Suround Sound System

Question by Devin: how to hook up a suround sound system to every room in a house?
i would like to know how to hook up a suround sound system to my whole house so all speakers run off the same media player. is it possible, what power source could power the amps and 15-20 speakers to do it, what wireless system would be the best to do so, so on so fourth. thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by Steve
I work with www.diamondcase.com and we have been asked similar questions several times. Let me see if I can help.

You are really asking a few different questions here; do you want surround sound throughout the house? Or do you want music throughout the house? How you would approach the solution is dramatically different.

If you are truly looking to have surround sound throughout the house and you want to centralize the source components you would want to look at a matrix distribution system. I use one from a company called Audio Authority their AVAtrix system (see link). For this to work properly you do the following:

• Centralize the source components (blu-ray, satellite, Apple TV, etc.)
• Run wire (dual Cat5e or Cat 6) from each location you want a TV to the centralize location
• Connect the source components and Audio Authority piece

NOTE: The audio authority is capable of distributing surround sound but you would need an AV receiver in each room to process / amplify that surround sound.

Now, if you are looking to distribute music, not surround sound, there are several ways to do it.

• Look into the Sonos system (see link). This is a neat system that allows you to wireless distribute music throughout the home. It offers several on-line music services such as Pandora. It does require high-speed internet

• You can get a multi-channel amplifier. These types of amplifiers are capable of powering multiple speakers that you would place throughout the house.

• If you can limit the number or rooms you need to distribute music to, you could look at a standard AV receiver. Most good AV receivers offer 2 or 3 zones of control. This means you could distribute music to a couple of addition rooms without any extra equipment.

The first thing you need to do is decide what exactly is important to you for distribution. The second thing is set aside a realistic budget. Then you should contact a professional company, like the one I work with, to suggest and recommend the best products to suit your needs and budget.

Distributed surround sound and/or music is really cool but doing it right is not inexpensive.

I hope this helps!

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