Best inexpensive way to wire house so can have speakers in each room and music from a central source

[ghurty]

I purchased a ranch and am fixing it up a bit.
 
I want to put in speakers in each room, and have it that I can play different songs on each of them. The songs should all come from the same source.
I am anyway planning on somehow mounting a cheap android tablet in each room so that I can use them as an intercom system  (SIP clients w/ asterisk). So it would be great if I can use them to control the speakers as well.
This is the equipment I currently own, so it would be great to be able to integrate everything together without needing to buy to much more, but I will if neccessary.
 
1 - Vera 3 (This controls a lot of light switches as well as a door lock)
2 - cheap android tablets
3 - Harman Kardon - AVR 1700 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver
4 - Linux computer running asterisk
 
I have no problem running wires as I am anyway fixing up holes in the walls.
 
 
There are 11 rooms where I would like to put speakers, however I can probably break them down in to 8 groups.
 
Any suggestions?

 

[Neurorad]

Because it's a ranch, you probably won't have much drywall repair, with attic access to each room above, and/or basement below.
 
All the speaker cables should be run back to single central location, where your equipment is located.  I would suggest in-wall volume controls in each zone, with the speakers run to the VCs, and then back to the 'head end' equipment location.
 
The speakers will be connected to an amp.  The amp is supplied with a source.  You need to buy a source that can be controlled with Android.
 
If you don't want in-wall volume controls, it will cost you.  You could use a product from Aton - basically an audio router, DLA, controlled with IR.  You would use a Global Cache device to convert IP to IR, to control the DLA with Android.
 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atonhome.com%2FxTras%2FDownloads%2FExpanded_DLA_System_Illustration.pdf&ei=cB8mUZ6yEaaO0QHbsIGgDw&usg=AFQjCNFjHO7s5S9wVm-B6nBWxema52bKFA&bvm=bv.42661473,d.dmg
 
You need some way to control volume.  The speakers should not be wired directly to the AV receiver - all the speakers' audio levels would be raised or lowered together.
 
At a higher cost, you could look to HTD.com for a Lync system.  It would cut down on your time and effort considerably.  You'd use a source for that Lync system that can be controlled with Android, e.g. Sonos or networked AVR.
 
http://www.htd.com/Products/Mid-Level-and-Lync-Systems-Without-Keypads
 

 

[Neurorad]

I've never used HTD, but I've read that their customer service and tech support is outstanding.  After doing some reading, give them a call to help you design the system.

 

[userone]

if your looking for cheap easy and good i think jriver is the best way to go, the only downside in my setup is it takes up a fair amount of space and there is more setup on the front end(not hard setup just more things to buy(though the total is still cheap) and connect.
Firstly i will say that the jriver "gizmo" app is the best way to run a home audio system hands down. you can just open the app and hand it to someone and they will have no trouble making a play list and playing it where ever they want and controling the volume and changing songs and doing what ever they want with it. its as intuative a way to control a home audio system as it is to play it locally on the phone.  
basically what i have set up is using jriver  on a pc with a bunch of usb sound cards each setup as an output in jriver. each output goes to an standard reviever that powers 2-4 speakers. i leave the receivers on all the time and have the volume on them set loud enough that all volume is controlled in jriver and balanced with other zones at the same volume level, i do that so there is no messing with trying to have a relay to turn things on or blah blah blah, everything takes place in one piece of software and i never have to tinker with things to keep it working.   one thing that i do different is than some people is, i had trouble with jriver sycing multiple outputs early on so rather than linking zones to play over the entire house or everything up stairs i have a dedicated output each multiple zone i want play back for.  For multiple zones i split the output with a 4 way headphone amp and y it into the same input as the dedicated channel, it costs about $40 extra for the headphone amp and extra usb sound card but it works 100% of the time.
i dont understand why people do local volume control, if i want to put music on in the entire house i don't want to have to go running around changing all the volumes because last time it was on for a party and its to loud now.  
cost of my setup is as follows.
pc i had so just jriver $50
amps $50 each, i have 6 = $300
headphone amps for 4 multi zone set ups(upstairs, downstairs, whole house, and house plus outside)  $80
16 speaker (i think about $45 a set an monoprice)  $360
8 usb sound cards(had 2 built into pc) i but name brand for $20 each but you can get Chinese for less than $5 =$40-$160
speaker wire i have about 750ft run = $200
then there is probably another $50 in rca cables banna plugs and such = $50
 
so total we are taking about $1200 for a pretty extensive complete system that can get louder than i have ever dared to turn it up to.  
 
also i know there are plus ins for last fm and stuff i have just never used them. 

 

[lanski]

Can you sent pictures from your system? That is the same what I will do. What headphones amp do you use and why?

 

[dgage]

userone,
 
Sounds like an awesome system.  What are you using for USB sounds cards and for headphone amps?  And headphone amps?  Really?  Enough power?  I know you said it but I would have never guessed.
 
And is Jriver the only software you have controlling the whole thing? 
 
Thanks for sharing.
 
David

 

[userone]

Can you sent pictures from your system? That is the same what I will do. What headphones amp do you use and why?

 
nothing to see in pictures right now, the wiring is all in a big pile. one of these days i will mount it all on a board and label it.  The headphone amps are all  "behringer ha400" picked mainly because they are only about $20 each and they have individual volume adjustments which makes it easy to balance the volume between zones during inital setup.   

userone,
 
Sounds like an awesome system.  What are you using for USB sounds cards and for headphone amps?  And headphone amps?  Really?  Enough power?  I know you said it but I would have never guessed.
 
And is Jriver the only software you have controlling the whole thing? 
 
Thanks for sharing.
 
David

I actually have a bunch of different sound cards, my initial plan was to use all different sound cards so that the names would be different and i could easily know which one i was selecting, that worked fine for the built in sound card and the creative usb stick but most of the generic ones just show up as "usb sound card" so i ended up just plugging them in one at a time as i was setting up the zones. 
The head phone amp isn't powering the speakers, it is just there to keep the line level signal strong when it is split up for multi-zone playback.
 
J-river does everything I could ask for my setup, adding another zone is a right click menu option, then to pick the output for the new zone you just right click options on the zone name and the output select is right at the top of the general tab.  For control with a phone you can load or make playlists, search,  the volume rocker on the phone changes the volume in jriver.  to switch what zone i am controlling it is only one button to bring up the list and then one to pick it.  It will let multiple people control it at the same time and you can have every zone playing different music

 

[lanski]

And than you have an headphone amp for each zone?
What amp do you use for power the speaker?
I bought one lapei lp-2020 from amazon for $20, and they are not bad for the money.
How is your setup.
From the sound card to the headphone amp and from them to the regular amp and than to speaker?

 

[userone]

And than you have an headphone amp for each zone? What amp do you use for power the speaker? I bought one lapei lp-2020 from amazon for $20, and they are not bad for the money. How is your setup. From the sound card to the headphone amp and from them to the regular amp and than to speaker?

I only use the head phone amps when I want multiple zones playing the same thing.  a simplified example would be a two zone system as follows:
zone 1(upstairs): sound card to receiver/amp to speakers
zone 2(downstairs):sound card to receiver/amp to speakers
zone 3(everywhere): sound card to headphone amp to receivers for zone 1 and 2. I use a cheap stereo Y cord so the sound from both the single zone and the multiple zone source goes into one input on the receiver/amp
 
I like using receivers because for the money its the cheapest way to get 100 watts a channel of quality sound.

 

[lanski]

nothing to see in pictures right now, the wiring is all in a big pile. one of these days i will mount it all on a board and label it.  The headphone amps are all  "behringer ha400" picked mainly because they are only about $20 each and they have individual volume adjustments which makes it easy to balance the volume between zones during inital setup.   
I actually have a bunch of different sound cards, my initial plan was to use all different sound cards so that the names would be different and i could easily know which one i was selecting, that worked fine for the built in sound card and the creative usb stick but most of the generic ones just show up as "usb sound card" so i ended up just plugging them in one at a time as i was setting up the zones. 
The head phone amp isn't powering the speakers, it is just there to keep the line level signal strong when it is split up for multi-zone playback.
 
J-river does everything I could ask for my setup, adding another zone is a right click menu option, then to pick the output for the new zone you just right click options on the zone name and the output select is right at the top of the general tab.  For control with a phone you can load or make playlists, search,  the volume rocker on the phone changes the volume in jriver.  to switch what zone i am controlling it is only one button to bring up the list and then one to pick it.  It will let multiple people control it at the same time and you can have every zone playing different music

 
Hi,
You are done with your audio system ?
That will be great if you can show some pictures.

 

[userone]

its up and running i still need to make it look pretty, so someone other than me can understand the wiring, it will be a few months till i get to that but ill post pics once i do

 

[CharlieWayne]

Did you ever finish your install?

Would love to see pics and I already have some of the hardware you mentioned.

 

[pete_c]

Here I have some 12 (plus) wired audio zones in one two story home.  The pairs of speakers' wires (16/2) each go to a gang box near the pair of speakers.  Each gang box has connections from the 16/2 to 16/4 speaker wires which end up in a sort of patch panel in the basement of the two story home.  Each gang box also has one cat5e cable going to an adjacent to the speaker wiring location in the basement patch panel.  You can be very flexible with this setup; but its static where the speakers are mounted in the walls and that piece will never change.  These are wired from the attic down to the second floor or from the basement up to the main floor of the home.  Before the zoned amps I was using the Leviton digital Chopin volume controls connected to separate amps/speaker outputs; it was cheap, easy and fast at the time as I wanted audio everywhere quick.
 
I have wired the audio in house #2 identically to house #1 except that I am using only one amp in house #2 (ranch) and it works fine for me.  These are wired down from the attic to the main and only floor of the ranch house.
 
With this setup over the years I have the speakers connected to separate amps via zoned amplifiers (12 zones (+) today) in one home and one amp for multiple zones in another home.
 
Ideally you want to centralize the wire runs.  I do have a neighbor that installed his zoned amps on his stereo shelf in his "great room".  The wiring (speaker and cat5e) cables just come out of the wall behind his zoned audio amps.  The amps look OK on the shelves.  (a bit cluttered and unnecessarily overly complicated looking).  I did help him a couple of years ago with one zone / one set of wires. It was a PITA to do any sort of diagnostics having to move the media shelf, zoned amps and get to the wires coming out of the wall.

 

[BaduFamily]

2 weeks ago I brought up the whoe house audio in this remodel.
 
It's a HTD Lync system. I have 6 rooms at the moment.
 
The OP wanted multiple streams from one source. I'm not sure if that means one media server, one amp, or one location. In my case most of the music comes from a Mac Mini running a number of things ( iTunes, AudioHijack, etc ) but that provides onely one playback 'stream' at a time.
 
The HTD hardware allows many parallel inputs, so we also have computers, iPads, and in one room a video conferencing system feeding into the audio network via the in-room control panels.
 
So far it's working great. I'm using their heigher end speakers for most of the rooms and a pair of DefTechs's in the kitchen.
 
I've tested but not perminately installed using a seperate power amp for the kitchen. I did this while debugging what turned out to be a lost pre-amp channel. Their support has been excellent. I didn't pull an RMA as there is a 2 year warranty, and I'm not using many of the pre-amp channels.
 
For per-room control we use the in-room panels or the simple web page created by their server appliance ( an add-on )