Wiring a House for Audio

Monday, 31 March 2025

How Aurum Creates Integrated Home Audio Experiences

When building or renovating a luxury home, thoughtful audio planning ensures music and sound become integral to your living experience, not an afterthought. Whole-home audio systems require a balance of performance and aesthetics in everyday living areas. At Aurum Home Technology, we take an engineering-oriented approach to audio system design, developing comprehensive plans that specify exact speaker placements, wiring paths, and equipment requirements. Through detailed documentation and coordination with architects and designers, we ensure your audio system delivers exceptional sound while respecting your home's design integrity.

Speaker Selection and Placement

Selecting the right speakers for each space requires balancing performance, aesthetics, and architectural considerations. For discreet installations, architectural speakers recessed in ceilings or walls offer excellent sound while minimizing visual impact. Small aperture speakers provide exceptional audio from openings as small as 2-3 inches, while completely invisible speakers can be installed behind wall surfaces and finished over, becoming undetectable once painted, wallpapered, or even hidden behind perforated paneling.

Room dimensions directly influence optimal speaker placement. In larger rooms, we might specify additional speakers to ensure even coverage, while smaller spaces might require just a stereo pair. Room proportions matter too—long, narrow spaces often benefit from speakers placed along the length rather than at the ends. We carefully calculate coverage patterns and speaker density to provide consistent sound levels throughout each space, accounting for ceiling heights, hard surfaces, and furniture placement.

Network-powered audio solutions like Savant's IP Audio simplify installation by combining power, control, and audio signals over a single Ethernet cable. This approach reduces wiring complexity while enabling advanced features like individual volume control for each speaker and simplified system expansion.

For TV sound, we can specify left, right, and center channel architectural models that integrate seamlessly and blend well with the size of the TV display. In addition, ceiling or rear-wall integrated speakers can deliver a surround sound experience for movies, sports, and shows.

Infrastructure Planning

Proper infrastructure planning forms the foundation of any high-performance audio system. For traditional speakers, we specify appropriate wire gauges and types based on installation distances and performance requirements. While standard 16-gauge wire suffices for most installations, longer runs may require heavier 14-gauge or 12-gauge cable to prevent signal degradation. For network-powered solutions, we design structured wiring paths using high-quality Category 6 or 6A cable, ensuring reliable data transmission and future expandability.

All wiring converges at centralized equipment locations, where audio sources, amplifiers, and control processors reside. Our detailed documentation specifies precise cable routes, conduit requirements, and junction box locations to ensure proper installation during construction. This attention to infrastructure details eliminates troubleshooting later and provides pathways for future system expansion or technology upgrades.

Integration with whole-home control systems requires additional planning. We coordinate audio zone assignments with lighting scenes, climate settings, and other automated functions to create cohesive environmental experiences. This sophisticated level of integration depends entirely on thorough infrastructure planning and cross-system documentation.

Documentation and Coordination

Comprehensive documentation drives successful audio system implementation. Our reflective ceiling plans (RCPs) precisely map every speaker location, indicating model types, orientation, and relationships to lighting fixtures and other ceiling elements. These detailed drawings serve as reference points for multiple trades during construction, preventing conflicts and ensuring proper spacing and alignment.

We collaborate closely with architects and interior designers to ensure speaker locations complement the overall design aesthetic. We also provide specific rough-in requirements for builders and electricians, including back-box specifications, wiring diagrams, and mounting details. This coordination extends to HVAC contractors, ensuring air diffusers and speakers don't compete for ceiling space.

Detailed equipment specifications and rack layouts complete the documentation package, providing a comprehensive technical roadmap for installation. This level of detail eliminates guesswork and ensures that your audio system is built exactly as designed, with no surprises during the finishing stages.

The Aurum Difference

At Aurum Home Technology, our audio design process begins with understanding how you'll use each space in your home. We consider your listening preferences, room functions, and aesthetic requirements before developing a tailored audio plan. Our engineering team creates detailed documentation that guides installation from rough-in through final calibration, ensuring exceptional performance and seamless integration with your home's design.

This methodical approach extends beyond installation to system optimization. Once the equipment is installed, we precisely calibrate each zone, adjusting levels and equalization to account for room acoustics and furnishings. The result is a whole-home audio experience that delivers exceptional sound without compromising your home's aesthetic integrity.

Ready to explore audio solutions for your luxury home? Contact Aurum Home Technology to discover how our engineering-first approach enhances your listening experience.