edit title: New *to me* Home

SOOOO...moved to a new home and getting the TV and other things figured out but now having a little discussion with the wife on how to handle surround sound.

The den/living room has 4 ceiling speakers. Fairly sure they are original (1993) to the house (not certain but based on how other things were maintained a safe bet).

One potential issue in using them is there was a "whole house" speaker system and we had the main "control panel" in the wall removed as it was 1993 original and an eye sore.

The living room has a cabinet with lots of wires which I am fairly sure somehow tie into the living room ceiling speakers but I am not good w/ technology or wires.

Who or what would be the best way to go about seeing if those speakers are properly wired to maybe retro fit with new speakers and receiver.

That is my wife's preferred approach and I kinda understand why.

I was leaning towards just doing wireless Bose system (soundbar, etc) as probably less work and potentially less money depending on how hard to get the current system back up and running.


Long story short....revive old sound system vs wireless system....

I'd suggest making use of the wires already in the house along with supplemental wireless speakers for other rooms / areas. I'd replace the speakers already in your ceiling and hook them up to a home theater receiver that is compatible with whatever wireless speaker system you want to build around (Sonos, Bose, Heos, etc.). All of the major wireless speaker systems have some sort of receiver that can be used as a group in your system. That would cover sound in your living room and then you could put the wireless speakers strategically in your other rooms so you can beam music to whatever room you want or in every room all at once.

Going with just the wireless speakers however is likely the cheaper option. Even with the Sonos 5 being 500 dollars you are unlikely to find something for that price to replace your speakers and get a wireless compatible receiver. I'm in the Heos wireless system and I have 7 wireless speakers spread out throughout my house and have no complaints other than i was restricted in placement to areas that could reach a plug.

Another option if you don't want to drop the cash / hassle with wired speakers now is to go with the wireless speakers in a couple of key rooms now and eventually build up your wired home theater system later. You can always move the wireless speaker in your living room to a room that didn't have a speaker later once the living room is flushed out.

Seems that watching TV/movies would be odd with speakers well above you. You'll see the TV but sound will be coming from elsewhere.

To me the front speakers should be relatively close to the TV. So that the image and sound are all coming from the same place.

If you/your family aren't really into it, I would just go with a simpler 2.0 setup.

My brother in law has all ceiling speakers for his tv, and I don't like it. When watching something in surround, you can't hear the front speakers since those are directed straight down and are not in front of the couch (closer to the tv than the couch). It works fine for music, though.

AustinAg2K said:

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My brother in law has all ceiling speakers for his tv, and I don't like it. When watching something in surround, you can't hear the front speakers since those are directed straight down and are not in front of the couch (closer to the tv than the couch). It works fine for music, though.

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you can directionally point many in ceiling speakers instead of just down.

Well I forked over another $1K on the 75". Wide approved and actually pushed for it so I took advantage of the opportunity.

The Best Buy Magnolia guy I worked with is going to come to our house and check out our setup and see what it would cost to get it up and running.

....and wow...

Thankfully the Magnolia rep is going to send over some numbers on paper so I can figure out what is happening and how we get there but the numbers they are quoting after a walkthrough this morning (I was in attendance via facetime) seem EXTREMELY high to get our current system up and running...includes about 10 speaker replacements but the initial range of home system update is like $7K - $10K....

C@LAg said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Well I forked over another $1K on the 75". Wide approved and actually pushed for it so I took advantage of the opportunity. .

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How wide is she?

And you better hope she does not see this.

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Hah! She has never been on Texags so I am safe...

Not sure if you are still in Plano but I'm in the area (Allen/Lucas) and well equipped to help with this. I just went through a similar setup in March when we moved to our new home. The house had 4 in-ceiling speakers, as well as a in-wall center channel and sub. We ended up adding the two fronts (Next to TV) to make it a 7.1 system for the living room. We also added a few Sonos boxes to drive the rest of our whole home audio.

I'd be happy to stop by, take a look and give you my perspective. You can do a complete home setup for way cheaper than that. Just let me know if you'd like some free help from a fellow Ag.

C@LAg said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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....and wow...

Thankfully the Magnolia rep is going to send over some numbers on paper so I can figure out what is happening and how we get there but the numbers they are quoting after a walkthrough this morning (I was in attendance via facetime) seem EXTREMELY high to get our current system up and running...includes about 10 speaker replacements but the initial range of home system update is like $7K - $10K....

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They are the audio Geek Squad of Best Buy. What do you expect.

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I really like the guy I worked with through Magnolia. He did confirm our den/living speakers work and appear to be relatively new. I think we just need a receiver/amp to get that up and running.

I am going to go ahead and call Starpower i think to come out too.

Any other groups I should check out?

I don't think it will be that hard to get things going but I am just not very good w/ wires / etc. I wish I was better or had teh time to figure out but I don't. I honestly think the hardest part will be figuring where the wires for the outdoor speakers go as I would like to be able to listen to sports while hanging out at the pool....

I should have added that we included an outdoor TV and tied speakers on the back patio and pool to the TV and whole home audio with Sonos via a couple of amps and a Sonos sound bar for TV. Didn't have to run any cables and it works amazing! Can watch TV or listen to runs from the pool or patio.

Sounds like you could use a similar setup.

ExPLK said:

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Not sure if you are still in Plano but I'm in the area (Allen/Lucas) and well equipped to help with this. I just went through a similar setup in March when we moved to our new home. The house had 4 in-ceiling speakers, as well as a in-wall center channel and sub. We ended up adding the two fronts (Next to TV) to make it a 7.1 system for the living room. We also added a few Sonos boxes to drive the rest of our whole home audio.

I'd be happy to stop by, take a look and give you my perspective. You can do a complete home setup for way cheaper than that. Just let me know if you'd like some free help from a fellow Ag.

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I am still in Plano and may very well take you up on this.

As i said in a post just before this (right after your post), I honestly believe getting what we want done will not be too hard but I just lack knowledge in that area and I typically stay in my own lane and know where to DIY and where not to. I don't think we have setup for the in-wall center channel and sub.

They (magnolia) are going to break things down for me a bit more so I can see where the money is being spent and then can reach back out. Hopefully in a day or two.

I am guessing this isnt your day job but just something you enjoy doing? I will have to be able to explain it to the wife haha...granted she knows about 90% of people we use on our house come from a Texags referral...

ExPLK said:

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I should have added that we included an outdoor TV and tied speakers on the back patio and pool to the TV and whole home audio with Sonos via a couple of amps and a Sonos sound bar for TV. Didn't have to run any cables and it works amazing! Can watch TV or listen to runs from the pool or patio.

Sounds like you could use a similar setup.

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Basically hit the nail on the head but we are not 100% sure we want to do a TV at the time...

Sounds good. Also happy to show you my setup too, if you think it would help. My email address is below if you want to chat offline.

terryderrick AT hotmail

Thanks! I will most likely be in touch within the next week or so.

I'd avoid using Best Buy/Magnolia. I'd imagine they make a killing on labor, accessories, wiring, etc. when doing projects like these.

I'm pretty confident they try to sell you monster cables with that extra gold shielding every chance they get. Lol

But my first choice but they did a free assessment and are going to give me a comprehensive breakdown on cost so will be good to get a baseline and see what is driving the cost.

I was getting my hair cut and my guy just opened a new salon. He just had new sound installed. 3 zones and 10 speakers and some other things and came in around 3K. Sounds much better to me than 7K+

The house actually has monster cables already. Extra shiny gold.

ExPLK said:

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Not sure if you are still in Plano but I'm in the area (Allen/Lucas) and well equipped to help with this. I just went through a similar setup in March when we moved to our new home. The house had 4 in-ceiling speakers, as well as a in-wall center channel and sub. We ended up adding the two fronts (Next to TV) to make it a 7.1 system for the living room. We also added a few Sonos boxes to drive the rest of our whole home audio.

I'd be happy to stop by, take a look and give you my perspective. You can do a complete home setup for way cheaper than that. Just let me know if you'd like some free help from a fellow Ag.

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Damn, too bad you don't live in Houston, I'd take you up on this offer. I'm in the same exact boat as the OP, house has existing living room built in's with wires coming out of the wall, I just have no clue how to take advantage of what's there.

So just got the quote from the "friend of a friend" contact.

To replace all 8 ceiling speakers + 2 amps (sonos) + zone selector + outdoor speakers is $3,700.

The speakers he is quoting me are Elura. I have tried to do some research on them but there is not a ton of information on them. Seem to be relatively new and definitely an installer brand (won't find at Best Buy). They seem to have done some collaboration with Sonance but i dont think they did with the lower line we would likely be using.

All-in-all, not a terrible quote. I think I can wiggle him down just a bit especially on labor. His prices on the equipment are exactly what you would pay online but I have to assume he gets a tad cheaper but could be wrong.

We can save money by not replacing the speakers in the living as those are relatively new. We can save more money by just using 1 amp but then limiting ability to use zones differently.

I am going to get my Best Buy #s this weekend and Starpower is coming by tomorrow.

To add more info and maybe get some information if anyone has it...

The quote is for Elura Red Label. That is the "entry" level. Installer sold only (can't go to Best Buy).

He can up me to their mid-level for like $25 more per speaker and it is a speaker that was designed with Sonance so considering that as an option.

For outdoor, again, it was Elura but he can also do Definitive Tech at a decent discount but still more than Elura.

I think our outdoor is probably where I would actually like the best speakers because its a fairly large back yard.

Anyone with thoughts/knowledge on Elura vs Definitive Technology would love to hear it.

If you're interested, I'm selling my entire system (in ceilings, projector, screen, etc). But I also have a buddy that does home theater installs that is better and cheaper than Magnolia and the like. If you want any more details on anything let me know.

Just my $0.02, but think a little about where the speakers will go and how you will use them.

For speakers that will be part of the TV/Home Theater/Living room area, spend a little extra on those. You'll use them day in and day out. You'll also want the better quality since you're often focused on the TV.

For whole-house audio, you really don't need high-end speakers. Typically, you turn those on when you are doing something else and just want background noise. I don't have any experience with the Elura line, but considering the cheapest pair is $350, that's a little steep. (You'll need a pair for stereo audio.) You can get a decent set of in-ceiling Polks for $130/pair.

I'm right in the middle of doing what you are as well. We just bought a house in Murphy and gutted it doing a pretty substantial renovation. I pulled a ton of network and audio wire through the house to do the same thing. I'd be happy to come take a look and identify what you've got since I still have all the tools out. (ExPLK is a great resource as well...we work together at the same company.)

Thanks for the offer!

I think you have more of a home theater setup than what we need. We don't need projector or screen etc. I am needing 8 ceiling speakers and maybe 2 outdoor speakers (once we confirm how they sound after getting an amp attached).

Thanks for the thoughts and Appreciate the offer!

The speakers he quoted are $124 each (248 a pair) so not quite as high as yours but not as cheap as the Polk.

We have a kitchen remodel looming so I think we just decided are going to make final decisions after that (mid May?).If we come under budget on the kitchen remodel (haha) then we can spend more on speakers. If we go over (should I say 'when') we won't be mad if we spent money on speakers.