New house pre-wired for Surround Sound...Help Plz

[trotski]

The house my wife and I bought is going to be pre-wired for surround sound (although not finished until Nov 15th: beat)

Anyway, I'm having the wires done in the ceiling and I need some recommendations on In-ceiling SS speakers.  Anyone have experiences, good or bad, with a particular brand? Not really sure what my budget will be yet, but good quality is what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance for the input!

Trot

[schild]

I'm sure Infinity is still a recommended in wall brand. Depends on how much money you want to spend though, you really gotta know your budget and the wiggle room on it before buying something you'll keep for X many years.

[trotski]

I'm sure Infinity is still a recommended in wall brand. Depends on how much money you want to spend though, you really gotta know your budget and the wiggle room on it before buying something you'll keep for X many years.

Nice!! Looks like they've got a variety of prices, and all the reviews have been positive.

Gracias, Schild!

[schild]

Yea, we used to install them at Bang & Olufsen, I always liked the sound.

[Merusk]

Your builder doesn't have a vendor who does the A/V?  If he does, you're likely going to be limited on your choice of speakers, since the vendor will have their own supplies.  At least that's the way the guys we contract at the office work. 

Then again, 'pre-wire' does typically mean only a box and some wire, no fixture.  I've just never heard of it for speakers or A/V, just basic electrical or ceiling fans.

If you're contracting it out yourself, well good ta go.

[schild]

We worked in a  number of houses in the DC Area that were only pre-wired. If he does have a contractor, he can just Tell the contractor to get it through a certain reseller, it's not like the contractor has much of a choice on it. Most contractors have infinity sellers though given that they're popular as shit.

[trotski]

Your builder doesn't have a vendor who does the A/V?  If he does, you're likely going to be limited on your choice of speakers, since the vendor will have their own supplies.  At least that's the way the guys we contract at the office work. 

Then again, 'pre-wire' does typically mean only a box and some wire, no fixture.  I've just never heard of it for speakers or A/V, just basic electrical or ceiling fans.

If you're contracting it out yourself, well good ta go.

Yeah, in this case pre-wired literally means wires hanging out of the ceiling, and it's up to me to put the speakers in.  We could have had the whole A/V done for us, but it would have been about 5k, and I'd rather do it myself anyway.

[Merusk]

We worked in a  number of houses in the DC Area that were only pre-wired. If he does have a contractor, he can just Tell the contractor to get it through a certain reseller, it's not like the contractor has much of a choice on it. Most contractors have infinity sellers though given that they're popular as shit.

Contractor != builder.  Builder will tell you, hey there's the door, cusom builders can be found under "contractors" have fun picking one who won't fuck you over out.  Big companies are dicks like that.

[Murgos]

Then again, 'pre-wire' does typically mean only a box and some wire, no fixture.  I've just never heard of it for speakers or A/V, just basic electrical or ceiling fans.

The house I lived in before moving to beantown was prewired in two rooms for surround sound and every room had wiring for ethernet.  It's not that uncommon a feature anymore.

[Selby]

Yeah, in this case pre-wired literally means wires hanging out of the ceiling, and it's up to me to put the speakers in.  We could have had the whole A/V done for us, but it would have been about 5k, and I'd rather do it myself anyway.

Trust me, just having the wires ready to go is all you really want.  I have had to work on too many homes that had "modern" technology installed when they were built that soon became very dated technology that didn't work and replacing wasn't the easiest of things to do (especially when they used cheap components that didn't fit more modern approaches).  Things like intercoms, room to room radio systems, etc.  You get stuck with a harvest gold or avocado green box in your wall that doesn't work anymore.  With just the wires, you can remove and replace to your hearts content over the years.

[Yegolev]

My surround speakers are Klipsch and they sound fine to me.  The rest of the house has Boston Accoustics which also sound good to me, and they have paintable meshes if you want to do that.  I'm not some A/V nut, so YMMV.

[Righ]

Meridian used to do some pretty impressive stuff in this vein - they practically defined the market in the UK. I have no idea how their new stuff measures up, but they have a pretty extensive US dealer network.

[Arrrgh]

Why in ceiling instead of in wall? I'm sure in ceiling is wonderful for scenes of things flying overhead, but otherwise I'd go for the walls.

[Righ]

Why in ceiling instead of in wall? I'm sure in ceiling is wonderful for scenes of things flying overhead, but otherwise I'd go for the walls.

Some people have enough money to mount speakers purely for enhancing the theatrics of Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky".

[Merusk]

Then again, 'pre-wire' does typically mean only a box and some wire, no fixture.  I've just never heard of it for speakers or A/V, just basic electrical or ceiling fans.

The house I lived in before moving to beantown was prewired in two rooms for surround sound and every room had wiring for ethernet.  It's not that uncommon a feature anymore.

I live and work in Cincinnati.. we're 20 years behind on EVERYTHING. Twain had that quote for a reason.

I've worked for the 2 biggest home builders here, and we don't pre-wire for this stuff, it's an upgrade you buy.  It doesn't come as a standard feature until you hit the high-end mini-mansion market. 

Fuck, locally we still use traditional lumber and framing instead of panelization and TJI or Floor Truss systems.  Add an LVL into the house and people flip their lids about this "expensive newfangled crap".

Anywho, there's some interesting speakers I just saw at the local "huge expensive house none of you plebians will ever own" homeshow.  They were ceiling mounted, but dropped-down when used to provide more directional sound.  I forgot to pick-up their card though, sorry. 

[trotski]

Why in ceiling instead of in wall? I'm sure in ceiling is wonderful for scenes of things flying overhead, but otherwise I'd go for the walls.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

The model homes they have in the community, some were wired in the ceiling, and some were wired in the walls.  I liked the ceiling sound a lot more, for some reason.

Actually hearing 'Great Gig in the Sky' over the speakers is what sealed the deal for me.