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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
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. 

evanpress
50 posts
 

For what it's worth.

We have a 90 year old house.  So no prewiring.  I use Roon with a MacBook Air as my core and with a hard drive containing about 1TB of ripped CDs.  My main system uses a Moon 390 preamp/streamer/dac.  My second system is no more than a pair of KEF LS50 Wireless II speakers (no streamer, dac, preamp or amp needed).  Third system is a pair of old Mordant Short speakers with a WiiM Utra preamp/streamer/dac and two inexpensive SMSL amps in mono mode.  All three are controlled with an iPad or my iPhone.  All play everything equally thru Roon --  Tidal, Internet Radio and my CDs. 

I have a friend with a multi-room system in the ceiling run by a huge Yamaha Receiver.  Sounds good, but after the last software update he had to get the installer to figure out why the kitchen speakers no longer played.

I hope this helped a little. 

dekay's avatar
dekay
6,172 posts
 

Sell the home ASAP and move to Des Moines - then thank me later.

 

DeKay

wswright20
82 posts
 

Although likely not the cheapest option for multiple rooms and passive speakers I would recommend the Sonos amp products.  Gives you good sound quality with all the flexibility I believe you are looking for, including Airplay, with a reliable, extremely user-friendly interface.  IMO spending a little more to get a quality product with an interface that everyone wants to use is money well spent.  Especially true for multi-room casual listening that everyone might be using.

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