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A whole house audio system
allows you to enjoy music and audio entertainment on speakers throughout
your home as well as outside. For those times when you're NOT
using your home theater
system, it's nice to be able to listen to music and other audio
entertainment piped independently to the bedroom, the kid's rooms,
recreation room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, home office, garage,
workshop, patio, garden, by the pool or hot tub, actually almost
anywhere you can imagine! Keep in mind that you can easily integrate your whole house audio system with your
home theater or computer network for virtually unlimited home and
backyard entertainment possibilities. Basically,
you could run speakers in up to 12 independent listening areas.
While some zones may have enough room for their own stereo pair of
ceiling speakers, a smaller space could sound good with a single dual-channel
ceiling speaker, a dual voice coil speaker featuring 2
tweeters. Depending on your particular installation situation or
critical listening preferences, you may prefer a pair of in
wall speakers in certain zones. We recommend outdoor
ceiling speakers for exterior use. At
a bare minimum, you'll want basic speaker
volume control in each zone. Obviously, you'll also need an
amplifier (see right) to power all these speakers. Better yet,
continue reading in the right column. To
learn more about whole house audio systems, we recommend the Wiring Your Home for
Distributed Audio and Video DVD, the Structured Wiring
Design Manual, and even Smart Homes For
Dummies!
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Audio
Distribution Amp
A home audio distribution
system is best designed around an audio distribution amplifier that allows you
to independently choose from multiple music sources in different
listening areas throughout your home and outside. For example, the $7000 NuVo
Concerto amplifier pictured below allows you to enjoy 6 audio sources
distributed to 8 zones throughout the home.
Installing distributed audio systems can be more challenging in
existing homes. Running wires for whole house audio may involve drilling,
cutting, and fishing
of wires and cables which is more difficult once the walls, ceiling and floors are
already in place!
If you're looking for the best value among
audio distribution amplifiers, be
sure to check out the ceiling speakers package
deals page.
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