Home sound system??

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Hi all, i need help, i am moving into a new build no flooring etc down yet and thought it would be a good idea to put in a sound system that incorporates sky, ipod docking station and dvd player from 1 location prob in a cupboard somewhere with two ceiling speakers in the 3 rooms downstairs, i noticed in the show home that their system allowed the livingroom speakers to change the sky channel and thought this was wonderful it would preferably be a wired system.

They also had controls on the walls which looked good but inexpensive.

i have a budget of under £1000 tops

anyone any help please??

 

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine has what sounds like a similar setup, albeit with more speakers and wired throughout a very large house. It cost £14k, I'm sorry to say, including relatively 'basic' separates. I may be wrong, but I doubt you'll go too far in that direction for £1,000.

 

[The_Lhc]

Yes 6 speakers (in wall/ceiling speakers are generally priced individually) is going to hoover up a significant proportion of that budget and you haven't even mentioned an amp.

You might do well to go back to the show house and ask them for the details of their system, they should be able to provided with an equipment list and costs.

And it isn't going to sound as good as traditional speakers would.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

These days you can get a good all-house system for much less than 14 grand. but it requires some thinking through. If you want specific advice here (and oyu can get it here!) you need to give more details on what you want to achieve.

e.g. you can connect all key locations with a LAN cable and then you know you can have hi-resolution music in these locations by using the likes of sonons or squeezebox.

 

[Anonymous]

AlmaataKZ:
These days you can get a good all-house system for much less than 14 grand. but it requires some thinking through. If you want specific advice here (and oyu can get it here!) you need to give more details on what you want to achieve.

e.g. you can connect all key locations with a LAN cable and then you know you can have hi-resolution music in these locations by using the likes of sonons or squeezebox.

I'm sure that you can, and it provides nothing like the fidelity that you and I would consider necessary. It's for background music (albeit able to go pretty loud) and I reckon he has fifty or so in-ceiling speakers.

 

[The_Lhc]

AlmaataKZ:
These days you can get a good all-house system for much less than 14 grand. but it requires some thinking through. If you want specific advice here (and oyu can get it here!) you need to give more details on what you want to achieve.

e.g. you can connect all key locations with a LAN cable and then you know you can have hi-resolution music in these locations by using the likes of sonons or squeezebox.

Hmm, but even than that isn't going to be ideal for handling the Sky box (it's very difficult to get the line-in on a Sonos to sync with the pictures on the screen) and if he wants three seperate powered zones (as opposed to two or more sets of speakers attached to one Zoneplayer, which means the same music in each room) then that's your £1000 blown right there.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

12th:

I'm sure that you can, and it provides nothing like the fidelity that you and I would consider necessary. It's for background music (albeit able to go pretty loud) and I reckon he has fifty or so in-ceiling speakers.

I do not think there should be any sonic problems. the point is lan cabling is a very inexpensive, reliable and flexible way of communication between network-capable audio devices. sonic quality will depend on the resolution of your content and your playback components. these could be anything from a-la Squezzebox to Linn DS Klimax to Meridian Sooloos. as for speakers, I am not a fan of ceiling speakers myself but for kitchen and bathroom - why not?

I mean if I were moving in an unfinished house I woud do lan cabling - can be used for many things, including audio and control. apologies if I failed to address a specific question of the OP. my pont is basically - (re)think it through first, rathern than get stuck with a particular concept (e.g. one source, 3 zones with speaekrs).

 

[Anonymous]

as i thought all very complex.

all i want.. is to be able to have my television played in kitchen or dining room so i can hear it if in not in the livingroom or if i am entertaining play some music in dining and kitchen and have tv played in livingroom. I t would also be great to have my sky box, i pod station, dvd player hidden out the road of the kids etc.

i do realise how expensive it can be but i thought it would not be as tricky.

 

[Big Chris]

You might want to look at A/V receivers with 3 or 4 zones.

My own amp, which is a couple of years old now, has 3 zones (the third zone needs a seperate amplifier, zone 2 can be powered from the receiver itself). This would allow me to run a full 5.1 system in my lounge, a pair of speakers in another location, i.e Kitchen, and if I wanted to use an amp, another pair of speakers in a third location. All playing the same stuff when you want or different sources when you don't (I think.... I'd need to confirm that last statement).