I was hoping to do the HTD whole home audio system with intercom, but my contractor didn’t wire things correctly and I’m not sure I want to have to correct it.
So, what we have are speakers mostly in the right place, but not run to a single location (top floor speakers run to our TV room), master bedroom and bath speakers run to the master bedroom, basement speakers run to a single location in basement. And they didn’t run extra Ethernet cables for the intercom/keypad either. There are a couple places I’d like to have speakers that they didn’t run (outside decks and, maybe, kids’ rooms).
I’m not sure what I can really do with this now. Do I just ix-nay the idea of whole home audio? Do I go with a wireless system (do then I need some sort of receiver for each run of speakers?)? I feel like I’ve been reading myself in circles… And so many posts are years old, so I’m hoping that there’s been some sort of innovation recently that will solve all my problems.
And then I really liked how HTD linked the whole home audio with an intercom. But without HTD’s system, it seems like intercom systems are really outdated. So, then should I let go of the intercom system and just use cordless phone intercoms (but then don’t have the front door feature)?
Basically, I’m feeling so bummed that HTD isn’t working out and I might just be working myself into a tizzy right now. But maybe I just piece things together and use Vera to integrate it? headache Or open up the walls and run the wire correctly (budgetache)?
Any and all advice, guidance, suggestions welcome!!!
Something that may be an interesting idea to alleviate at least some of your woes. You can still get an HTD system, skip the keypads all together, save $ and just use their mobile app for zone control. many people are doing this. Now, the fact that your installer wired things wrong is still an issue. I would demand that the issues be fixed or a full refund is issued. That is, Unless, the situation wasn’t clear and you’re stuck with it. Still I’d fix it. A wired system always beats a wireless system, be it for audio, computers or anything else.
As for the intercoms… You could buy Nexus tablets for each zone that would act as controllers and intercoms.
To do the HTD system, we’d still have to home run all the speaker wires somewhere, right? Right now, we have 3 different places the speaker wires go (pretty much one hub per floor).
But that would, at least, solve the keypad Ethernet cable issue.
Yeah, the prewire mix up is partly my husband, partly my contractor. Our contractor has been so great about everything else, that I’m going to let this one slide (or have us fork up the $$ to have them fix it).
What is this Nexus tablet intercom you speak of though??? Would that work for both intra-house paging and the front door doorbell intercom? We have also wired for a POE camera on the front porch but I haven’t yet purchased that.
What did with my house was run CAT5 to the areas where I wanted music. All the wire collects in the basement under the stairs (plus the any network lines - CAT6). I terminated each CAT5 end that I wanted set to audio with RCA 110 Audio-Video Jack connectors from HomeDepot. ([url=http://www.homedepot.ca/product/quickport-snap-in-rca-to-110-module-audio-white/902926]http://www.homedepot.ca/product/quickport-snap-in-rca-to-110-module-audio-white/902926[/url]). Very easy installation.
I then use a headless PC (in the basement) with free Logitech Media Server software on it for my music server. (andriod app available too). I connected the line-out from a quality sound card to line-level distribution amp by Cables to Go (7 zones)… X3 for 21 zones. ([url=http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1873401&csid=_61]http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1873401&csid=_61[/url])
Each of the CAT5 audio lines plug into the distribution amp via RCA cables to get the source (music) signal.
I have high quality powered speakers plugged in my zones (Altec Lansing MX5021 X4 and Corsair Series SP2500 x3 and 2 older ministereos - 1 for the garage and for the patio).
My “zones” are:
Kitchen, Great Room, Living Room, Sun Room, Patio, Garage, Loft, Office, plus several more zones when I finish my basement.
Some zones (office, Great Room HTPC and Loft - HTPC) are controlled through the PC. That is, I can listen to local music or tap into the line-in control to get the “house music” playing at the time.
Of course you can feed any serious home theater amp with this source too.
This method has ensured locally controlled volumes and always in perfect sync. Dinner parties have back ground music in all zones… from kitchen to patio.
Much cheaper the sonos and music selection is controlled via my Nexus 7 or any web browser.
[quote=“mxg, post:4, topic:177055”]What did with my house was run CAT5 to the areas where I wanted music. All the wire collects in the basement under the stairs (plus the any network lines - CAT6). I terminated each CAT5 end that I wanted set to audio with RCA 110 Audio-Video Jack connectors from HomeDepot. ([url=http://www.homedepot.ca/product/quickport-snap-in-rca-to-110-module-audio-white/902926]http://www.homedepot.ca/product/quickport-snap-in-rca-to-110-module-audio-white/902926[/url]). Very easy installation.
I then use a headless PC (in the basement) with free Logitech Media Server software on it for my music server. (andriod app available too). I connected the line-out from a quality sound card to line-level distribution amp by Cables to Go (7 zones)… X3 for 21 zones. ([url=http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1873401&csid=_61]http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1873401&csid=_61[/url])
Each of the CAT5 audio lines plug into the distribution amp via RCA cables to get the source (music) signal.
I have high quality powered speakers plugged in my zones (Altec Lansing MX5021 X4 and Corsair Series SP2500 x3 and 2 older ministereos - 1 for the garage and for the patio).
My “zones” are:
Kitchen, Great Room, Living Room, Sun Room, Patio, Garage, Loft, Office, plus several more zones when I finish my basement.
Some zones (office, Great Room HTPC and Loft - HTPC) are controlled through the PC. That is, I can listen to local music or tap into the line-in control to get the “house music” playing at the time.
Of course you can feed any serious home theater amp with this source too.
This method has ensured locally controlled volumes and always in perfect sync. Dinner parties have back ground music in all zones… from kitchen to patio.
Much cheaper the sonos and music selection is controlled via my Nexus 7 or any web browser.[/quote]
This sounds ideal, but our walls area already closed up, and we did do this. So, now our debates is either to work with what we have (see first post) or pay to have them fix our wires… :-\