would make no sense to wire the speakers to my central location, and then back to the AVR in the family room, right? I can just wire the speakers directly to the AVR and connect an Apple TV to it, to include it in with the rest of the house audio. Or is it preferred to have those wires running to the central location in case of changes in the future?