| maransm |
Hello,
My new home is being built right now and the builder is going to start framing in couple of weeks. I wanted to pre-wire for 6.1 channel home theatre in my family room so that there won’t be any loose cables around...
I was planning to get 42" plasma and most probably Bose Lifestyle 48 (for expanding further to other rooms later).
Home builder wont allow to lay the Bose speaker wires right now since they say that I don’t own the home until closing date, so I cant put any of my own wires in there.
I would appreciate if you could help in the following,
- What kinds of cables need to be pre-wired for Bose Lifestyle 48? Builder is asking $138 for each cable junction (138x6= $828 for 6.1 channel).
- Is it worth to pay $828 for this?
- Is it advisable to do the pre-wiring right now or can I do it after the closing date? How hard is it?
- What other things I need to take care right now?
- What is nice to have or better to do it before they complete dry wall?
Greatly appreciated.
Thanks. |
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| pisay87 |
Got some questions/comments.
What made you decide to go with Bose? In terms of audio quality, there are many other options.
Why stop at 6.1? If there is enough space I'd go for 7.1.
Just a thought... |
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| phins2rt |
quote:
Originally posted by maransm
Hello,
My new home is being built right now and the builder is going to start framing in couple of weeks. I wanted to pre-wire for 6.1 channel home theatre in my family room so that there won’t be any loose cables around...
I was planning to get 42" plasma and most probably Bose Lifestyle 48 (for expanding further to other rooms later).
Home builder wont allow to lay the Bose speaker wires right now since they say that I don’t own the home until closing date, so I cant put any of my own wires in there.
I would appreciate if you could help in the following,
- What kinds of cables need to be pre-wired for Bose Lifestyle 48? Builder is asking $138 for each cable junction (138x6= $828 for 6.1 channel).
- Is it worth to pay $828 for this?
- Is it advisable to do the pre-wiring right now or can I do it after the closing date? How hard is it?
- What other things I need to take care right now?
- What is nice to have or better to do it before they complete dry wall?
Greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
First off, if you're not dead set on a Bose system, I would seriously consider another alternative. There are a better systems out there for the money. ($.02)
I would also wire for at least 7 channel surround (especially if this will be your principal video theater). It will be much easier to run the wires now versus later.
I would try and layout a plan of where you want speakers, projectors, tvs, etc. and make sure you can accomodate this when you build. I had a few speaker runs added to our home before we bought as part of the offer. They had to do some of the runs post-drywall. I'm sure I will need more in the future but it shouldn't be too bad to run.
You have a great opportunity to set up your plan before drywall is up. Good luck and I'm sure others will have some advise as well.
edit- I guess I echoed the sentiments of pisay above...:D |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by phins2rt
First off, if you're not dead set on a Bose system, I would seriously consider another alternative. There are a better systems out there for the money. ($.02)
I would also wire for at least 7 channel surround (especially if this will be your principal video theater). It will be much easier to run the wires now versus later.
I would try and layout a plan of where you want speakers, projectors, tvs, etc. and make sure you can accomodate this when you build. I had a few speaker runs added to our home before we bought as part of the offer. They had to do some of the runs post-drywall. I'm sure I will need more in the future but it shouldn't be too bad to run.
You have a great opportunity to set up your plan before drywall is up. Good luck and I'm sure others will have some advise as well.
edit- I guess I echoed the sentiments of pisay above...:D
Don't know what kind of contract you signed but I have never heard of a builder that would not accomodate what you want to do. Is he getting draws from you or is if financing everything up front.
?
Now the THE time to get in all of the wiring that you may ever imagine that you could want.
G |
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| Warzau |
quote:
Originally posted by pisay87
Got some questions/comments.
What made you decide to go with Bose? In terms of audio quality, there are many other options.
Why stop at 6.1? If there is enough space I'd go for 7.1.
Just a thought...
Never heard of a builder say no to you paying for items, they actually like it. If you don't buy the house guess what, they stay with whatever you put in. BUT In the same boat with all.
BOSE Please don't! Alot of better name brands. Onkyo,Denon, HK,Yamaha, Boston Acoustics.
Same thought here 5.1 is common. 7.1 is the future, by the time your house is finished 7.1 will be more widespread. I think you should have a professional A/V tech come in and help with the layout. |
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| crmsnidol |
quote:
Originally posted by maransm
- What kinds of cables need to be pre-wired for Bose Lifestyle 48? Builder is asking $138 for each cable junction (138x6= $828 for 6.1 channel).
- Is it worth to pay $828 for this?.
Check these out (sold at Home Depot):
http://www.levitonproducts.com/cata...BC3D05&pid=1208 |
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| HARDROCK |
| Why not just install conduit now and have the flexibility to install (and later change) anything you want in the future? |
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| mdxx3 |
Maransm,
$138 seems about normal these days to pre-wire any single cable. However it is not quite worth $828 for 6.1 channels (and maybe more if they add the .1 part when it's remotely located). Don't they have a package price like half of that for these audio cables? For $828, once can already buy 2 or 3 receivers, or one very good one. But it's almost like you really have no choice - just go do it. It'll cost you more if you decide to put these in later. Either way you'll be upset when you find out it only comes with a blank wall plate for some connections... you'll have to spend more to get the appropriate wall-plates or terminals. Either way, pre-wiring is the way to go. It feels great to see no wires!! (I go thru a lot of trouble to hide all these a/v/c/n wires at home.)
Put as many junctions points as you want but you better be careful because there are at least two types of junctions/outlets for the high/ceiling speakers. Ask them what they will give you. One is completely hidden inside the ceiling/drywall -- later use a wire/stud sensor to find it, cut a hole and fish the cable out (without cutting into the cable behind that drywall/ceiling). The other type is when they literally put a round plug in the ceiling for each "junction" as a marker for each speaker -- this is visible and ugly but easier for installation later because you can easily see where the wire is. If you are serious you want all those speaker junctions, then it doesn't matter because those ugly round plugs will be replaced by actual speakers or wall plates later. For the first type (all hidden), be sure to take a few thousand photos of everywhere of the house in all stages while they are building it because those will come in handy later if you are a DIY or wall hacker. My in-laws got the round plug type (those ugly plugs are still there and there're no surround speakers on their schedule...) We got the completely hidden type (different builder) and I installed all the speakers a few months after moving in. Either way, we'll have to do surgery to the walls to get the speakers in.
Pre-wiring should be ordered ASAP. They build these houses so fast that if you blink, it will pass that stage where they allow these custom wiring. You may want to consider network, multiple phone/fax, sat TV cables/ports too. (My regret is I don't have a phone jack in the garage - I spend so much time in there that I missed some calls (some I don't care but some I do). Of course I should just take the cordless phone to there but that's too difficult:D) |
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| Warzau |
quote:
Originally posted by HARDROCK
Why not just install conduit now and have the flexibility to install (and later change) anything you want in the future?
Like Hardrock said try this if anything
http://www.smarthome.com/2554.html |
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| maransm |
quote:
Originally posted by pisay87
Got some questions/comments.
What made you decide to go with Bose? In terms of audio quality, there are many other options.
Why stop at 6.1? If there is enough space I'd go for 7.1.
Just a thought...
I was thinking about Bose Lifestyle 48 because,
- Small and sleep speakers look good in family room
- Easy for expanding to other rooms
- Great remote which can be used from anywhere, even from other room
I would love to go with 7.1.
Please let me know if it makes sense. I owned Bose earlier and I love it, but would consider other speakers (small in size) with high performance. |
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| maransm |
quote:
Originally posted by Warzau
Never heard of a builder say no to you paying for items, they actually like it. If you don't buy the house guess what, they stay with whatever you put in. BUT In the same boat with all.
BOSE Please don't! Alot of better name brands. Onkyo,Denon, HK,Yamaha, Boston Acoustics.
Same thought here 5.1 is common. 7.1 is the future, by the time your house is finished 7.1 will be more widespread. I think you should have a professional A/V tech come in and help with the layout.
My builder - Toll Brothers Inc here in Philly area. I don’t know why, I will have to negotiate with them.. They do have a contractor for "entertainment" systems. It seems I need to talk to them, see what he can do and he will quote the price to my builder. Later TBI will let me know the price.
As I said earlier, I am not stuck with just Bose. I thought of it for the reasons I described. Please let me know if I have alternatives for those....
Where can I find the professional A/V tech and how much do they charge?
Thanks for your help.. |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by maransm
My builder - Toll Brothers Inc here in Philly area. I don’t know why, I will have to negotiate with them.. They do have a contractor for "entertainment" systems. It seems I need to talk to them, see what he can do and he will quote the price to my builder. Later TBI will let me know the price.
As I said earlier, I am not stuck with just Bose. I thought of it for the reasons I described. Please let me know if I have alternatives for those....
Where can I find the professional A/V tech and how much do they charge?
Thanks for your help..
Toll Brothers will not allow anything outside the box. You do it their way or not at all. They will not allow you to do anything DIY, and you can ONLY use their electrical contractor. Make sure that they run a conduit from attic to cellar for future use. This, they will do for a couple of hundred $$.
As for Bose, if the only use will be home theater, you may be ok, but if you will be listening to music, I would suggest almost anything else. I recently replaced my Bose system with a Pioeener reciever and Paradigm speakers and could not be happier. As for 5.1 vs 7.1, I guess it depends on the room configuration, size etc. My $.02 is that 6.1 or 5.1 is really no big deal unless the room is a large dedicated HT.
Good luck. |
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| Warzau |
quote:
Originally posted by maransm
I was thinking about Bose Lifestyle 48 because,
- Small and sleep speakers look good in family room
- Easy for expanding to other rooms
- Great remote which can be used from anywhere, even from other room
I would love to go with 7.1.
Please let me know if it makes sense. I owned Bose earlier and I love it, but would consider other speakers (small in size) with high performance.
If you want small and sleek. You can try in wall speakers. http://www.smarthome.com/SPEAKERS.HTML don't need to but from smarthome. It just shows a nice selection. I am been mulling with this idea myself. When I do my HT I will of course use the best ( what my wife allows me to buy) Speakers. I prob stick with my Mirage speakers since they sounds great and are matched. |
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| vlam |
maransm:
Try World Wide Stereo they have a location in Montgomeryville and Ardmore. They have been in business for a very long time. Do expect to spend some money because they carry high end stuff. Their staff will be very knowledgable. |
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| Maik |
While in wall speakers have improved greatly over the past couple of years, they are still nowhere as good as cabinet speakers.
Only real advantage is they require no space. |
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| ardvarkus |
You're likely screwed with the change order.
They just have you by the nuts and will squeeze- logic and fairplay and such are of no value.
I did my own electirc and wiring (4200 sq ft, 400Amp service, etc,e tc) but I used to do it for a living in hightschool, college and grad school.
The excuse they give- that 'building codes' and 'licensed contractors' need to be addressed really doesn't apply to low voltage- they simply want to f you.
For future reference- add the following to a contract: "Own may install any low voltage wiring they desire"
ONE SUGGESTION:
TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF EVERY WALL AFTER THE HOUSE IS PLUMBED AND WIRED...if you ever need to make changes these pictures are invaluable.
You could also just ask them to place a piece of conduit from the spot in the wall where you want the speaker to the crawl space (or attic)- this will let you run wires latter, with the conduit segments to avoid fishing through wall cavities- you can also decide on cable later. A 1" piece from the crawl space to the main location for the amps, then 1/2" for the other- just straight shots from inside the wall to the open crawl. Later, just cut the hole, find the end, push the wire out and put a plate on the hole...
anyway, my 2 cents
A |
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| Sooner in FL |
Avoid the Bose. Bose cut some of the true sound by not delivering certain frequencies in a CD or DVD, which you know that the digital sounds already does this anyway. It is a mass, ingenious marketing that is making the Bose one of the must have system. There are plenty of good AV system out there that were already listed.
My $.02 would be for the Harmon Kardon with JBL speakers. Sherwood is the cheaper version for HK. I heard the Sherwood supplies the guts of HK. I would not get suckered into buying the monster cable speaker wires unless you are planning on building a $10K or more sound system. However, do not go cheap on the DVi, components, or AV cables.
6.1 or 7.1
There are barely any 6.1 let alone 7.1 mediums out in the public. Why spend more on something that you can not use. 6.1 is by far a better choice...heck 5.1 works for me right now. Once the second generation of DVD players are out and which one is the dominate one (Sony Blue laser or the other one which I can not remember) then I might go 6.1.
Again, that's my $.02 |
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| DaleB |
quote:
Originally posted by ardvarkus
You could also just ask them to place a piece of conduit from the spot in the wall where you want the speaker to the crawl space (or attic)- this will let you run wires latter, with the conduit segments to avoid fishing through wall cavities- you can also decide on cable later. A 1" piece from the crawl space to the main location for the amps, then 1/2" for the other- just straight shots from inside the wall to the open crawl. Later, just cut the hole, find the end, push the wire out and put a plate on the hole...
anyway, my 2 cents
A
Excellent idea, ard as always.
It has been my experience that designing hometheaters into new home construction is full of more promise than
reality, unless the contractor deals with a very reputable and knowledgeable firm that will work very closely with the construction contractor every step of the way, and being sensitive to each other's schedules. Good luck there. They don't always have the same agendas or priorities.
Some of the best installations I've seen have been done after build completion.
Often that can be an advantage, as placement of furniture, for example. may have a real impact you may not realize until you actually move in. And the last thing you want is to have to mold your personal comfort to accommodate a design that is fixed.
But placing conduits to feed the rooms you plan for your entertainment center, is a great idea. |
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| RL in Florida |
Since you are going 42" plasma, you probably dont need a mega-watt ultra high end system. (With a 42" plasma, you will be seated fairly close to the screen). You can probably do well with a theatre in a box type system.
I have one room for a 50" plasma, and I bought really nice equipment for it, but I am trying to set up a smaller 42" plasma in another room. I was looking at the new Sony DAV-LF1, which has wireless rear speakers...
Try a google search on it and see what you think...
Also, do a search on bose reviews. You will find a strong bias against their home theatre products! Their noise-reduction headphones, however, are absolutely amazing...
ooops. off topic.... |
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| hondacuraworld |
You also may want to stop by my audio forums at www.audiokarma.org :)
We've got a lot of knowledgable people on board :) |
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| BaldEagle |
quote:
Originally posted by hondacuraworld
You also may want to stop by my audio forums at www.audiokarma.org :)
We've got a lot of knowledgable people on board :)
Just did a structured wiring pre-wire on our new home under construction. Pulled over 7000 ft of wire including wires for speakers in all rooms (even garages) except the extra bath rooms.
I'll be stopping by that forum so I can figure out what to do with some of that wire. |
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| Rick_James |
quote:
Originally posted by maransm
Hello,
My new home is being built right now and the builder is going to start framing in couple of weeks. I wanted to pre-wire for 6.1 channel home theatre in my family room so that there won’t be any loose cables around...
I was planning to get 42" plasma and most probably Bose Lifestyle 48 (for expanding further to other rooms later).
Home builder wont allow to lay the Bose speaker wires right now since they say that I don’t own the home until closing date, so I cant put any of my own wires in there.
I would appreciate if you could help in the following,
- What kinds of cables need to be pre-wired for Bose Lifestyle 48? Builder is asking $138 for each cable junction (138x6= $828 for 6.1 channel).
- Is it worth to pay $828 for this?
- Is it advisable to do the pre-wiring right now or can I do it after the closing date? How hard is it?
- What other things I need to take care right now?
- What is nice to have or better to do it before they complete dry wall?
Greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi there. First off let me congrat you on your new design of a home theater.
If you really like help on this, I perfer you to check out www.avsforum.com
As for BOSE,, which I call Blose, you can really get much, much better speakers for the money. if you are targeted towards satillite speakers,, you might want to check out TIKES by Onix!!
They are small comes w/ sub woofer and even a special w/ a 7.1 digital receiver by Kenwood. All for less then 600.00.
I gone through alot of speakers , just like cars ;) .
I enjoy onix speakers and own them at this time.
To see the tikes, check out www.av123.com these speakers are not just nice looking, but sound is amazing!!
As for my theater room. I own a front projector mounted to my ceiling and shooting to 120" custom screeen I made. Every thing I did was done by me.
Here some snappers to share (keep in mind this is all budget setup, but I can assure I will smack setups that cost well over the 18K mark.).
Here is my screen I was glueing down the brace for the screen.
My theater room in a mess. See the hole in the wall?
My projector finally in the ceiling
This was my last setup. They were Magenepan planar flat speakers. No box or cube.
Huge center channel also.
Side shot to show how skinny the speakers were (next to the screen)
Since my theater room was an AKA LOFT. I wanted a way to close up the theater room, but not put a wall. So I installed a custom trac system with drapes. This shot is when it was about 70% done. I am only at 75% done. Never can settle BTW.
Going upstairs to the theater room
Drapes open:
Drapes are closeing:
Overall Home Theathers are fun and can be a exciting hobby, but I think I spent way to much time on it.
Hope you have fun with yours. Post pics when you get it done. Love to see what you done. |
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