Home Automation
Wiring
Network Cabling
The first type of additional wiring that we wanted was for Ethernet for our small computer network. The company handling our wiring and automation ( Design Home Automation) recommended both CAT 5 Ethernet cabling as well as RG-6 quad-shielded coax wiring. The coax cabling serves a dual purpose - for TV as well as for future cable modems (seemed to be a prevalent medium for high-speed data transmission to households). We stayed away from more exotic cabling such as fiber due to its high cost, both for the cable itself as well as for the adapters for the computers.
All the runs are "home run" from the wall jacks to a patch panel in the basement, where a 10baseT hub connects the network together. We placed an Ethernet jack in each bedroom, as well as multiple jacks in both studies.
The computer network allows file and printer sharing, Internet access, and eventually, automation system control.
Telephone Cabling
Design Home also handled installation of all telephone cabling. We ran phone connections to each of the same locations as we did Ethernet, as well as jacks for the kitchen, upstairs hallway and den (most DSS receivers require access to a phone line). In addition, a four-pair cable was installed between the basement and the phone company demarc outside the house to allow for future incoming phone lines.
The phone cabling is also home run down to the basement, where it is terminated on 66 blocks. We currently have two phone lines installed, and these are cross-connected to the individual jacks throughout the house as needed. (Can't you tell we're both telecomm engineers?)
The CAT 3 four-pair cable used for the phones is more then adequate for voice lines, and will also handle ISDN, if we ever decide to afford it.
We did some rewiring of the jacks so that they would all support two lines at each RJ-11 jack, giving us maximum flexibility for future growth. The additional cable pairs might also be used for an intercom/paging system in the future.
Audio Pre-Wire
We did not originally plan to have speaker wiring and speakers installed in-wall, but are glad that we did. We have two isolated systems - one in the master bedroom and one in the den.
The system in the master bedroom has speaker connections for two front speakers (the connections terminate at wall plates on either side of the front of the room), two rear speakers mounted in the ceiling (for surround sound), as well as two ceiling speakers in the bathroom (run off their own volume control).
The system in the den has speaker jacks above the fireplace on the plant shelf (for front speakers), two ceiling-mounted rear speakers (for surround sound), two outdoor speakers on the back porch and two wall-mounted speakers in the living room. The back porch and living room speakers have separate impedance-matching volume controls.
There is also a line-level stereo and video feed between the two systems, which allows us to play CDs from the master bedroom stereo throughout the rest of the system. These feeds were originally installed to pass the outputs from the DSS receiver to the master bedroom, but we will probably end using the video distribution system for that.
Miscellaneous Information
The impedance matching volume controls were something that I had never heard of. Basically, you connect all your pairs of speakers together in parallel using these volume controls. The volume controls can be set (via jumpers, on our models) to compensate for the impedance of all the speakers. This allows you to control the volume for each pair of speakers independent of the others. Of course, your amplifier dictates the maximum volume of the whole system.
We use X-10 to control the power to the den stereo and powered subwoofer. A pair of X-10 modules set to the same address allow us to turn the system on and off from any control pad in the house. This system is currently used to provide "background" music throughout the house (sourced off the master bedroom system).
The biggest piece of advice when building your own house is to wire, wire, wire. It is so much easier to string cable and place jacks before the walls are closed up. We were limited by budgetary constraints, so we spent a lot of time trying to figure out the "best place" in each room for the jacks.
To facilitate later additions, take pictures of the open walls once your cabling, electrical wiring and plumbing have been installed. Be sure to include "landmarks" that you can use to identify the locations in the photos once the walls are closed up. One tip that I saw on the web was to take the pictures on slide film - then simply project them on the wall to see an x-ray view.
