pmilin's Whole House Audio System

I began planning a whole house audio system in early 2007 as I had just moved into a new house. Half of the basement is unfinished so I decided I should think about running wires to the rooms above while I could. I also have a large detached garage that I was going to begin finishing on the inside. This provided me with the opportunity to run wires there as well.

Before I knew it, my wiring job turned into a full blown whole house (and garage) audio project. I will use this thread to document the system including pictures of key areas in the system.

The audio system that I chose was the NetStreams DigiLinx IP based system. This seemed like a very flexible system as all devices communicate with each via my home network. This allows me the ability to locate equipment anywhere in the house as long as I have a network connection available. It also has the advantage of locating the speaker amps as close to the speakers as possible (within reason) to eliminate signal loss and degredation. Each touchscreen/keypad in the system has intercom capability so this will prove to be a valuable feature especially between the house and garage.

In order to buy/install the DigiLinx equipment I had to go through their dealer network; however, I worked it out with my dealer so that I could run the cable and install the devices. All the dealer really has to do is help me configure the system. Listed below is the equipment that I'm starting out with:

7 zone system:

6 - 20Watt speaker amps (SpeakerLinx)
1 - 50 Watt speaker amp
2 - 3.8" in-wall touch screens
3 - 10 button keypads
1 - IR controller w/ 10 button remote
1 - programmable media converter (MediaLinx)
1 - 24 port high speed ethernet switch (SwitchLinx)
1 - 8 output DC power supply (PowerLinx)
1 - Parasound programmable Z-tuner (AM/FM tuner)
1 - PC running Windows XP Pro
1 - 19" 20U swingout rack
7pr Sonance speakers 621, 622, 623 symphony series

Add-ons:
I have recently expanded the system to include additional sources. A PC streaming Internet content and the NetStreams Streaming Music Manager (SMM100). Details on page two.

More Add-ons:
I have added another zone and upgraded existing zones to the high wattage amplifier. I am also adding video distribution equipment and remote control capabilities. Details on page two.

Setting Up Remote Control:
I have figured out how to control the system with a Harmony universal remote. Details on page two.

In the next series of posts, I will detail the installation of the various cable runs required for the system.

I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.

This is where all of the Cat5e, Coax, and 16-4 power wiring terminates in a basement mechanical room.

While I was at it, I decided to run extra Cat5e cables for PC network connections as well as future IP video equipment. Many of these wires terminate at TV locations in each room. If I decide not to go with IP video I can still utilize the Cat5e wire using a matrix switch and baluns.

I bought a 19" swingout rack. This rack makes it very convenient to get to the back side of the equipment. The rack is made by Quest and can swing out from either side.

I have terminated most of the wires to two 24 port Cat5e patch panels.

I printed on white shrink tubing to mark all of the wires. I marked them by their location on the patch panel and the room that they terminate in.

This is the front view of the rack. With an IP system, all of the various devices are connected on the network via a high speed Ethernet switch. Note all of the patch cables from the patch panel to the switch. These cables essentially tie all of the wires from the various rooms together.



Power for all of the remote equipment comes from the 16-4 wires connected to the power supply (PowerLinx)

This is the Cat5 tester that I used to test each wire run. This tester tests wire mapping, attenuation, return loss and a host of other important tests. I was able to borrow the tester from the IT dept at the company that I work for. It proved to be an invaluable tool as I found a few badly terminated connections.

There is an awesome article that talks about testing Cat5e wiring for audio/video applications here.

Here is one of the speaker amps called SpeakerLinx used in the system. This device gets the synchronized digital audio signal (stream) from the network and converts it to an amplified analog signal for the speakers. A 10 button keypad can also connect to this device for local room control.

This is the top of the conduit running up through the wall between the house and the garage. I ran a pull wire in the pipe so that future wire runs will be easy. The bottom of this pipe goes to the basement where the wires run between the floor joist until they terminate at the rack.

Here are SpeakerLinx amps for four of the seven rooms. Although it is best to mount them as close to the speakers as possible it wasn't going to be easy to terminate the wires at each speaker location so I decided to compromise and terminate them in a central location in the attic. Note the shrink tubing wire labels on this as well. The blue wires are the Cat5e network wires and the white wires are for speaker runs. The grey wires are for the DC power.

I had to cut some drywall in the garage to install the conduit to run wires in. This will make it super easy to add wires in the future.

Here are the speakers installed in the master bedroom. I used the Sonance 621TR ceiling speakers here. The nice thing about these speakers is that you can tilt the speaker cone under the grill to aim the sound in whichever direction makes sense for the room. I also painted the speaker grills to match the ceiling color. Home Depot sells little rechargeable cO2 paint sprayers that I used to spray the interior house paint. It took a few tries to get the paint thinned just right so that it would spray cleanly.

When the house was built, speaker wire was installed in the vaulted ceiling in the livingroom. Good thing because it would have been impossible to do it now without cutting drywall. The wires were located behind cover plates in the ceiling.

The speaker wires terminated behind the TV location instead of the attic but this was not a problem because the SpeakerLinx devices are small enough that they can be mounted in walls. I mounted one behind the entertainment center in the living room. I ran 5 Cat5e cables to the entertainment center location as well as two power wires.

Here are the speakers installed in the livingroom. Again I painted the grills to match the ceiling. They are hardly noticable. In this room I used the higher quality Sonance 623T speakers.

Here is a shot of one of the touchscreens (called TouchLinx) mounted in the wall. NetStreams has a variety of coverplates to match the decor. This one is mounted in the master bathroom and can be used to control both the master bedroom and the bathroom. Actually, any TouchLinx can control any and every room's audio.

The beauty of these touchscreens is that they do not have to be connected to a SpeakerLink or the speakers. They simply connect to the network via a Cat5e home run wire connected to the Ethernet switch. This allows flexibility in where it can be mounted.

One of my zones will be the detached garage. Luckily the home builder had enough forethought to install several conduits underground between the house and the garage. This shot shows the Cat5e and power wires running under the floor in the house into the conduit that runs to the garage.

I will post more about the detached garage later.

Thanks. No problem ask away. That is the reason why I put information up here in the first place. When I was doing my system there wasn't much information about it other than what NetStreams web site had. I hope this post helps you so that when you have yours done you will at least have some idea of what to expect.

P.S. Make sure that you get a copy of the NetStreams project file from your dealer. This file has all of your settings unique to your installation in it. I think it is a good idea for you to have a copy in your possession.

I liked it due to price mostly. The swing out design is a great space saving idea because you don't have to leave room around and behind the rack to get to the back of it. Just decide which way you want it to open and run all (or most) of your wire on the hinged side. I got the rack from MB Electronics for $137. You do need a wall to mount it on though.

The surge protecting power strip and shelves came from Swell Direct. I also got the patch panels from Swell.

Actually, I got one of the shelves from IOFast.com. This shelf holds the power supply (PowerLinx) and it is a perfect fit. I recommend it over the one that I got from Swell Direct for the power supply. This shelf is made by Quest also.

As I said in another thread I finally got my SMM100 music manager going. I am just streaming from a Win XP PC for now. I plan on adding a MS Home Server to the equation soon.

One thing to note when organizing your music. Make sure that the actual song files and playlist files are at least three levels deep from the share that the music manager sees. Otherwise playlists that you create won't work. I had issues getting the playlists to show up properly on the DigiLinx screens. My dealer and I had a lengthy tech support call to NetStreams and they mentioned the three level deal.

Take a look at my post about three posts back ^^^.
Here is a link to the post
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post12589923

Renesis,

Are you going with a NetStreams system or something else?

I don't have any wiring panels. I ran all of my Cat5e to the rack mount patch panel. My coax runs beside the rack and the splitters are just mounted to a board on the wall along with the phone line splitter. I was thinking of doing something a little better but I have been focusing on the network stuff lately.

I suppose you could mount a panel to the side of the rack as long as it doesn't interfere with the swing out. Alternatively, I have seen rack mount panels for coax on the Internet. I was also thinking of getting some blank panels and mounting stuff to them. This way everything would be inside the rack.