New build pre wire help needed

[newbuild2020]

Hi folks, I’m building a new house and could be doing with some help to confirm audio cabling. Questions below:

1) I am going to have a speaker in each room and run speaker cable back to a central room up to 20 metres away. What cable should I use and how many cables should I run to each room/speaker?

2) I want to have surround sound in two rooms, most likely 5.1. What cables do I need to run back to the receiver in the comms room? My understanding is I need a red/white cable from front left back to receiver and red/white cable from front right back to receiver, speaker wire (different to red/white?)connecting each speaker in a loop, a coaxial from sub woofer back to the receiver and a HDMI (probably cat6)from the tv back to the receiver. Is that correct? Or do I need speaker wire coming back to the receiver for each individual speaker (5 of them)?

3) Can I buy an amp for the speakers in point one that would handle say 10 speakers? Also can I plug this into my network / wired or wireless? Any recommendations?

4) What surround sound system do you recommend today, mid range budget?

5) What ceiling speakers do you recommend?

many thanks for your help.
R

 

[mushii]

I think for what you want budget around £200 (minimum) per pair of speakers and £500 for amplification per pair. So £3500 for your ceiling speakers and £1700 per budget 5.1 setup. Including cable £7000 ish. Then you will need at least a couple of hybrid fibre HDMI cables so £200 each. Now you need a way to control all of your equipment. Some smart remote solution like Harmony Elite - one for each setup £200 each, so altogether call it another grand. So assuming that you are confident with all of this £8000 minimum.

 

[newbuild2020]

Hi Mushi, thank you.
My questions were more about which cables to use and how to link the speakers etc to ensure I will have the right wiring in place. Once the ceiling goes up I won’t be able to add more cable.

also what is a hybrid fibre hdmi cable? Do you have a link for one?

on a side note I’m running cat 6 for video but wanted to put a fibre cable in to future proof. I was going to use a multi mode duplex OM3 fibre cable. Does that sound right?

 

[sicrates]

I’m no expert but a few things struck me about this:

1. if you’re running all this cable you seem to be going all-in, but are only going for 5.1? I have not experienced Atmos speakers in a home, but from what I hear they are great so why aren’t you at least running the cable so you could put the speakers in later (you could leave it coiled up on top of the plaster board, as long as you can remember where you left it!)


2. if you’re building a new house can’t you build large enough conduits so you can pull cables through? You can only future-proof so much. I imagine in a decade there will be new cables that you’ll want and you won’t want to be chasing out walls or ripping out ceilings.

3.Be careful to test the CAT6 cable once you’ve run it. I put a load in and either I was too rough with it or I got a dodgy reel as when I tested it about 1 in 3 had some breaks in (and I couldn’t change it at that point!). Problem is as far as I know you need to put the RJ45 plugs on the end of the wires before you test them, which is a right ball ache, and you might not do it until the second fix stage, where it would be too late to rerun it.

Good luck - sounds exciting!

 

[newbuild2020]

Thank you. Some good tips.

It’s a long enough run for the fibre cables but I think I’ll try to get a conduit in somehow.

I’m not sure room is big enough for 7.1and it’s open plan so it’s not straight forward.

at the minute I’m just going to prewire and addstuff as I can afford it.
Cheers

 

[sicrates]

The Atmos speakers are in the ceiling. Apparently they are great.

 

[mushii]

Sorry, my bad. For your ceiling speakers cabling I would just use Van Damme Blue - 2.5mm2

For your LCR of both of your 5.1 setups I would increase the cross sectional area to 4mm2

Hybrid Fibre - I would look to use a Rui Pro (please note that these are directional) - ny advice is to try and run this in a conduit so that you can replace / change it as technology changes, Passive HDMI has a physical limit length of 7.5m. After this length you either need an Active cable, Catx Cable with Baluns, or Hybrid Fibre. Just bare in mind that the HDMI specification is changing currently and that and solution put in place now, may not service newer equipment needs in the near future,

With regard to your fibre, it depends on what you are attaching to it and what terminations that they use.

 

[sicrates]

A Guide to Dolby Atmos in the Home

 

[mushii]

For ceiling speakers, what is your intention with these. Are these for HiFi or for Muzak in the background. I have ceiling speakers in and they are OK for background music, but are not particularly good for critical listening. I use Monitor audio C165s but I am running with additional sub's to reinforce the bass. Without a sub I would increase their size from 6.5" to 8" so C180 / C280 / C380 etc.

There are plenty of other ceiling speaker manufacturer.

Also remember, to comply with building regulations, if there are any rooms above, where you are installing, your will also have to install intumescent speaker hoods -such as these

 

[newbuild2020]

Sorry, my bad. For your ceiling speakers I would just use Van Damme Blue - 2.5mm2

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For your LCR of both of your 5.1 setups I would increase the cross sectional area to 4mm2

Hybrid Fibre - I would look to use a Rui Pro (please note that these are directional) - ny advice is to try and run this in a conduit so that you can replace / change it as technology changes, Passive HDMI has a physical limit length of 7.5m. After this length you either need an Active cable, Catx Cable with Baluns, or Hybrid Fibre. Just bare in mind that the HDMI specification is changing currently and that and solution put in place now, may not service newer equipment needs in the near future,

With regard to your fibre, it depends on what you are attaching to it and what terminations that they use.

For ceiling speakers, what is your intention with these. Are these for HiFi or for Muzak in the background. I have ceiling speakers in and they are OK for background music, but are not particularly good for critical listening. I use Monitor audio C165s but I am running with additional sub's to reinforce the bass. Without a sub I would increase their size from 6.5" to 8" so C180 / C280 / C380 etc.

There are plenty of other ceiling speaker manufacturer.

Also remember, to comply with building regulations, if there are any rooms above, where you are installing, your will also have to install intumescent speaker hoods -such as these

 

[mushii]

Did you click on the links?

 

[newbuild2020]

Thank you. This is a great help.

Im a newbie to the AV scene so I appreciate your patience. When you say LCR I assume you mean left centre right speakers of the 5.1?

I’m also still a little unclear on how to wire the speakers of surround sound. Do I run a 4.2mm van dame from receiver to left, centre and right speakers? And then a 2.5mm van dame blue from the receiver to the other 2 speakers? Do I also need a 2.5mm wire going in a loop to all 5 speakers to connect them? Then I run a coaxial from receiver to sub woofer and finally a hdmi (or cat 6) from receiver to TV. Ie heard optical is better.

Anyhow, would appreciate advice on the wiring config for surround sound bearing in mind my receiver will be in a comms room about 12 metres away

finally, I was just going to have one speaker in each room for background music/intercom initiated off phone/Alexa.

for surround sound I’m not sure yet If ceiling speakers will work as it’s a high vaulted ceiling. Thoughts?