New house and new system install

[adriandonlan]

Hi All

I'm in the middle of buying a house and want to install a mutli-room audio / cinema system, if possible I'd like some advice and the latest advances in this area. Now I'm not a novice as I've done this a few times before (last time was 8 years ago). My existing setup is a range of ceiling speakers, wired down to wall plates into which I have three or four Sonos devices attached. I also have a variety of cinema stuff installed as well. When I installed all of this we were in the middle of builidng an extension and so had access to ceilings and walls etc, I also installed a full CAT5e network (I work in IT so am pretty familiar with this). I have a few centralised media servers which deliver movies and audio to all of the connected equipment.

Now the new house I'm buying is old and does not need to be extended so the chance of being able to put a full CAT5 cabling system in is limited, besides which the advances in WiFi means that the systems now can deliver the streaming quality that I need. The current owners have installed a few CAT5 cables but probably only enough to power the WiFi Access Points. The questions I have are concerning speakers and minimising the installation of cables. What is the latest generation of wireless speakers like, are they suitable for a multi-room system or are we still at a wired speaker stage? I'll be looking at doing this for around 6 or 7 rooms.

Any advice or comments gratefully received.

Thanks

Adrian

 

[bigboss]

You can look at Sonos for your multiroom which is wireless and very reliable.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Hi Adrian,

A mate in Singapore has Dynaudio Xeo6s and Xeo2s in another room, both fed from a single Connect? Not heard them myself as no longer visit post retirement, but he thinks they are the DBs. He is a HiFi nut with an upmarket setup in the UK, consisiting of many boxes, and now thinks might replace the lot with some Focus XDs. He says the DSP bass control works a treat in his boom-prone apartment which has tiled floors. Not sure if can be applied to multiple rooms, but might be worth checking out.

 

[adriandonlan]

I have just had a quick look at them. They appear interesting but I think the company is missing a trick in not have a ceiling speaker. I'll investigate a little more.

 

[adriandonlan]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I already have sonos. The issue is not in having a multi-room distribution but in dealing with the speakers and the cabling through walls etc