Design is for 2 Storey single family residence 4500 Sq. Ft.
Please read solution specification below and then look at solution components (links to products) at the bottom to get a complete view of
your solution. Please send us email with questions/comments you might have.
To place the order, Keep this page open and click on each item and add it to the shopping cart on the other window that pop's up. Make the quantity and color choices recommended. Once an item is added come back to this page and click on next item.
Keep adding items to cart and go to checkout and fillout first page to get a price quote including shipping charges.
Solution Specification:
Since you have not provided a home plan, but instead have given me good description, the quantities on the items may not be accurate, you will need to make adjustments on quantities and add delete items you dont need. My goal is for you to understand the ideas behind the selection and make sure you run the appropriate wiring before the sheetrock goes up. Everything else on your requirement is going to be plug and play.
General Design ideas pertaining to your design
Based on the description you provided your "media center" is another VDT Outlet (Video/data/telephone, see description below) with the additional feature that it is going to be the hub for your whole home audio distribution.
For audio distribution you have two options: run speaker wire to volume control in each room and then to the pair of ceiling speakers. 2) Run cat5e from media center to A-bus controller and then speaker wire from A-bus controller to the ceiling speakers. With Option 2 you get IR-Repeater features built-in. We have an economically priced A-bus whole house audio system from Channel Vision.
Your security camera requirement will be met with CCTV cameras, leviton makes a good video switcher where you can alternate between each camera or watch all four simultaneously. Watching CCTV camera via a remote IP connection is possible via a web server device that converts CCTV images to web viewable images. This is another plug-and-play option. Ofcourse, if you use IP Camera, watching it via a internet connection is trivial but watching IP camera output on a TV screen becomes harder.
Wire with 1 RG6 and 1 Cat5e and as technology progresses, you will be able to make the choice once you move into the home. IP cameras also allow you to pan and tilt the camera. With CCTV those features are very expensive. Also watch for Power-Over-Ethernet IP cameras, they are dropping in prices rapidly. Power-Over-Ethernet IP cameras do not require a 110 V AC outlet as the power is drawn from the ethernet switch/router.
Your media center requirement of having all components at the media center and any room being able to pick any output is the hardest requirement. The reason is that for cable/Satellite TV/telephone/data distribution, you bring the video/data/telephone service into the structured wiring panel and then distribute from there to each room, in other words the structured wiring panel is the center of the universe. Your in home video sources (DVD1,2,3/Tivo1,2/VCR) assume that the media center is the center of the universe. One suggestion I have is to have a multiple input video modulator in the media center (channel vision makes one) and have the output from the modulator go to the structured wiring panel via a RG6 cable. At the structured wiring panel use a notch filter to free up a cable tv channel and pump the media center video feed into that channel. This gives you the flexibility you want in terms of being able to select any source from any room. The downside to this is that if you have a progressive scan DVD output, instead of connecting it via component video/S-video/DVI/IEEE1394, directly to the high-definition TV you will be modulating the audio/video over RG6 and going thorugh another multiswitch/splitter, and then to your high-performance TV. You will need to think this through and make adjustments to your design.
Reference: http://www.hometheatermag.com/rearprojectiontvs/110/index12.html
Six types of outlets
VDT : Video, Data, Telephone, powered by composite cable DT : Data + telephone powered by a pair of cat5e cables HT : 5.1 Home theater 6 pairs of binding post modules for audio distribution to 2 front,2 rear and 1 subwoofer and center channel. (Located behind entertainment/TV unit. (Other end terminates directly on to the speakers. AVC :Audio Volume control for A-bus whole house audio with ceiling speakers in same room/zone powered by cat5e from panel/entertainment center and 14/2 speaker wires to ceiling speakers T : Telephone only outlet powered by a single Cat5e cable. VC : video camera, run one RG6 and 1 cat5e to each of the interior/exterior camera location. Three technologies available, CCTV($), IP camera($$), IP camera with Power over ethernet($$$) wire for both.
CCTV uses 1 RG6 for video and cat5e for 12V DC
IP camera uses cat5e for signal and control and have a 110 V AC close by for power.
IP camera with power over ethernet handles signal/control and power all from one cat5e but is very expensive now.
When pre-wiring for video camera leave ample extra length on camera end and cover gang box with wallplate.
The following is description I provided to another customer with a 4500 sq. feet home. You can borrow ideas from here. The key is that each room has at least one VDT outlet(2 RG6 and 2 Cat5e) at the potential TV location, and one DT outlet at the night-stand/desk location. A-bus audio wiring is seperate. Please review below information as a reference solution. The "Solution Components" section(at the bottom of the page) isbased on this reference design.
Kitchen and Breakfast Nook
1 VDT under cabinet/on splash-board to allow tel, data and under cabinet
TV.
1 DT near/behind fridge
1 DT on kitchen peninsula/Bar facing the breakfast area
1 T in kitchen using the Leviton out-of-sight Jack for a complete wireless look.
Mud Room/Laundry Area
1 T in this areadusing the Leviton out-of-sight Jack
Garage
1 T in Garage
Family room
1 VDT at big screen TV/Flat Panel TV location
1 VDT on another wall to serve as alternate TV location
note: if installing flat panel TV, install wallplate
(and 110V outlet) at approx 5 feet height.
1 T
Living room
1 VDT on one wall
1 VDT on another wall for data telephone and alternate TV location for furniture arrangement flexibility
1 HT
Dining
1 VDT on one a wall of your choice
(or we can remove if you want nothing here)
Study
1 VDT on one a wall of your choice
1 DT at another Desk location.
Master Bedroom
1 VDT on wall across from bed
2 DT one on each side of bed
1 HT - You did'nt specify, but looking at your MB's expansive layout, would recommend it. (we can remove if you dont like it), You can also extend this home theater with an A-B switch and have two Auxillary ceiling speakers in the bathroom to playback TV sound or listen to News/Traffic in the morning.
Three upstairs bedrooms
3 x 1 VDT
3 x 1 DT in on another wall of your choice in each of the 3 rooms
You specified 12 rooms, 6 on first 3 on second.
I am assuming you have three large areas in basement.
Basement Game/Media Room
2 VDT
To allow two possible configurations of the Home Theater. Consider installing 1 VDT at ceiling height if you have pool table.
1 DT
Two remaining areas in Basement
2 VDT
2 DT
Whole House audio (2)
You specified 3 zones, would recommend four zone as it comes in a 4 zone kit form. We will have the Channel Vision 4 zone kit on our website soon. Your audio source would be picked up from the entertainment unit (in family room??) and sent to the structured wiring panel using cat5e cable. There it gets distributed to (4) A-bus controller units that mount in each of the 4 zones (eg. Kitchen, Living, Study, Dining). From the controller unit a 14/2 speaker wire would take the amplified audio signal to the ceiling speakers. With the example configuration shown, you would extend the Living rooms (5.1) audio system to 4 other "guest entertaining" zones on the first floor.
IP camera/CCTV camera
Run one cat5e and one rg6 cable to each potential
camera location. (eg porch, Entry/Great Room Ceiling) For indoors and remote command and control use IP camera and
install camera diagonally opposite from door at ceiling
height to cover entire room or center of ceiling in Great Room, also provide 110V AC to power
IP camera For outdoors use weatherproof bullet camera
and CCTV technology.
Total outlets(wallplates) of each type
VDT=15
DT=11
HT=2
AVC=4
T=3
VC=5
Total outlets by service type
Video 15
Data 15 + 11 +5 (IP Camera)= 31
Telephone 15 + 11 +3 = 28
