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Prewiring or not? And HT suggestions needed.

#1
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10/8/09 at 9:21am
  • Joined: October 2009
  • Post Count: 2
Hi, guys,
I have two questions.
1.Prewiring or not? 
Right now I am buying a new home. The prewiring for 5.1 HT in the home is prices as 600 dollars. Is that worth the money?  What is the bad thing if I do the wiring by myself after I move in without any prewiring? I heard that it's easy to do it by yourself if your home has a crwal foundation. BTW, I plan to put 900 for the speakers and receiver.

2. What to buy?
My main purpose is to watch video and listen to music, about 6:4. My family room is about 21x15, and it's open to Dinette and Kitchen which are about 18x19 totally. My budget is under 1000 bucks for speakers and receiver. My plan: Onkyo tx-sr607; Energy classic 5 5.0 speakers; Polk PSW10 10-inch subwoofer.
Are these fitting my room? I feel it is difficult to put two rear speakers since it's open. Then how about if I just use two front, central, and the subwoofer?

Thanks for any suggestion.

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#2
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10/8/09 at 12:09pm
  • Joined: January 2004
  • Location: Mechanicsburg, PA
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1.  Don't prewire.  There is no flexibility when putting the speakers in.  Plus, you can do it for less ($100-$200).

2. That is a very big room for such a small sub.  Take the money you save from the prewire and put it towards a good internet direct sub. 
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#3
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10/10/09 at 11:40am
  • Joined: November 2008
  • Post Count: 141
Don't pay $600 to pre wire.  One of the best times to put in your wires is when you have your carpeting installed.  Your installer can run your speaker wires under your carpet in the area between the tack strips and the wall.   
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#4
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10/10/09 at 1:46pm
  • Joined: December 2003
  • Location: Charlotte, NC
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Ask your builder if you can do the prewire yourself before the drywall goes up.  The best time to do this is after the electrician has done his work (if you prewire first, the electrician may decide to run power through the same holes as your speaker cables).

If you are working with a large, national builder they will probably say 'no.'  If you are working with a custom or local builder they may be more flexible.

If you do prewire, I would run two separate subwoofer drops to give you a little flexibility with placement.

Running wire afterwards isn't too bad (if you have a crawlspace), but I would still prefer getting in there pre-drywall than cutting holes in my brand new walls.
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#5
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10/10/09 at 1:58pm
  • Joined: January 2008
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Never hurts to ask if you can prewire, my builder was a prick and he surprisingly let me after the electricial was done.  I went with in ceiling speakers and he even allowed that, being that the drywallers had to work around my supports.  I didn't prewire for my sub though but the way I wired my speakers is I basically just ran two separate speaker wires from each speaker utilizing opposite corners of my walk through living room with a speaker plate.  It's worked great. 

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#6
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10/10/09 at 10:11pm
  • Joined: October 2009
  • Post Count: 2
Thanks, guys. I plan not to prewire. I do have crawl space. It should be easy to build the wires for that. And I also got some suggestion about wireless rear speakers. Those are also good choice for me.
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