Tell me about you home audio systems, and DIY?

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Is this pretty feasible as a DIY project?

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I would say so if you're reasonably handy.

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I’m kinda paranoid about cutting a giant hole in my ceiling

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Like I always tell my wife, it's only sheetrock.

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did see they make hole saws for this, which eases the anxiety slightly.

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I would probably just use a cheap manual drywall saw.

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would appreciate tips

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Lay out the hole from in the attic to avoid joists etc., and drill one or more tiny holes through to landmark. Cut the actual hole from below to avoid blowing out the sheetrock paper on the finished side. Vacuum the dust while sawing.

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I’d have to run wires through the wall which is not ideal and probably out of my wheelhouse

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It's harder than coming through the ceiling but not too bad. You will need the wires and equipment near a power outlet, but don't run your speaker wires between the same two studs as the 110v. Locate where the romex for the outlet comes out the top plate in the attic, measure 16" over in either direction and drill a new hole for your speaker wires. You will need a spade/paddle bit or an auger bit for this. If the romex for that outlet doesn't come straight up and through the top plate, push a wire hanger or similar through the ceiling right next to the crown molding to make a landmark in the attic for where you want to come through the top plate. You can also do this to initially mark the speaker locations if you can't determine where they should go from inside the attic only. Be aware of interior features like trim while laying things out in the attic.

Cut a hole in the sheetrock where the wires will come out, drop the wires through the top plate hole and cross your fingers that there's no fire blocking in there. If there is blocking, you can either come out of the wall with your wires above it if that won't be trashy for your setup, or pop through the blocking with a flexible cable installer bit.

Oh and if you plan to put your gear against an exterior (insulated) wall, choose a new location or hire it out.

This was incredibly helpful, thank you.

Budget?

Maybe like $200/speaker? For amp/receiver I haven’t really priced anything to don’t know how much those run.

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tes fou

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Thx for the recs, good jumping off point for me.

Monoprice has good cheap in wall/ceiling speakers

Well, I installed four high-end Klipsch ceiling speakers — about $250 each — and they sound “badass” and not “arse”.

You won’t go wrong with a Marantz or Yamaha receiver. SVS makes quality subs. As for any other speakers there is a world of great sound out there.

Trouble is that you are wanting advice on a product you know absolutely nothing about. Do a little homework by visiting a place like the Magnolia Store at Best Buy. Hear ‘em and price ‘em yourself. When you’ve got a handle on your budget and taste, then come back and ask about reliability, etc.

Go ahead, have fun, planning and putting the system together is a lot of the enjoyment.

Looking to eventually do something similar to this/OP but with room for expansion to other zones too. I would like to start with a 2 zone (inside living room/kitchen and outside patio) but with options to add zones like master bedroom or elsewhere. I want easy smart phone functionality that is wife proof where she can say I want to listen to spotify in the kitchen and its done. One question I do have is how easy is it to integrate TV sound to this so for instance if I want the outside zone to play outside tv sound while the inside plays spotify?

I use separate AB receivers for indoors and outdoors.

Marantz and Yamaha are good receivers and you can find decent deals on them sometimes. You don’t need the latest greatest models.

I’ll say this tho, if I had to choose I’d go with the Yamaha because of the app. AV receiver remotes are huge and you’ll only use a half dozen of the hundred buttons on them. Much easier to use your app to control them.

Speaking of apps, Denon also has a nice app for smartphones.

My Denon is hard-wired to my router, and of course, I use iphone on wifi to control all zones easily.