Basement setup questions / opinions

[doofwagon]

We have a currently unfinished (roughed in) basement that we plan on finishing in the next year or two. I'd like to get some a "whole" home audio setup going. Here is my current plan, and I was hoping to get some advice on whether this was generally a good idea, and potentially some advice on specifics.

Green - in ceiling speakers (stereo, right? or mono?)

Blue - L, R and C speaker for tv

Yellow - outdoor wall mounted speakers (under covered patio)

Red - my current networking cabinet

My current plan is to put as many of the wiim amps and wiim streamers as possible in the office with the networking gear. The ceilings are 9 ft, am leaning towards some sort of drop ceiling if that makes a difference. Speakers (other than obvious TV audio) will be for music when entertaining or piping sports audio to the other zones.

I'm planning on 4 zones:

TV Zone: the L,R,C speakers (and a floor sub) plus two in ceiling. I know in-ceiling is not recommended for surround, but the floor is concrete, and I don't see a reasonable way of getting speaker wire to stands behind the sofa. Is wireless an option? I'll have an avr at the tv and a wiim pro. Not sure if the wiim pro needs to be at the tv or if it can be in the office.

Bar zone: 2 in-ceiling speakers plus a wiim amp in the office

Pool zone: 2 in-ceiling speakers plus a wiim amp in the office (EDIT: should be in the same zone as bar maybe? I presume I'd need 8 ohm speakers then?)

Outdoor zone: 2 wall mounted speakers plus a wiim amp in the office

Potential others: There is a TV on the patio wall outside, might hook that into the outdoor zone's wiim amp as an input - imagine it would need to be near the TV in that case. We're also looking at doing a home theater in the unfinished storage space, but don't imagine I'll hook that into the wiim system.

Anything you'd do differently? It's all unfinished, so I have a lot of options with running both speaker and networking cable right now.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

A lot to digest.
My few initial thoughts:
I think I'd stick with a 'real' avr for the 5.1 tv setup.
"piping sports audio " - from what source? Radio? tv?
What's the pro at the tv for? To feed (digitally I assume) into the avr for stereo sound using the tv l/r speakers? And / or as a way to get the tv audio to other zones?
How are you controlling all these zones? e.g. most of the wiims come with a remote (maybe not the pro), but using bluetooth they might not work well if the wiims are all locked away in the office.
There are kind of two different greens, right? The surround tv pair which are proper l/r and presuably hooked up to the appropriate avr output., and the bar & pool pairs which could be l/r or mono. I'd wire these up as l/r (but which is which?!) and if you decide mono is better in either zone then simply change that amp's settings to mono so it sends both channels to both speakers.

Looks like fun!

 

[s3igell]

This sort of build-out is where a single multi-zone traditional AVR still has certain benefits over a "set of WiiM Amps" - even if the WiiMs can do Groups.
Do a little research on an AVR such as the Yamaha A6A or A8A. This would do well as a combined system for all but the Office, where a WiiM Amp / Pro would be a good fit. The AVR would handle your 5.1 Audio (both Movie/TV Soundtrack and Music) in the Rec Room / Bar / Pool Room AND also the Patio TV and Music - each could be a "Zone" driven by the AVR. And modern AVRs also provide multi-zone HDMI Video switching (eg: XBox Gaming going on around Sofa while the Football Game is fed to the Patio).

 

[doofwagon]

Welcome.

A lot to digest.
My few initial thoughts:
I think I'd stick with a 'real' avr for the 5.1 tv setup.
"piping sports audio " - from what source? Radio? tv?
What's the pro at the tv for? To feed (digitally I assume) into the avr for stereo sound using the tv l/r speakers? And / or as a way to get the tv audio to other zones?
How are you controlling all these zones? e.g. most of the wiims come with a remote (maybe not the pro), but using bluetooth they might not work well if the wiims are all locked away in the office.
There are kind of two different greens, right? The surround tv pair which are proper l/r and presuably hooked up to the appropriate avr output., and the bar & pool pairs which could be l/r or mono. I'd wire these up as l/r (but which is which?!) and if you decide mono is better in either zone then simply change that amp's settings to mono so it sends both channels to both speakers.

Looks like fun!

the sports audio would be from the tv - basically just be able to better hear a game on the tv from the pool table for instance. Which is also what the pro at the avr is for (and potentially streaming music audio to the avr along with the ceiling speakers)

As far as control, I'm not sure? I don't have any wiim devices currently, but I imagine I'd be using the phone most often.

 

[doofwagon]

This sort of build-out is where a single multi-zone traditional AVR still has certain benefits over a "set of WiiM Amps" - even if the WiiMs can do Groups.
Do a little research on an AVR such as the Yamaha A6A or A8A. This would do well as a combined system for all but the Office, where a WiiM Amp / Pro would be a good fit. The AVR would handle your 5.1 Audio (both Movie/TV Soundtrack and Music) in the Rec Room / Bar / Pool Room AND also the Patio TV and Music - each could be a "Zone" driven by the AVR. And modern AVRs also provide multi-zone HDMI Video switching (eg: XBox Gaming going on around Sofa while the Football Game is fed to the Patio).

That's definitely helpful insight, and I imagine could be more cost effective. Would you still recommend this if I were to plan on at some point having "whole home" audio on our main level as well? I'm thinking at least some outdoor speakers on the deck (above the patio) and in the main living area. That area of the house is finished, and between fire blocking and spray foam insulation in the wall, running cables might be a pain (at least on interior walls). I don't know if I'd ever need ALL of the zones on the same input, but I could certainly see the following groupings:

All basement audio + downstairs outdoor patio + upstairs outdoor patio
All upstairs audio + downstairs outdoor patio + upstairs outdoor patio

Would just hooking the multi-zone avr to a wiim pro be manageable at that point, or do we think managing the zones / sync might be more complicated?

 

[s3igell]

That's definitely helpful insight, and I imagine could be more cost effective. Would you still recommend this if I were to plan on at some point having "whole home" audio on our main level as well? I'm thinking at least some outdoor speakers on the deck (above the patio) and in the main living area. That area of the house is finished, and between fire blocking and spray foam insulation in the wall, running cables might be a pain (at least on interior walls). I don't know if I'd ever need ALL of the zones on the same input, but I could certainly see the following groupings:

All basement audio + downstairs outdoor patio + upstairs outdoor patio
All upstairs audio + downstairs outdoor patio + upstairs outdoor patio

Would just hooking the multi-zone avr to a wiim pro be manageable at that point, or do we think managing the zones / sync might be more complicated?

Any number of WiiM devices can be added to your system (at any time) to expand your audio system into a whole-home system. Positioning a WiiM Pro Plus connected via Coax or Optical (and Trigger-Out) to the Rec Room AVR works well to integrate that room into this whole-home system as a player. And connecting the AVR Zone 3 RCA Out of the A6A / A8A into the RCA In of the Pro Plus (you want the better ADC of the Plus for this) as a Group Master can source audio from the AVR into your whole home, too.
As to "complicated": "That Depends" - on whether your family members are "one button pusher"-type that need Presets setup for them; or whether they relish being able to play with the depth of configuration possibilities. Will the WiiM control the Yamaha (or Denon or..) directly - no. But basic control is only 2-3 taps away with either Remotes or Apps.