Tips from my install.....<br><br>If you can find some that's cheap enough, use the bundled cable. I used a bundle with 2 Cat5e and 2 RG6 cables and it was REALLY nice to run a single run to each room. You can do much the same with multiple spools of whatever wire you want to run, but it's not quite as nice. I wanted 2 RG6 to each room because I was using DirecTV at the time, and if you want a dual tuner box, you need 2 cables. Newer sat systems are moving toward single run setups, but I'm not sure how available those are. CATV and OTA work fine with splitters. <br>
<br>Don't dedicate Cat5/6 lines to phone. Just run them all like a network connection, complete with a patch panel. RJ11 phone cords work fine in RJ45 jacks, if you follow the color code, so leave the system open for possibilities. I have all lines run into a single patch panel with labels for what room they go to. If I need more detail, I have a toner. If I want network, use a network patch cable, if I want phone, use an RJ11 phone cord. We run a 4 handset cordless phone, so only 1 phone connection is required. So I can use all those Cat5e jacks for ethernet, IR, audio, video, whatever. So many things have transceivers for Cat5 wire these days.<br>
<br>I also did a patch panel for coax. You can find the panels on EBay. Nice to have. Much cleaner. <br><br>I bought most of my stuff from <a href="http://deepsurplus.com">deepsurplus.com</a>. Nice prices, and good quality stuff. The patch panels are much cheaper there and work just as well as any other panel I've ever wired. If you're doing a lot of Cat6 jacks, I recomend a tool that Home Depot sells called JackRapid. You can punchdown all 8 wires and trim them at once. Saves a lot of time when you're doing a big install. It needs the Leviton jacks that the home improvement stores sell though, so don't buy them online if you want to use that tool. <br>
<br>Zoned audio. Good stuff. I still haven't installed all the speakers a year later. I suggest the speaker enclosures because of that. Most homes use blown insulation, and it will get into the speakers if you don't have some kind of protection for them. If you use the installation enclosures, you can do it all before the sheetrock goes up. Much easier. I bought my stuff from <a href="http://htd.com">htd.com</a>. I have found it to work very well, and much less expensive than the usuall sources. The new keypads are nice, wish they had those when I bought mine. :) Decide what system you are going to use before wiring, because they have different wiring requirements. HTD uses a CAT5 from the keypad to the controller and speaker lines run direct from the amp to the speakers. Other systems work differently, so you need to decide that early on and get the wire in the walls for it. <br>
<br>Personally, I didn't bother with conduit. I have a rambler with a full attic, so I had the builder install a 2 inch conduit from the basement to the attic and I can get anywhere I need to from there. For the install I didn't use it, I ran lines in my own area. There was a nice big run between the basement and attic in a section of closet space that was oddly shaped. I drilled a 6" hole in the plywood and ran my cables there. The contractor checked it out and signed off on it, as did the inspector. So that conduit is quite open. I ended up running some coax and cat5 in there for roof mounted dish/antenna and wireless internet. The finished basement is now cut off from new wires though, so if I were doing it again I might run some conduit there. I did run a LOT of wire though, so I doubt I'll need more anytime soon. <br>
<br>Damn this is a long post. :) I'll stop now. Good luck with the install. <br>