New Multi-room audio set up [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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gyoung345
08-01-2007, 07:37 AM
I consider myself an informed person when making decisions, so I found this forum to search for some advice but figured I should pose the question to the experts. I see the multi-room thread a few down (http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=23653) which addresses one of my issues (Amp large enough to power speakers) but not all of my issues.

My wife and I are building a new custom home and want to equip it with multi-room audio. We aren't looking for the a killer system but something that will allow us to have ambient music throughout the home. I've interviewed multiple custom installers in our area and found one that I like. He was very genuine about price and of the people I met, I felt he was the most deserving of our business. I could probably do it myself, but I don't have the time or the energy (2 kids younger than 3).

Anyway, we are looking to have a 6 room setup powered by one of my 2 existing amplifiers (Denon AVR-1801 or Yamaha HTR-6550). The dealer I am dealing with sells TruAudio speakers as well as RBH speakers. He is suggesting WP-6 speakers for the 5 of the rooms. I've never heard of TruAudio, but they sounded fine to me in his demo room. He is offering them to me at $269 /pr ($350 /pr retail). One of the rooms will be the patio so he suggested OP-5.1 at $149 /pr ($249 /pr retail). I have no idea about the speakers in either terms of quality or price. Is this a good deal?

Also, as part of the installation we will have 2 separate areas wired for 5.1 surround sound. I want these two areas to be able to play whatever is playing throughout the home as well. He is going to run patching cables to connect the 2 home theater areas into the whole house audio (basically selecting an aux channel on one of the home theater systems to allow for playback). He suggested this as a inexpensive way of achieving this goal (it will also allow each of the home theater systems to pump audio to the whole house as well). I like it because my music server will be connected to one of the systems allowing me to use a laptop to play music throughout the home.

For the first home theater he has suggested RBH TK-6 speakers for $299 /pr ($399 /pr retail). He also offered to upgrade this speaker to the RBH MC-6 or TruAudio WA-6 speakers at no extra charge (both are $550 /pr retail). He is going to pair this system with a Niles in-wall sub with 200 watt amplifier (PSW-8). This Home Theater will use one of my existing Amps that I listed above. I know nothing of these products and haven't found much on the web. I did find a few favorable reviews of the MC-6 series speakers from about 6 years ago, but this wasn't a review of the in-wall variety. The second home theater is just going to be a pre-wire at this time to keep the cost down.

The overall goal of this is to get a decent system while keeping the cost down. My wife and I aren't by any means audiophiles, but we have enjoyed our current PSB Alpha Towers surround system for the past 6 years. The layout of our new home doesn't allow for us to reuse these speakers for our home theater so we are looking for something comparable.

The following are links to the speakers he is suggesting. Any comments would be very welcomed.

http://www.truaudio.com
http://www.rbhsound.com/

Thanks!