felixrosbergen
Senior Member
Hi All,
My home is getting build I plan to have a Alarm / Automation contractor (not the regular electrician) put in pre-wiring for alarm and pre-wire for 6 zones of whole house audio.
For the audio pre-wire he is going to run speaker wire and cat5e from basement to a future keypad location in the wall, then the speaker wire continues to the speaker location. For this he's charging $175 per 'zone' which i thought was pretty reasonable.
In addition to the pre-wire he's also going to supply and install 4 sets of speakers:
- Family room rear surrounds (fronts and center will be bookshelft type)
- Kitchen
- Master Bedroom (upstairs)
- Master Bathroom (upstairs)
The 2 others zones that are pre-wired are the ground floor dining room and living room since i won't be able to get into these ceilings again without tearing them down. I don't actually expect to put speakers in there for a long time, but it's hard to not pre-wire them when the walls are open. For the upstairs i can access anything from the attic, so the office and other bedrooms will get their speakers over time when i feel up to the challenge and can see how the professional did them (with regards to insulation on top of speaker and such).
I asked him to recommend a reasonable middle of the road speaker and he recommended the Polk RC85i which he woudl supply and install for $400 a pair (MSRP is $385).
I don't want rectangular speakers in the ceiling so i see the round equivalent to the RC85i as the RC80i which has MSRP of $330. Assuming install cost stays the same the price shoudl thus be $350 installed instead of $400.
The RC80i is however ab 8" speaker and i thought quite a few people are using 6.5" for whole house audio. We are not audiphiles and may want some backgorund music for parties and such but won't be hosting any 'raves'
.
Is an 8" overkill? What's the differenc between a 6.5" and a 8"? The Polk RC60i has only slightly different specs (frequency response) but same power rating and is $110 cheaper at and MSRP of $229.
Assuming the installer gets a deal on the speakers his discount will be smaller for a cheaper speaker.. i don't know the install cost by itself. But if he's selling me the Rc85i which has a MSRP of $385 installed for $400 my guess he's paying maybe $300 for the speaker allowing $100 for install/profit. For a $229 speaker I woudl think he can get it for $180 plus the same $100 woudl make the installed cost $280 or so.
So my choice is the 8" or the 6.5" for a what i estimate a different of $100 to $120 per pair (and i'm buying 4 pair).
Does an 8" provide a 'fuller' or 'richer' sound than a 6.5"? What do most of you have installed? If i put the 6.5" in and don't like them i coudl always replace them myself later and sell them on e-bay or something.
For the family room these are just the rear surround speakers and will be located probably 6' or so behind the listenign position, the rest i guess is general audio so we'll just space them in the rooms. I assume this professional installer will have some recommendations for the locations for such rooms.
The main reason i'm having an installer put them in is the time factor and the fact my house is being built by a developer. Between the ELK, data, phone and other systems i need to put in right after closing to make sure the WAF stays high i don't want to be cutting holes in my brand new ceilings. I'm also not all that handy with powertools.
Any words of advice greatly appreciated.
My home is getting build I plan to have a Alarm / Automation contractor (not the regular electrician) put in pre-wiring for alarm and pre-wire for 6 zones of whole house audio.
For the audio pre-wire he is going to run speaker wire and cat5e from basement to a future keypad location in the wall, then the speaker wire continues to the speaker location. For this he's charging $175 per 'zone' which i thought was pretty reasonable.
In addition to the pre-wire he's also going to supply and install 4 sets of speakers:
- Family room rear surrounds (fronts and center will be bookshelft type)
- Kitchen
- Master Bedroom (upstairs)
- Master Bathroom (upstairs)
The 2 others zones that are pre-wired are the ground floor dining room and living room since i won't be able to get into these ceilings again without tearing them down. I don't actually expect to put speakers in there for a long time, but it's hard to not pre-wire them when the walls are open. For the upstairs i can access anything from the attic, so the office and other bedrooms will get their speakers over time when i feel up to the challenge and can see how the professional did them (with regards to insulation on top of speaker and such).
I asked him to recommend a reasonable middle of the road speaker and he recommended the Polk RC85i which he woudl supply and install for $400 a pair (MSRP is $385).
I don't want rectangular speakers in the ceiling so i see the round equivalent to the RC85i as the RC80i which has MSRP of $330. Assuming install cost stays the same the price shoudl thus be $350 installed instead of $400.
The RC80i is however ab 8" speaker and i thought quite a few people are using 6.5" for whole house audio. We are not audiphiles and may want some backgorund music for parties and such but won't be hosting any 'raves'
. Is an 8" overkill? What's the differenc between a 6.5" and a 8"? The Polk RC60i has only slightly different specs (frequency response) but same power rating and is $110 cheaper at and MSRP of $229.
Assuming the installer gets a deal on the speakers his discount will be smaller for a cheaper speaker.. i don't know the install cost by itself. But if he's selling me the Rc85i which has a MSRP of $385 installed for $400 my guess he's paying maybe $300 for the speaker allowing $100 for install/profit. For a $229 speaker I woudl think he can get it for $180 plus the same $100 woudl make the installed cost $280 or so.
So my choice is the 8" or the 6.5" for a what i estimate a different of $100 to $120 per pair (and i'm buying 4 pair).
Does an 8" provide a 'fuller' or 'richer' sound than a 6.5"? What do most of you have installed? If i put the 6.5" in and don't like them i coudl always replace them myself later and sell them on e-bay or something.
For the family room these are just the rear surround speakers and will be located probably 6' or so behind the listenign position, the rest i guess is general audio so we'll just space them in the rooms. I assume this professional installer will have some recommendations for the locations for such rooms.
The main reason i'm having an installer put them in is the time factor and the fact my house is being built by a developer. Between the ELK, data, phone and other systems i need to put in right after closing to make sure the WAF stays high i don't want to be cutting holes in my brand new ceilings. I'm also not all that handy with powertools.
Any words of advice greatly appreciated.
