Hi chaps I’m in the process of building me a new house (progress can be seen on Instagram we_are_building_a_new_house) and I’m looking at wiring it up for some various things.

I’ve done a little bit of research, and I don’t want to spend a fortune. Basically I’m going as follows

CAT 6 Cable to various rooms to provide stable link for TV, games system etc
Network cab with 24 way patch panel
24 way network switch not sure on managed or unmanaged at the moment
4 TP-Linkwureless access points wired back to the switch to give house wide Wi-fi.
These will all connect back to BT supplied router with the wireless turned off.
We have FTP internet in the village so speed of connection should not be a problem.

Then for audio also in the network cab: .

Loxone 12 channel amp wired to speaker points in each room and some outside.
4 Sonos connects to create 4 separate zones, lounge, snug, kitchen/diner and outside

How does that sound to folks??  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

You lost me at snug........but the rest sounds about right

 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

All sounds about right. That’s what I would do.

Take care on routing of the CAT6 cabling. If you run parallel and close to power cables they can be prone to interference. Same for transformers of any kind, some dimmer switches and all fluorescent lighting.

Also, install more CAT6 than you think you need. It’s cheap and easy at this stage. Difficult and ugly later.

Ps you are very unlikely to see any benefit from a managed Ethernet switch over an unmanaged one on a small network like this. Current: 2010 Range Rover L322
Vogue SE, TDV8 3.6, Bournville
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Now gone: 2002 Range Rover L322
Vogue, TD6, Giverney Green

cheers,

was thinking that way on the switch, don't really want to add too much complexity......

Ive seen lots of fancy pants installs of Loxone gubbins and other full on smart house systems in instagram, but can really see the benefit in my house. Im not automating much.

I have a full Philips Hue system in the current house which I will transfer over to the new house, and this will be connected to the switch, and I will have to put in some smart stats for the heating. SO that combined with a decent network cabling setup should see me right for a while.

I Agree about the cat 6 cabling, I have a roll of a CAT 6 in the garage I have had in for a while, so I will throw that around first, probably for the APs, however I will look out some FTP cable for the ethernet connections, and put in as much as possible. Im not having transformers, or florie lights, so that should make that better, however I will try and keep the cat 6 separate from the power cables.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Just a vote for Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access points. You might want to consider them over TP link? They are rock solid and have an excellent management interface for setup, upgrades etc. Very, very good IMO. 2016 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate
<gone>2009 FF Vogue TDV8 Buckingham Blue</gone>
<gone>2015 BMW 520D SE (not my favourite car)</gone>
<gone>2009 D3 HSE Galway Green</gone>

I'm on a similar project - still at first fix but getting there

Network sounds right - I bought 2 rolls of cable & run them in pairs

For wifi, I've gone for Netgear Orbi - but not sure there's much in it.

I'm also a Hue fan & have been stockpiling the stuff - I've currently run the cables in a conventional manner, but am seriously thinking about removing the wall switches completely.....

What's the point of a Luxone & Sonos Connects ? I thought they both did kind of the same thing ? I was planning local amps for the rooms that I wanted music in & then some sort of streaming input for each room - Sonos Connect is one of my options - it gives the ability to send the same music to multiple rooms I thought, so a central amp is somewhat redundant ??

In my last house I went completely OTT - a pair of Cat6, a pair of coax & double mains socket in every corner of every room & behind every TV. I'm running less in this house as whilst it's cheap enough, the mass of wall plates didn't look great - although going for some of these for where the amps will be located

Hi

if you are installing alarm wired is far better than wireless and consider cameras at this point

I'd probably recommend Ubiquiti too..................... I can even tell you where to get it from :O Current: 2011 FFRR Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8
Previous: -
2004 FFRR Vogue 4.4 V8 with LPG
1997 P38 4.0 SE with LPG
1997 P38 4.6 Vogue with LPG

Alistair wrote:

What's the point of a Luxone & Sonos Connects ?

Have a look at PLEX as the media server APP, dead easy install, very flexible, can even stream remotely (I was in Germany in early January to test a drone out, in the hotel I was watching films from my server). It stores all of your music, family photos etc. Link it back to Homelink freeview tuner you can record 4 channels at any one time set up from any device on the network. LG TV's have Plex APP available, as does Ipad/Iphone, Android, PC, Mac's etc. The server is FREE too! Mines sat with 30Tb of storage behind it and has been running for 2 years now. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Thanks for the heads up with the Wi-fi Alistair. Sonos amps are one option on the audio.

Was thinking of some in ceiling speakers possibly over some normal ones and poss going for the multi channel amp as it may work out a little cheaper.

The Sonos kit would go in the rack cab with the amp and enable proper music zoning, functionality wise its not 50:50 between Sonos amps and Sonos connects and the multichannel amp, with the multichannel amp I could feed several of the zones from the bus input, of the amp, meaning I could couple several rooms/speaker groups into one zone/onto one Sonos, Whereas the Sonos amps will only feed one pair of speakers so one zone one pair of speakers.

Also with the multi amp it can be bridged so one stereo 40w pair becomes one 80w channel.

Looking at the Loxone amp it appears to basically be a Dayton multichannel amp but re branded, trouble is I can’t find the Dayton one at the moment, but if poss I would go for the 60w version.

Cabling would basically be the same, ok so there would be some more rca phone plugging in the rack, but the speaker first fix cabling would be similar.

I want to try to avoid having a separate Sonos unit in each room, less clutter, and I would just have an echo dot which would control it all.

In terms of media server etc, it’s all online now, I have a few films on the computer but honestly it’s all either on Amazon or Apple and we can stream 4K at zero buffer! There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Try richer sounds Romford Essex they have good for knowledge and competitive on prices for speakers etc I am doing hotel in Bridgwater somerset for electrics,alarm cctv and speakers also using unifi wifi which is really good

There aren’t many of the 12 channel amps about, which aren’t just boxes of tat from China, the Loxone/Dayton/audiosource amp are all one and the same, but there aren’t many other options, another way would be to bung in a few standard Hifi amps, with A/B speaker zones, in all fairness this would give probably a better sound and I could pick them up second hand for peanuts.

One disadvantage of this would be that they would not be able to be triggered on by the Sonos. Whereas the Loxone would be in standby until you need it....

Going to keep my eyes peeled for options. there’s no rush as I’m at joist level at the moment. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6