Are The Rolling Stones rocking your kitchen while Billy Joel plays in the bedroom?

They could be with a whole house audio system!

Some of the options available on whole house audio systems:

Many of HCI’s custom home theater clients choose to incorporate a whole house audio system into their design plans. From soft background music to a rock-n-roll party mix, whole house audio involves strategically placed speakers throughout every room in the house—including the kitchen, bedrooms, showers, and even outdoor entertainment areas—that deliver the ambiance you need, where you need it, at the touch of a button.

HCI prepares whole house distributed audio solutions from a three-tiered approach that eliminates virtually all obstacles and addresses any problems while still in the planning stage. Our comprehensive whole house audio solutions are meticulously planned for as easy an installation as possible and designed to evolve as our customers’ needs change. The three stages of a distributed home audio system include the design phase, the pre-wiring phase (if applicable) and the installation phase.

The Design Phase

In the design phase, HCI designers will mark up a floor plan with specific information regarding the type of equipment being proposed for the whole house audio system. Based on our customer’s preferences, we will design a single-zone system, where all speaker pairs play the same audio, or a multi-zone system that offers different audio sources in different areas of the house. We will make speaker selections based on the sound quality desired and budgeted for and decide on zone options and audio sources. The final piece of the design phase is detailing the “headend” of the whole house audio system. This is where all the wire runs come together, where the control and amplification equipment will be located and possibly, where some additional audio sources may reside.

Pre-Wiring Stage

It is much easier to pre-wire a distributed audio system before the sheetrock goes up. Pre-wiring offers convenience, adaptability, and saves money on installation costs. The wiring schematics generated by HCI are much more straight-forward when wires can be run while the walls are open, and after the AC wires have been placed due to their potential interference.

The three main criteria in designing a plan for pre-wiring a whole house audio system is determining where the “headend,” or source equipment, will be located, devising a speaker location plan, and deciding whether the speakers will be built into the walls, concealed, or freestanding. Once this information is established, HCI will design a wiring schematic that details where “trunk” areas will be located, how they will be routed, and begin to make decisions on auxiliary equipment like placement of headphone jacks, IR distribution options, or audio signals that are generated from sources other than those located at the headend.

Installation Phase

Whole house audio systems are the result of careful planning during the design and pre-wiring stages. HCI installation technicians ensure before the job starts that they have an adequate supply of parts on hand and critical components all accounted for so that nothing slows down the installation process. Both new-construction and retrofit whole house audio installations are offered, and HCI takes responsibility for adhering to all important safety considerations, standards, and codes that must be followed.