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New Home Owner - looking for advice

I bought a new construction home and it came wired for speakers in 7 locations and with in-ceiling speakers installed already in 3 locations. All cabling runs to a rack in the basement.

As is typical, the builder referred a company that wants an insane amount of $ to set it all up.

Though I’m no expert, want to take a stab at trying to get it going as a DIY solution. I’m toying at the idea of getting multiple Wiim Amps to connect one to each zone, but honestly looking for any and all ideas on how to make use of the system and existing wiring.

Preferences would include ability to play different music in different zones, and ideally a way to use Airplay (though that can be incorporated with a separate add-on device too).

Thanks in advance.

 

mnhomeowner
dynacohum
835 posts
 

WiiM is good but does not have Airplay.  The systems that offer Airplay include Sonos, Bluesound, HeOS, and MusicCast.  WiiM is significantly less costly to implement.  So ask yourself how important is Airplay?  

I would advise you to consider a multichannel power amplifier…there are many on the used or new market from Niles, Russound, OSD, often with 12 channels, that are configurable, bridgeable, with either class AB or D topology, and get as many WiiM Pro or Pro Plus as you require zones…and patch away.

The main argument for HeOS and MusicCast is if you want to integrate a TV/Surround system into the mix of zones.  Those systems are built into AVRs from Denon/Marantz or Yamaha respectively, and both have solutions to expand into other zones within the platform. Bluesound does the same with NAD.  Of these, I like HeOS best for ease of use, and Bluesound for ultimate best SQ, but MusicCast is by no means far behind.  
Another path is to use Sonos Ports and a “Works With Sonos” AVR…like Sony, Onkyo, or Pioneer.
All of these require a well designed, stable WiFi network as a prerequisite.

lwsuther
1 posts
 

I have a Niles multi zone amp(got pretty cheap on ebay), Sonos Connect for audio and a 4 channel audio mixer so i can do Sonos and TV at the same time.  Nothing fancy but been using for 5 years and it always works well.

stijnv
4 posts
 

I would suggest looking into Roon

 
bmbmzig
34 posts
 

If you are going to use the existing speakers, you will want to check and see if they are 8 ohm, or if they have 70 or 100 volt transformers on them, which is not uncommon in an installation like this. If so, you will either need to replaced the speakers or not use a conventional stereo amplifier with them. 

incorrigable
202 posts
 

My house has preinstalled wiring in the ceiling for a 9.2 system. We got three bids and didn't like any of them. We happily stuck to our 2.2 stereo system with better gear. I did pay an electrician to run a cat 6e cable from the optical interface outside the garage into an rc45 jack beneath the main TV. Everybody is hard wired. 

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