[GlennS]

Well, the builder screwed up and used 16 AWG instead of 14 AWG when running the speaker wire from the equipment closet out to all the rooms. I specified 14 gauge, so I could make him do it all over.


However, I might be able to make a deal with him to do additional stuff (i.e. more cat-5 or RG6) if I just keep the 16 gauge wire.


What do you guys think? Is 16 gauge sufficient? All cable runs are less than 100 feet. I plan to use a Kustom 6640 amp (25W/ch) to drive in-wall speakers for background music.


Thanks,

Glenn

 

[woowoo]

At 25w per channel, the smaller wire should not matter

 

[markrubin]

I agree 16 ga is fine- I requested 14 ga for speaker runs in my new home and the installer balked- I OK'd 16 gauge (for higher power/longer runs) and have no problems


More RG-6/CAT5 runs are a good idea- you can never have too much wiring!

 

[robertmee]

Glenn,


Hey, I'm using the Kustom 6640 as well...Great unit, IMO. And I too ended up with 16awg wire. I'm curious about what wires you are pulling as I am also in the middle of construction. In fact, all my wires have been mostly pulled now, and the drywall starts next week. Check out my Advanced Video thread to see what I pulled, and it may give you some additional ideas if your contractor is willing to pull more cable. One thing you might want to think about with the Kustom, is to pull an additional cat 5 to each keypad location. The reason? If you want home automation to control the kustom, you'll have to get IR signals into it from your home automation controller. One easy way is to stick IR emitters on each of your keypad locations with the extra cat 5. Your home automation would send IR signals to the emitters which in turn can control your whole house audio (such as waking up in the morning with progressively loud sound played through your speaker in your bedroom).


I ran the extra cat-5 myself, but I'm also have been in contact with Kustom Engineering and a few other Kustom users to build a cheap circuit interface to patch into the cat-5 from the keypad right at the Kustom unit. All it really takes is a IR decoder from Radio Shack and some additional circuitry. But, if this doesn't work out, I have the extra cable available to control with IR emitters.

 

[GlennS]

The builder just ran a 16/4 speaker cable to each keypad and then two 16/2 cables to each speaker in the room. There is also one cat-5 to each keypad for the controller.


I know I didn't need to run the speaker wire through the keypad location if I'm using the Kustom 6640, but I wanted to keep my options open just in case I just wanted to go with a simple volume control.


In addition to this, I also did the usual cat-5/RG6 to each room and surround sound in the HT. I also ran conduit from the wiring closet to four downstairs rooms that are media heavy. I didn't wire the upstairs bedrooms since there is good attic access.