Guidance please...

Technophobe

Hi all....

I am looking for some advice on what kind of Amplifier/receiver I might need and how to achieve the following:

Background: I am building a new house, and am getting to the stage of 1st fix electrics. Therefore I want to put as much necessary cabling now as I may need in the future to allow me to hide as much cabling as possible in this phase.

I will have wired in speakers (not sure what to buy here either, so any affordable tips welcome !!) in a large sitting room and will probably go for a 6.1 set up......(or should I go 7.1?)
Where should I wire these into in terms of the room? I presume you have FRONT (Left, Center and Right), Back (Left, Center and Right) but in a 7.1, where does the extra one go?

Then I obviously want to connect all these speaker wires back to the Amp, and then be able to have the following Systems' sound output thru the speakers. System selection would be via a Remote control obviously..

1.. 46" Sony Bravia TV
2.. SKY HD Box
3..PS3 (for gaming and to play CDs and MP3 files)
4..Possibly a SONOS Zoneplayer or similar (can this be done?)
5..Possibly add a region free DVD player also.

Can anyone suggest what I may need to achieve this and maybe suggest if I am missing anything that could be added now to improve my Movie and Music listening experience?

thanks for the help

eddiem74

I would say wire for 7.1, even if you only use 5.1 initially, at least you will be future proofed. I also don't believe many movies use 7.1, although some receivers will be able to extend 5.1 to 7.1 I'm sure.

Here's some guides for your information, you can google around for more:

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/speaker-setup-guide/index.html

http://www.dts.com/Consumer_Electronics/Home_Theater/Speaker_Layout_and_Configurations.aspx

This will help you with speaker placement/wiring, that should also let you know where you need to run all the wires back to depending on your room layout and preference. You will need to ensure wires for other devices also run back to where the receiver will be located.

All your equipment listed should be able to run through a receiver, however you many want to also consider a universal remote such as a Harmony to control everything and possibly even go for one of their models that uses RF if you want to hide everything away in a cabinet.

You should also consider now, if you would like a projector perhaps in the future and run some cables (and add a power point) from the ceiliing back to the receiver also. No harm in getting those in now, if there is any chance you might want this in the future.

The obvious stuff, make you get enough power points, satellite cable runs, network points, etc.. so you are well covered when you equipment extends in the future.

Technophobe

Hi Eddie

Thanks for the reply...what sort of wire would I need for the (possible!!) use of a Projector?

eddiem74

Well I get away with a single 10m HDMI lead at the moment cos I feed the PJ via a receiver, and everything else connects to that.

Again to future proof, and be safe, you could run 2 HDMI, & 1 Component. My PJ has 2 HDMI inputs, 1 Component, 1 VGA (PC although HDMI could do that now on newer pc's) and 1 S-Video, even though I get away using the single HDMI at present.

Stick a power point there also and you should be sorted. You could have all this hidden in the ceiling and then just bust it open when you decide to go the projector route at a later date. A lot less messier than having to channel out the ceiling after the fact, which is what I did. :rolleyes: