How To Wire Your Home For Whole House Audio

The necessary cables and planning required for wiring a whole house audio system in your home.

Home Theater Direct, Inc.
1000 Shiloh Rd #100
Plano, TX 75074
toll free: 866-HTD-AUDIO (866-483-2834)
local: 972-312-9900

#WholeHouseAudio #HomeTheater #DIY

In less than five minutes this video will show you the types of cable necessary for multi room multi-source whole house audio systems and how and where to install the cable prior to the drywall going up in your new home. It assumes you're planning to install your speaker's in the ceilings or walls of each room and that your primary components of your hosts audio system will be placed in the central location. The use of wall mounted keypads to control your system is optional but we cover that as well. While at times we mention our own HDD systems the information is applicable to most modern multi room stereo systems.

Run a separate two conductor speaker cable from the central area directly to each speaker location. 16 gauge cable is suitable for runs less than 80 feet use 14 gauge cable for longer runs. In most cases volume will be controlled from an app and/or a keypad mounted to the wall within the room. If you are considering using rotary or slide type volume controls instead run the cable down and back up the stud space on the way to the speaker. For ease of connection we recommend leaving a minimum of 6 extra feet of cable at the central location and 3 feet at the speaker location.

If your system can be controlled by an app that may be all you need to do, however, there are some significant advantages to running additional cables such as category cables. By this we mean cat5e or cat6 also known as network cable. For whole house audio this type of cable has several applications. One use is to connect a wall-mounted keypad back to the central area. 2) On certain systems including all HTD systems cat cable can also be used to daisy chain two keypads together within the same zone. With an HTD link system cat cable should also be run from the keypad to any area in the zone in which you may want to install an input panel for connecting audio sources that will be available to the entire system. 3) with the use of some audio adaptors cat cable can also be used to send an audio signal over long distance back to the central location.

If you don't plan to install a link system consider running a separate cat cable for TV audio media players and other audio components. 4) we highly recommend that you run a cat cable the central area to the center ceiling of every room where you might want to add a voice assistant like the Alexa or Google assistant. HTD offers a slick option for powering a voice assistant device and getting its audio into your house audio system all over a single cat5 cable. Finally, avoid running cables within 18" of electrical cables if you are forced to cross cables always do so at a 90 degree angle to reduce the risk of picking up unwanted electrical hum. Leave at least 6 feet of extra cable at the central location for ease of installation and avoid using patch panels that only adds to the complexity and are often the cause of shorts and miss wiring.

Carefully label each cable near the point of exit with permanent marker. The use of pre-construction brackets is not required for the installation of most in wall or and ceiling speakers. However, using them will make locating your wire and installing the speakers easier because your drywaller will cut the hole for you. A single 4 conductor speaker cable can be run in place of 2 2-conductor cables where 2 conductors are used for the first speaker and the other 2 conductors for the second. Just be careful not to damage the second pair of conductors when working with the first two. If you do not use brackets we recommend attaching the cable at the speaker location in a crisscross pattern away from the drywall and between the studs or joist.

Similarly the easiest way to prepare for a keypad is to install a low-voltage box where you want the keypad to be installed before the drywall goes up. If you are not certain of the exact location attach the cable in a crisscross pattern in the general area of the keypad. Later you can install a mud ring for the keypad and fish the cable from behind the wall. Lastly consider running a second backup cat cable in case one gets damaged by a screw or nail. Cat cable is generally inexpensive and could be used for additional functionality in the future. For the purposes of whole house audio there's really no benefit to using cable that is more expensive than cat 5e. Thank you for watching if you are considering an HTD whole house audio system for your new home we offer a free service who we can help divide your house plans into audio zones and offer guidance for the best speaker and keypad locations. We can be reached Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at toll-free 866-483-2834 or by completing an online form at http://HTD.com/sendusyourplans