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Re: [PLUG] home wiring (data and audio)
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> I'm not sure what the best way to do audio is, and it's not the
> subject of this list. I do know that 100baseT is picky enough (turn
> radii, connectors, etc.) that I'd rather not do it myself, preferring
> someone who can test stuff before the drywall goes up and cements the
> decisions.
Getting the stuff tested is more difficult than you think.
Most non-commercial (ie residential) installers simply don't have a clue.
Even commercial companies usually need to be taught how to test correctly...
The basic problem is that to test an installation "correctly" requires
expensive equipment. (Even "the Fluke" is around $350, and that's a basic a
tool as you can get.) [I can go look-up the real name of the tester, but
everybody calls it "the Fluke," even though it should not be confused with
the $5000 Fluke.... which IS a state of the art tester.]
The "usual" test method is to hang a switch on one end and a PC on the
other and see if you can ping from one to the other. Or maybe, if you are
lucky, they will use a "Fluke" and find the switched pairs.
If you go with a high-end Home-Theater/Home-Automation installer, they
should know how to do the testing, but they don't come cheap. (Off hand, I
don't know any in the area, but there are a couple. I'd have to look them
up.)
It also doesn't matter what you put in, and where you put it -- it will be
on the wrong wall, or behind the China Cupboard. And don't wory about
"future expand-ability." By the time you want to change things, whatever
you installed will be obsolete (as well as in the wrong place).... I just
went through that last weekend upgrading from "stereo" to "5.1 surround
sound."
As for audio, the question is -- what do you mean by Audio? In-wall
speakers so that everybody in the house is forced to listen to the same
dentist office music? (If there is more than 1 person, real houses never
use them.) An Intercom? A set of speakers for the back-yard? Nominally, 16
guage zip-cord is all you need for any kind of extension speaker... simply
because the extensions are crap compared to your main system, so losses
don't mean squat. And despite what you think, you NEVER are willing to put
on a tape or cd (even with a CD jukebox) on in the "music room" (or Home
Theater) in the basement, and hold a party upstairs in the living room...
even with remote IR cabling. It's "cool" the first time; but becomes a
chore everytime after that.
We can chat directly some more or you can stop over (I'm at 45th &
Chestnut).
--
www.tru64unix.compaq.com
www.tru64.org
comp.unix.tru64
T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill Senior Systems Administrator
Information Services and Computing (ISC) University of Pennsylvania
Internet: magill@isc.upenn.edu magill@acm.org
http://www.isc-net.upenn.edu/~magill/
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