I plan to pre-wire my home that is beginning construction this week. I have already purchased or plan to purchase:
Monster Cable CI Pro CL3 14g 4-conductor cable for wiring the central point to the impedance matched volume controls; Monster Cable CI Pro 14g 2-conductor cable for wiring the speakers to the volume controls; 6-pair wall plate (i plan to have 5 pr); 4 Russound ALTx-2D impedance matched volume controls; 1 Russound ALTx-WIRi2D impedance matched volume control with IR target; Cat5 cable for connector block to the IR target; Russound Connector Block with AC; Russound dual-single emitter; 1 pair Polk Audio RC60i in-ceiling speakers; and 2 pairs Polk Audio RC80i in-ceiling speakers
The above will be hooked up to a Sony receiver/amp (123 W/channel in stereo) with a 4 or 8 ohm selector that will be placed in the first floor closet (central location).
I plan to place 4 pr speakers and 4 non-IR volume controls in the garage, dining room, morning room and study (1 pr and 1 volume control per room). I plan to place a volume control with an IR target in the master bedroom upstairs that will control 1 pr speakers. That said, I know that I need 2 more pairs of speakers. For now, I am just going to pre-wire the garage and study and leave them behind the drywall ceilings.
For the home theater, I have a few options. Since I will be finishing the basement and plan to use that as the dedicated entertainment area, I plan to use my Harmon Kardon receiver and Polk/Cambridge Soundworks speakers solely for that room in a 7.1 setup. In the meantime, I may use the HK in the family room (until the basement is complete). Regardless, I want to pre-wire the family room for a 5.1 setup separate from the previously mentioned whole-house wiring so that the next owner has it available to him or her by simply punching through the drywall where I leave the cables OR for me to have a second HT system in the family room with in-wall speakers while the main system is in the basement. I will probably run those lines through the basement.
My questions are:
1.) In wiring the whole-house system, should I even consider a speaker selector if I am already installing impedance matched volume controls or should I simply get a distribution block?
2.) In wiring the whole-house system, I plan to wire from the central location to each volume control, is there a specific way that this should be done or is it simply using the 4-connector cable and running one length of it to each volume control? I saw on Crutchfield's site that w/o a distribution block or a speaker selector, they combined all of the wires. It was rather confusing - see their site if you're wondering.
3.) Based on the above, how can I get the most power out of the speakers?
4.) Since the speakers in the morning room will be wired pre-drywall (obviously) but post-insulation, should I be concerned about placing the speaker in the ceiling if it is in contact with the insulation (FYI there is nothing above the morning room ceiling - just the roof)?