[davidag02]

Hey everyone,


I'm in the process of building a new (not custom) 3 story home. I've been working the builder and their sub-contractors to improve on the standard wiring that is offered with the home. I've been using David Feller's pre-wire guide, as well as cocoontech, to assist with this project. Everything has been going really well with the construction so far... until this week when they started running low-voltage wiring while I was out of town for the Thanksgiving holidays.

I want to implement a whole house A/V distribution system which would be housed in the closet off of Bdrm. 4/Theater room.

Each TV location will have 4 Cat6 and 2 RG6QS.

The original plan was to have all the cable, data and A/V distribution lines running back to the media closet on the 3rd floor.


They jumped the gun, assumed too much, and ended up running all of the standard wiring (RG6 and Cat5e) to the master bedroom closet.

What's your opinion on the best way to fix this? They were pretty adamant about leaving all of the existing wiring in place. They would run additional RG6 and data lines to the master bedroom closet, and run the newly installed A/V distribution wiring to the media closet.


Is it OK to do it that way?

What wires to I need to run between the 2 locations so that everything in the media closet can have an internet connection, cable TV, security camera access?

Where should the cable modem, router and switch go?


Here's the floorplan for your reference:

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[jautor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by davidag02 /forum/post/19589728


What's your opinion on the best way to fix this?

A few gallons of gasoline and a good alibi?

Quote:
They were pretty adamant about leaving all of the existing wiring in place. They would run additional RG6 and data lines to the master bedroom closet, and run the newly installed A/V distribution wiring to the media closet.

Hey David,


Did they run *all* your cat5 there, or just the standard package stuff (the RG6 plus basic cat5 coverage)? If they haven't run your "extra" stuff, you're in fine shape, and just need a few cat5's to link the two control areas together.


If they've run all your extra cat5 there as well, you do have some work to do. You'll probably want to link the two rooms with quite a number of Cat5 lines so you can patch through probably 2 cat5's per zone, so like 16 cables...

Quote:
Is it OK to do it that way?

What wires to I need to run between the 2 locations so that everything in the media closet can have an internet connection, cable TV, security camera access?

Where should the cable modem, router and switch go?

You can then use the standard stuff for Ethernet and any coax-based distribution, but still run the A/V switching gear from your media closet. You'd put the cable modem/router/switch in the master closet, which is fine. Just make sure there's several cables to link that infrastructure to the media closet.


Jeff

 

[Neurorad]

Was the plan 'in writing'?

 

[hoyty]

It is hard to tell from your diagram and description where exactly they ran it to now and where you want it to go. Is it in one of the WiC off master now? Do you want it to be in Media Room WiC on third floor or someplace else? I ask because if they left any kind of service loop or slack and the walls aren't sealed up yet then you might just be able to move the termination point since it would just be up one floor?


Definitely the big question is was the termination point clearly defined in writing for the builder / sub? If not your options are much less limited.

 

[scl23enn4m3]

What stage is the construction in? I know when my parent's house was being built, the workers were nice enough to let me run everything I wanted to run myself. Can you go and change it up yourself? Showing up with a case of beer wouldn't hurt.

 

[davidag02]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor /forum/post/19590417


A few gallons of gasoline and a good alibi?

Hey David,

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for the quick response. Sorry I've been so wishy-washy about coming by to see your setup. I've got a 4 month old son, some new responsibilities at my job and this house that's being built. Free time is pretty hard to come by these days...


I'll be using the Aton kit for video distribution and the new HTD Lync system for audio distribution.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor /forum/post/19590417


Did they run *all* your cat5 there, or just the standard package stuff (the RG6 plus basic cat5 coverage)? If they haven't run your "extra" stuff, you're in fine shape, and just need a few cat5's to link the two control areas together.

So far, they have run a the standard RG6 and a cat5e to the master bedroom closet. All of the security wiring goes there as well.

I want to double up on data lines and RG6 so I'm having them add an extra RG6 and an extra Cat5e per TV location which I guess will be run to the master closet also.


For the A/V distribution, I'll have them run an additional 2 Cat6 wires (for the Aton) + 1 extra for futureproofing for each TV location to the media closet and another Cat6 between each wall plate and the media closet. The speaker wire for all the zones that aren't 7.2 will terminate in the media closet too. I'm also having them do conduit in various locations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor /forum/post/19590417


You can then use the standard stuff for Ethernet and any coax-based distribution, but still run the A/V switching gear from your media closet. You'd put the cable modem/router/switch in the master closet, which is fine. Just make sure there's several cables to link that infrastructure to the media closet.


Jeff

What would you recommend to link the 2 closets together?

2 RG6, 2 Cat6 and conduit?


My biggest concerns with this split setup are:

• Everything that needs a wired internet connection has one.
• A HTPC which would utilize the LAN is still functional.
• Any CCTV's can still be distributed using the Aton system.

Anything else you guys can think of that I should address before the drywall goes up?

 

[jautor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by davidag02 /forum/post/19595412


Thanks for the quick response. Sorry I've been so wishy-washy about coming by to see your setup. I've got a 4 month old son, some new responsibilities at my job and this house that's being built. Free time is pretty hard to come by these days...

Pfftththt... Excuses, excuses...

If you're still reading the Aton thread, you'll see I just expanded mine to the 4x8 setup, and if you wait another few weeks, there's a theater to be hooked into the setup, too...

Quote:
What would you recommend to link the 2 closets together?

2 RG6, 2 Cat6 and conduit?


My biggest concerns with this split setup are:

• Everything that needs a wired internet connection has one.
• A HTPC which would utilize the LAN is still functional.
• Any CCTV's can still be distributed using the Aton system.

Anything else you guys can think of that I should address before the drywall goes up?

I'd add a few more cat5's to link them, but seems like everything that's going to the MBR closet isn't going to be a problem. You'd likely have a gigabit switch at the media closet anyway, so now you'll just uplink it to the MBR where your router and modem will be. Definitely get a flex conduit to that room, though - you'll absolutely want access to it later.


The extra cat5's and the RG6 would be good to have for various camera/stuff, but really, as long as you have some connectivity and the conduit, I think you'll be just fine.


With all the "complicated" gear getting run to the media closet, the basics are just being handled in the MBR closet, and I don't think you'll have any real issue.


Oh, and a reminder - take a boatload of digital images just before the sheetrock. I took 500 images and still managed to not capture everything. I was focusing on the wiring, and there are pieces of the framing and the HVAC I didn't get 100% coverage on. Turns out I know where all the LV wiring is - it's the other stuff I need the pictures for!


Jeff

 

[davidag02]

Thanks for the help Jeff. The low-voltage contractor is being pretty cooperative, so things are going much more smoothly now.


I've been following the Aton thread... I'll see if I can come up there in a few weeks when you're theater is finished out. Thanks again!