Audio Systems: Re: Whole House Audio System, ceiling speakers, several thousand dollars

Question
Hello, I would like to get an opinion. I would like to install a whole house multiple audio system as I am about to do some remodelling. I have been searching for a 'theater in a box' sort of product, but I think that there is really no suchg thing in a whole house audio system. I would like to have a 7.1 channel home theater system in the basement, with in-ceiling speakers capable of producing cinema-like sound. There should be a central amp, but people in different rooms should be able to listen to different music, which rooms will have different ceiling speakers. There should be volume controls in each room, and the possibility of listening to music from your ipod in one or multiple rooms by docking it to a station/volume control, and pipe music from one's computer to a room/multiple rooms. I have seen the digital-type volume controls, and I am ready to fork the extra money as the difference is small and worth it. I will run the wiring myself, having done it before at a smaller scale. Do you know of such a complete system for a DIYer, or  do I have to purchase different components and hope that they work in unison?

Answer
There are a plethora of whole house audio systems. You can spend anywhere from several thousand dollars to upwards of $50,000. The expensive ones are custom and require programming from a seasoned installer. Most of them allow you to control a myriad of electronics including audio, video, lighting, motorized screens and drapes, HVAC, security, etc. I will give you a few names and you can do some research. The names that I give you are in order of what I think might best answer your needs. There are packages made that do not require much more then you carefully reading the instructions before installing. Sonance, Russ Sound, Elan, Niles. There is a wireless solution made by a company called Control4. There is a web based solution with Netstream. The expensive highly customized brands are Crestron and AMX.

Sonance makes an iPort which can be mounted in a wall anywhere in your house. All you need to do is run cat5 cable. It will carry power and audio and distribute it where you want using one of the above systems. You must remember that because home theatre system need to be controlled from the room that they live in, they will be separate yet can be interfaced with a single whole house audio system.