[Tippy]

OK, I am remodeling my family room in the basement of my house. From here I can access all the bedrooms and the family room. I want to put all the latest media technology in while I have the sheetrock down.

1. I am putting regular phone in all the rooms
2. I put 5 cat DSL wire going to all the rooms (2 jacks in family room)
3. I am running coax cable to all the rooms to a bank in a closet.
4. The family room will be set up for surround sound and I ran wires to the main living room for a set of speakers.

What else should I put in? I want to get it put in now for the future. Heck I don't even have a computer at home yet! Does this sound ok?

 

[LEVE]

1. Things change.
2. May I suggest emty 1/2" EMT conduit run to every room,
3. From your central location.
4. That way you can always fish ANYTHING,
5. That will fit in the EMT.
6. It also helps cut down on RFI,
7. Coming in, or
9. Going out...
10. Unless you go wireless,
11. Be prepared!

 

[Tippy]

Thanks, but I am a little down on your lingo. What does EMT and RFI stand for?

 

[Guest]

I would suggest going with gigabit rated cat6e actually. Cat 5 is the standard now, but down the road you will be wishing you went with the new stuff.

be careful with over use of coax cable. Cable signal degrades the more you split it. if you only have 2 TV's dont split it out to 6 rooms. you wont gain anything but a lousy picture. Coax splitters can really make things look like crap, use them sparingly.

for stereo purposes... i would suggest wiring for 3 speaker jack up front, 3 speaker jack in the rear, and 1 on each side. And you may also want to run a heavy set of wires to a likely place you may want to add a subwoofer down the road. Right now 5.1 is standard. 2 front speakers FR and FL... one center speaker in front (FC). and 2 rear speakers RR RL. Well they are up to 7.1 now.
FR FC FL, RR RL, and then middle right and midle left.
i am sure 8.1 and 9.1 are right around the corner. so if you want to be ready for the new stuff wire accordingly.
use monster cable in-wall cable or equivalent. and invest in some nice beefy jacks and connectors. i like banana plugs myself....

you may also want to run a set of speaker wires from the location of the stereo to like the kitchen or the bedroom or something, so you can pipe your favorite music to other parts of the house. perhaps a lil switchbox to select where the music will play too.

if you got a big house or just dont like to yell, intercoms in each room are always nice.

cant think of anything else right now. but as things come to me i will let you know.

 

[Caver Dave]

Skip the "cat3 phone lines" and add another CAT5....it can be punched down 568B (on a block in the same closet your using coax termination). It can be utilized for anything (ethernet[for connecting all PCs/IP phones to a router/switch via your DSL modem], analog or digital phones, serial[for home automation things],etc.) by simply varying what it's patched into.

Ditto on the empty conduit also.

 

[Tippy]

Thanks guys. I was going to run my conections to a single box in the wall (like a electrical receptical) with a phone, ethernet and coax in each box. Seperate boxes for the stero. I may ditch the 4 wire phone that I ran and put another run of cat 5 in each box. The conduit may be a little hard to get in because most of the wires that I ran already I had to 'snake in' because I didn't have that much access (read just enough room for half my hand!) Really I don't plan on keeping this house for more than another 5 years, but then again I didn't plan on keeping the CJ either!

 

[1816]

Just remember all those ethernet cables need to run to 1 central location and then separately get plugged into a switch or hub. Also the switch or hub will need a outlet close by for power.

 

[3125]

Out of curiosity - why don't you save yourself the money on all the CAT5 you are running for the computer(s) equipment and just go wireless? After all, the basic file/print sharing and web surfing you will be using your computer(s) for, a wireless connection should be more than sufficient.

Simple wireless router: $120.00
Wireless network adapter for each computer: $60

Seems lot simpler (and cost effective) than running CAT5 to all the rooms. The technology is out there, why not take advantage of it.

Also - I highly recommend Monster Cable for your speaker cabling. I have it run throughout my surround sound system for DVD/Entertainment and I could actually tell a differnce when I had the good speaker wiring.

Sean

 

[Tippy]

I got that covered. I ran a cable for each room/box to one location in a utility closet so I can plug them into a hub. I have a power outlet in that closet and I can run a line to the eventual modem by going under a crawl space in my house when the time comes.

Thanks for the speaker ideas. I was going to set my speakers up as such:

'x tv/stero x' in the front
'x sub x' in the rear

x's are speakers. The tv will have a center speaker on top. The front speakers will be at floor level and the rears will be at ceiling level except for the sub wich will behind the couch. I can't go with mid r/l's because I have a brick fire place on one end. I ran 16 AWG wire - not the best, but I couldn't afford moster cable. Most of the runs are short anyways. My wall boxes will all have bannana plugs in them for the speakers.

Any other ideas?

 

[Guest]

The EMT LEVE was refering to is metal conduit. You can put rigid conduit in or flexible is available. Putting a "Spare" conduit with a pull string (for pulling future wire or cable from one end to the other) where you might want something (additional speakers, media jacks, data, power, fixtures, Ceiling Mounted Projector for a Movie Room!) in the future is alot cheaper and easier than doing it after your drywall is up. You can terminate your conduit to a J-Box (the metal box behind your recpeticals), cut out for the spare just like any other receptical, and put a flat cover plate that matches the others, so it is ready to go when you need it.

 

[CJ7Taz]

In reply to:

2. May I suggest emty 1/2" EMT conduit run to every room,

[/ QUOTE ]
Exactly my thought as I was reading LEVE, then I scroll down and there it is.

EMT is electrical metallic tubing (conduit). Being low voltage, you can run your signal cable in anything you want but the emt will cut down on RF interference. Don't use flex unless it's smooth on the inside, otherwise it's too hard to pull through later. Leaving a pull string in it helps, but you can still use an existing cable to pull more in later.

And for power, find an outlet cover for the most duplex receptacles you can and put that many in. I'm sure you will find a cover for triple duplex outlets in one box. Don't skimp or you will be adding multipliers later.

Don't run the power and signal wiring in the same conduit. Don't even run them through a common hole. Keep them as far apart as possible and if you have to cross one with the other do it at 90 deg angles.

 

[pbmcauliffe]

One thing you may want to consider for any room that has speakers controlled from a main source is to run a shielded two conductor wire into that room for IR (Infrared remote) control.
In our house, I can control the main system from any room by pointing a remote at the in-wall speaker, or from a flush mounted control pad at our breakfast bar.
I have wired quite a few houses for theater and multi-source/multi-room systems, and one thing I always tell people is that the wire and labor is cheaper now than later, and always try to plan for what you may want later on, not now.

 

[709]

Ditto on the conduit.

Also, run everything to one box. My dad did it in the house he built and although it looks like spaghetti centeral, it's a life saver... many times over.

As for wireless.

If you live on a farm, and don't have any buildings on said farm, go for it.
If there happens to be a wall anywhere though, I'd stick with the wire.

We've got wireless and wired. and quite frankly the wireless blows.
This was for the living/tv room.. we didn't want to run wires to the room because of the way the walls were setup. it was the only room that would take tonnes of cuts and holes and crap to get wires too.

ended up running wires there anyways because the wireless wouldn't go through one stinking wall.

 

[683]

I don't know what type of wireless you were running - but I can sit on the beach and surf the net wireless no problem. This is crossing a street and going through two houses to get the connection. Today's wireless technology is simply amazing. Also you can set up your stereo head/cd/dvd/vcr - etc up in a nearby closet to get rid of the clutter and set it up wireless as well and control it anywhere in the house.

If you want high tech - go wireless if you think you or someone you know can help you set it up. Wires are old technology - IMHO.

 

[Tippy]

I like that idea about the remote. What type of 2 conductor wire? Will regular speaker wire work or shoud I use a length of 4 strand phone wire?

I tried to keep my wires as far from electrical wires as possible, but I do have to cross one once and run parrallel to another one (although it is 16" away on the next floor joice). There is no way around this because of my existing duct work. How much RF can I expect from 12/2 w/ ground and my speaker cable. Will I even notice it (my experience is that most of the iterference if on AM stations) There is no way that I can run conduit without compleatly removeing all my sheet rock. That and I don't have much room. My wires are running inside a soffet built around my heat/cold air return ducts.

I am a newbie at all this 'hi-fi' stuff. I don't even have a stereo capable of 'surround sound' yet!!

 

[Tippy]

I think I will stick with wires. You have to remember that Infernox lives in Canada and I live in Nebraska. These are the two spots on the North American contenent where technology is non existant!! Heck I have to stand on my pickup truck to get cell phone coverage in most places!

 

[683]

To do wireless for your computer - all you do is hook up your dsl/cable to a wireless router inside your home where it is not seen. Then you install a wireless card in your computer, or have multiple computers online at the same time. If you have a laptop you can take it anywhere in/near your house. Total cost is less than $200. Also on the phones the new technology is to have on centralized base station and any number of cordless phones that talk to the base station. These two things will really clean up the house of wires and clutter.

 

[pbmcauliffe]

The shielded two conductor is 2 wires, with a braided shield around it. This is usually used to shield from radiated noise (effects the IR signal) and most IR repeater systems use three wires (signal, +, -) so the shielded two works when using the shiled as -, in a pinch 4 conductor works if you can keep it away from AC.

 

[Dex]

go wireless, it's the thing now

 

[ricochet]

Don't rely on wireless for nothing. I have it, and can't sit on my back deck with my laptop (aluminum siding) blocks all signals from it. I also have a laptop on my kitching counter that if you move it a foot, it looses signal. At least with hard wiring, you know your connected. If you want to go wireless in the future, just throw in an access point anywhere on your network and you will instantly wireless. I wouldn't even both with the gigE cable. Your internet connection isn't a fraction of that speed. Standard cat-5 cable is just fine.