Looking for advice on an audio system for new house (being built)

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Looking for advice on an audio system for new house (being built)

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DarthKermit

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#1595671 20-Jul-2016 15:03

The first type, reven. It has smooth internal sides so nothing can get stuck in there.

Just as a general comment, people need to remember that 32 mm is the outside diameter. The inside diameter is probably about 28 mm.

sen8or

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#1595742 20-Jul-2016 16:52

thats a great price for conduit, at $10 per 4m length, our w/sale on marley stuff is well above that. Dont forget the bends at the end. hopefully 32mm isn't too big for your space

cloudywolf31

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#1595743 20-Jul-2016 16:54

Thanks everyone for the really helpful advice. If nothing else, it has reinforced that I am definitely out of my depth!

When I meet with the electrician tomorrow I will be frank with him and ask about his experience with AV wiring. Currently getting a quote from the Listening Post in Wellington as well, though I have a sinking feeling that the value of their expertise may be reflected in hardware prices.

Thinking with my budget hat on, I'm leaning towards getting the Listening Post to pre-wire the room and install the in-ceiling rear speakers (as surely they are the most complicated parts?). Then I can shop around for a receiver and the other speakers. Any issues I should be aware of with taking this approach?

kiwijunglist

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#1595744 20-Jul-2016 17:00

I'd wire for 5.1.4 but consider just going for 5.1 setup.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

mdooher

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#1595792 20-Jul-2016 19:10

reven:

what do you guys recommend to use a conduit for cables? 32mm round tubing like this?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/electrical-lighting/other/auction-1123996505.htm

or this type?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/electrical-lighting/other/auction-1122956879.htm

Moving house in 6 weeks, will be ripping up walls during reno so will install cat6a (cat7a is too hard to come by ATM). Last time my electrician said dont bother. I really wished i bothered, so yeah wanting to get this right this time and be able to easily pull out the cat6a and replace it with cat10a in future years :)

I'll need to accommodate 6 to 8 cat6a cables in some conduits, so yeah bigger is probably better, or would you recommend running multiple conduits with a maximum of X cables?

Won't be running any HDMI anywhere, all via cat6a cables. USB works well over cat6 also I found.

If you use 32mm conduit and you run 6-8 cat 6 cables you will be unlikely to be able to pull another through even with a draw wire. if there are any bends there is no way on earth even if you use "Boy Butter".

Just use 40mm plumbing pipe, you will be able to just drop one down the pipe at any time.

Matthew

mdooher

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#1595794 20-Jul-2016 19:19

cloudywolf31:

Thanks everyone for the really helpful advice. If nothing else, it has reinforced that I am definitely out of my depth!

When I meet with the electrician tomorrow I will be frank with him and ask about his experience with AV wiring. Currently getting a quote from the Listening Post in Wellington as well, though I have a sinking feeling that the value of their expertise may be reflected in hardware prices.

Thinking with my budget hat on, I'm leaning towards getting the Listening Post to pre-wire the room and install the in-ceiling rear speakers (as surely they are the most complicated parts?). Then I can shop around for a receiver and the other speakers. Any issues I should be aware of with taking this approach?

when running speaker wire keep it well away from any alarm wire, I don't even let it near the data wire (but that's just me). One trick is to leave a long coil of wire for each ceiling speaker and when you come to wire it up you can basically do it standing on the ground, then climb the ladder with the speaker already wired up.... Honestly you can easily do this job yourself. If you are using ceiling speakers you would have to really really really screw it up to notice any sound quality issues

Matthew

Dunnersfella

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#1595884 20-Jul-2016 21:19

Get Listening Post to run your cables - they've done more of them than I've had hot dinners (tonight was chicken wings mmmmmm).

Wiring for ATMOS could be a go'er - dependant on where your couch / listening position is going. But if you're trying to hit a budget... well, I wouldn't necessarily go for it, and I normally do recommend it.

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cloudywolf31

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#1596867 22-Jul-2016 13:29

Perhaps counter to standard practice, our build is actually a lot further along than I had realised and I don't have time for the Listening Post to be involved (quite gutted by this, but not much can be done).

This leaves me in the hands of our electrician, who seems pretty confident. Was hoping I could give some specific requests to him to make it as smooth as possible. Dunnersfella you gave some great suggestions in your first comment, and I'm hoping people can help me bulletpoint out which cables I want run where.

That is my interpretation of where I'm thinking of heading, plus two rear in-ceiling speakers.

Total newbie question, but the Cat 6 cabling is not the same as speaker wire is it?

Thanks again!

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