Multi Zone Audio System

Hello all,

Firstly I'm a complete beginner at audio, I do work in IT so all hope is not lost, but please forgive any apparent lack of knowledge!! We are currently at the planning stages of house construction. I have spent some time in North America and was very impressed with some of the multi zone amps and controllers I've seen out there where I can have various media being broadcast to each and every room, TV integration etc. etc.

From my point of view I was hoping to have the following:

• 4 zoned areas in the house. Great Room\Kitchen (8mx9m), Sitting Room(3.5m x 5.3m), Outside area(5.3m x 3m) and Master Bedroom 3.5m x 4m).
• Electricians pull all the necessary CAT5 or CAT6, speaker cables etc to all the zones to include one controller and 2 speakers.
• Individual controllers in each location.
• Central location for TV box, iPod input, maybe NAS drive or similiar for movies or music, amplifiers and controllers, basically a central "comms room" where all my hardware would live.
• 5.1 Surround sound system in the sitting room.

I've been browsing the site and reading through various posts and most, while containing some great information, seem to be more related to just surround sound, but I was wondering if anyone had undertaken a project like this and could provide some pointers. Stuff like suppliers for equipment, actual equipment that would be recommended for same, any tips or tricks you might have picked up druing the process, could US equipment be used, or is it amp(power) specific. Unfortunately I am a newbie when it comes to understanding some of the components of home audio\TV, but I'd like to be able to realise if this is too much for me to under take or maybe understand better what is involved, and yes I do have some VERY basic qustions that i need to be answered too!!! Yes it's a BROAD question and difficult to answer!!! Thanks for any help guys.