Hi all, hoping to get some validation, encouragement,
advice, or “you’re crazy” for a new project we’re undertaking.
We made a decision to go into the custom home building
business after I was “put out to pasture” from the company
I worked at for the last 20 years. Even though my field
was senior IT management I built houses in Michigan in
the 70’s but moved on when interest rates reached an all-time
high while at the same time the auto industry was tanking.
Prior to our current endeavor we sold our custom home
in the Baltimore area that was built three years ago.
It’s a home that I designed but built by a well regarded
custom home builder (who has given us much encouragement
to enter the custom home business). We had what I considered
to be a very good audio/video system at our last house
and my plan is to incorporate much of the design into
the current home we are building but still have some reservations
and would love to get some feedback.

Last house. Audio distribution was 2 B&K CT610’s. Also
used these for IR distribution (Xantech) but not for
video distribution. Sources were 4 DirecTv receivers,
(2) 400 disc CD changers running through an Escient TuneBase
200, DVD player, and XM. We had 17 pairs of speakers
inside and 5 pairs outside that made up our 12 zones.

Video distribution was all modulated. Modulated sources
were 6 DirecTv receivers, Escient , DVD player, and 4
cameras. Cameras were combination of standalone and Channel
Vision doorbell cameras. The modulators and distribution
equipment was a combination of Open House, Channel Plus,
and Channel Vision.

All equipment was housed in Middle Atlantic racks.

Control as I mentioned above was through the CT610’s using
MX-700’s. We also had one CK1.2 keypad but was not real
thrilled with it. It was in the bar area where we played
with the Escient a lot, but without any type of transport
control it was much easier to use a remote.

Trying to transition from this setup to where I want to
go now is my quandary. As far as audio, I love, love,
love the B&K. The CD’s are now a thing of the past since
my wife has now amassed a library of over 50,000 MP3’s.

The video is where I’m stuck. At the last place we only
had one HD receiver. That was in the lower level theater
where all of the equipment was housed and didn’t run through
the modulated system. In the new project I would like
to move HD at least a few other places but not sure where
to go. I know we could go with a video matrix (even something
like the B&K HD6) but that presents it’s own problems.
We might have a bunch of people over for Sunday NFL and
have 7 or 8 different games going on at the same time
in the basement. Typically, no sound is on the TV’s
but music is playing but if someone wants to get the sound
for a minute for the game there are fixed on they grab
the remote and turn up the volume on that TV. At the
same time most of the time my wife and I are listening
to music we have something on the TV for video background.

Long story short, my most immediate decision right now
is what cable to pull for video. If I was modulating
all video sources like before, one RG6 to each location
would be sufficient but I believe if that’s all I did
I would regret it in the long run.

I know this is a long post but any feedback, criticism,
or advice is appreciated.