20 pairs of speakers for 7000sf new house

[lomarica]

my friend is building a large custom house and wants about 20 pairs of speakers to play the same source throughout the very large house. I am the "audio" friend giving advice but this is a out of my league so I am asking the group for advice.

She has her first bid but the source is a $400 Yamaha receiver hooked up to two speaker switcher boxes, one box has 8 speaker outputs and the other 4 speaker outputs. While this does not equal the desired number of speakers I am thinking a bigger problem is the receiver will not drive all the speakers at the same time.

The speakers will be in the ceilings with a volume control in each room and will be mainly for background music. There will be a separate volume control in each room.

I have an old luxman 100w integrated amp hooked up to a 6 speaker switcher box driving 3 sets of speaker which work fine so that is my only reference point.

Any advice is appreciated. Also there will be a separate stand alone home theater room so that is not an issue. I am recommending a separate circuit breaker, for the main components, a fan for ventilation as the components will be under the stairs, a HD DVD player which the home theater bid did not include anything else to consider what about wiring for computer or is it better to go wireless

I wish I had this challenge at my place maybe next year

thanks

[Luvin Da Blues]

If sound quality is not an issue you may want to consider a commercial Public Address system. These run on a 70v speaker system with a transformer at each speaker, quality can vary from poor to acceptable depending on the drivers and electronics used. Individual control in each room would pose no problem then. Check out the TOA brand.

[Luvin Da Blues]

Of course if you don't have any experience with these type of systems you may want to consider bring in the Pros.

[Feanor]

my friend is building a large custom house and wants about 20 pairs of speakers to play the same source throughout the very large house. I am the "audio" friend giving advice but this is a out of my league so I am asking the group for advice.

She has her first bid but the source is a $400 Yamaha receiver hooked up to two speaker switcher boxes, one box has 8 speaker outputs and the other 4 speaker outputs. While this does not equal the desired number of speakers I am thinking a bigger problem is the receiver will not drive all the speakers at the same time.

The speakers will be in the ceilings with a volume control in each room and will be mainly for background music. There will be a separate volume control in each room.
...

thanks

I'm no expert on multi-room sound but I'll venture a couple of comments.

First, in-wall speakers would likely work well, be more esthetic, and save space in some locations, but in others better sound might be obtained from standard speakers.

This sounds like an application for a quality professional amplifier, (e.g. Crown or QSC). They can deliver decent sound, lots of power, and low impedance, (2 ohm), handling. The low impedance gives more flexibility for multi-speaker connections and, of course, more protection for the amp itself. Look for greater than 500 watts per channel into 2 ohms.

[GMichael]

I'm no expert on multi-room systems either. But here are a few choices to look at. Maybe these could help you out.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=562

[waltband]

see a pro -- there are some amazing things out there with whole house systems -- you can huff and puff for a while and find something that gets by -- but a pro should be able to show you lots of options -- yes it may cost more but someone building a house that big might be able to pull it off -- if she is having the theater room done -- it should be possible to put both control systems in the same place and put all of the electronics under one umbrella -- I would talk to whoever is putting in the theater -- if you guys are doing the theater yourselves -- again my advice -- see a pro -- it will probably save you time and aggravation and maybe even money

[markw]

There's so many variables and options that expecting a perfect answer here is crazy.

He may pay more to correct your mistakes than it would have cost to just get it done right by someone who knows in the first place.

[jocko_nc]

With new construstion you only get one chance, get it right. It costs next-to-nothing until the sheetrock goes up. After that, any modification is a major project and a major expense. Get professional advice.

jocko