2. home-theater
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Whole house re-wiring question

Here’s the situation: We're doing a gut renovation on a 2200-square foot house. The entire electrical system is being replaced, and about half the rooms are being taken down to the studs. I'm planning on doing gratuitous wiring because obviously it's cheaper to have the wiring and not use it than to open up the walls in the future.

Essentially, I'll be running multiple CAT6 lines to every room, coax CATV to most rooms, and speaker wire to many of the rooms.

My setup will be: One 5.1 room with a TV and Paradigm in-ceiling speakers. Hardware: Oppo CD/DVDA/SACD/BluRay/DVD, Denon 2112 receiver. I'd like to do multiple zones of audio, and despite the fact that Sonos doesn't do anything above 16/44, I think that's the easiest solution. Then I'll have at least one room where I can listen to hi-res digital audio, probably using a Music Fidelity M1 CLiC.

My electrician has said he's comfortable laying all of this -- but of course when I talked to a custom installer he said it would be crazy to have an electrician do this b/c they don't know about maximum pull rate, minimum turn angles, etc. He quoted me a price of around $8k to run all those wires and set up a structured media center.

My questions are:

Am I, indeed, crazy for thinking about having my electrician do all of this?

Is setting up an SMC something I can do myself -- and if so, where would I go to find out information about it? I've been corresponding with someone from Leviton and he's laid out a whole slew of things I could potentially use in an SMC, but I have no way to evaluate his recommendations.

Are there any DIY home automation systems that make sense? HAI does sell directly to consumers (unlike Crestron and I think Control4) but I don't know if that's something that I should try to do.

(I have plenty of other more specific questions, too -- about what type of speaker wire to use, about CAT6 wire, about whether it makes sense to run conduits, etc -- but I can start throwing those out if this is indeed the right place to look for some help. If it's not, and if anyone has any suggestions for more appropriate forums, that'd be much appreciated...)
plgtimes

Showing 2 responses by tbromgard

tbromgard
814 posts
 
Sounds great. In my experience (as an apprentice electrician and construction attorney), the custom installer will have to hire an electrician to run the wires after he designs the system. However, if your electrician is comfortable installing on his own, go for it. Also I too believe conduit is a good idea and might be required by code depending on your state.

But take this advise: make sure your contractor is licensed, has current CGL insurance coverage up to $1.0 million (standard in the industry), get a written bid or contract as specific as possible and get a written warranty for parts and labor (but if you supply the parts he probably wont warranty those). If your contractor wont give you all of this, keep shopping. Good luck.
tbromgard
814 posts
 
To get a good electrician you can (depending on your state) 1) look them up on the Secretary of State's website or State Contractor's Board to make sure they are licensed and insured, check for disciplinary actions, liens, and number of years in the business; 2) interview them on the basics of your system-do they recognize your components and what you want? 3) ask for references or photos of prior work-any good installer will have plenty to provide to you.
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