Choosing a Whole House Audio System - Already Pre-Wired

[jeremyg]

I purchased this house with an Omni Pro 2 HAI system installed, however the audio portion was not set up for use. There are speakers and keypad locations pre-wired, but I am not sure what kind of system would be correct in this case since some speakers are home runs to a wire closet on the 1st floor, while others are run only to an in-room keypad location, with a cat-5 run from the keypad to the 1st floor wire closet. There are also a few "thinner" wires that run from the 1st floor wire closet to the basement Omni controller.
 
Here is the layout:
 


1st Floor: Kitchen/Den 

• 
  4 in-ceiling speakers; home run to wire closet 
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from double gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

1st Floor: Living Room 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

1st Floor: Dining Room 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

1st Floor: Guest Room 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

1st Floor: Porch 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers
  
• 
  haven't confirmed where these terminate yet
  

 


2nd Floor: Master Bedroom 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; home run to wire closet 
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from double gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

2nd Floor: Master Bathroom 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

2nd Floor: Balcony 

• 
  2 wall-mount speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

2nd Floor: Office

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

 


Basement: Main Room 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; home run to wire closet 
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from double gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

Basement: Guest Room/Gym 

• 
  2 in-ceiling speakers; wired to in-room single gang box  
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from in-room single gang box, home run to wire closet 
  

 


 Pool Room
 

• 
  4 wall-mount speakers; wired to separate in-room wire area
  
• 
  2 X 2-conductor speaker wires from in-room wire area that are home run to 1st floor wire closet
  
• 
  1 cat-5 cable from double gang box, home run to wire closet
  

 


Any suggestions or guidance? I am not sure if this can be accomplished with a single type of controller, how many controllers are needed, or if I need separate controllers for the speakers that are home run, vs the speakers that only go to an in-room wall box.
 
Also, it seems that the 1st floor, 2nd floor, basement, and pool would really be considered the main "zones" that would each play from their own source, and the other rooms without home runs are really sub-zones that mainly need volume control. However if it is possible to have a different source play in a main zone and one of it's sub zones, that may be appealing in certain instances.

 

[Neurorad]

I think I've read that ABus zones can be used with Russound MCA whole-house systems. Might want to research that.

 

[jeremyg]

I think I've read that ABus zones can be used with Russound MCA whole-house systems. Might want to research that.

 
Ah, looks like you hit the nail on the head. I'd need an MCA for the main zones and A-SZ4 (or two) for the ABus-wired sub-zones. I may also need a D250LS for the 4 speakers in the pool room, but i'd need to convert the 2 home-run speaker wires into RCA cables to connect the D250LS to the MCA.
 

 

[Neurorad]

I would home run all speakers when you can, before you paint each room, over the next several years, if you go with Russound. I don't know if the next controller will support ABus sub-zones.

As an aside, Russound made a move this last year to limit their programming software to Russound dealers; make sure you can get the software before buying hardware. I don't know if you sign up as a pro installer with Russound or through a distributor. Think up a good company name.

 

[355spider]

I was going to go with Russound until the monoprice unit came out. So glad I went with it. It's 4 ohm stable so I combined zones that were next to each other. Hooked up 3 chromecasts to it and it rocks. Much cheaper to do than Russound and works perfect.

 

[billscha13]

jeremyg,
 
I have a situation nearly identical to yours. The only difference is I used an ELK M1 Gold system and I (and my son) ran the wires all over the house while it was being built about eight years ago with the idea that one day I would hook in a whole house system. I installed 14 rooms with in-ceiling speakers. We ran the speaker wires to a mudbox in each of the rooms and cat5 along with speaker wire from the wire closet (in the basement) to each mudbox. I did it this way so I could use either an older mutichannel analog sound system with a simple volume control in each room or a newer digital system like the ABUS. 
I'd be curious to see what you decide to do with your house.  At this point I'm a bit more cost conscious than I was back then.