Audiophiles

[FirebirdNC]

Where are my fellow music lovers? We are starting the build on our home in a couple of weeks. I want to do a multiroom audio system. I don't really want to go wireless because of the possible sound quality and dropped connections. Reading online it looks like a wired system would suit me better and now is the time to do it while we are pulling electrical wire anyway. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? While I love music I don't need Bose or Sonus speakers to be happy so my budget would be $500-700. So many options and websites shew!

[Deacon]

If you’re running wires (always a good idea during a build) then you don’t need any of those systems. You simply have an A/V receiver set up in a closet or on a shelf that’s tied to a speaker switch. You can go as complex an expensive or as simple as you like, involving amplifiers and so on. Just try to use decent speaker wiring, especially for those longer runs. Ideally you’d use 12AWG all around, though that’s huge and can’t always fit all speaker terminals.

The choices are endless. Are you going in-ceiling/wall? Or just to terminal posts on the ceiling/wall to be able to more easily swap speakers?

[Doc Giggles]

Try to keep the audio wires away from the power wiring. Running them right next to each other can cause static and other sound issues. Most sound problems I've run into on new installs were caused by this. Low voltage wires like video and network are usually safe to be near however.

[Mav]

I'm running on Audio Engine A5s (wired) with subwoofer and a Sound Blaster AE-9. They were good enough that I picked up the bluetooth version for the living room. I have no idea how to setup an old school speaker system, so these are pretty great for me. Technology is solid enough these days I don't think going wireless would be an issue - at least not without considering other bottlenecks like media format, etc. (I usually listen to pandora premium, so the bitrate only gets that high. Rip Napster/winamp days.) They're pretty close to your price range, minus the surround sound.