Home Cinema, A/V, Lighting, Automation Build Thread/Progress Blog

[DannyR]

Well, I've wanted to do one of these for a little while now, but I tend to forget halfway through and stop taking photos. Fortunately I'm currently on a massive job and able to take my time and get it looking spot on.

So the spec is as follows;

3/4 Bedroom house with Pool and Gym wanting Multi Room Audio, Lighting Control, Dedicated Cinema Room, Whole house Data/Telephone/TV, Automation, Video Entry, CCTV etc.... Basically everything we do in one job!

So hopefully this will interest a few, I know a few people on here are in a similar business to myself and is always good for feedback from like minded people.


I started doing the drawings and marking up every place we would need cables too about 18 months ago. The size of the house isn't your average 3/4 bedroom house, the attic room is around 100m square, with 3 bedrooms below and then an open plan living, dining kitchen area. This then leads onto a corridor which goes to the gym and pool or down to the basement and cinema room.

The electricians then ran in all our cables using our drawings and schedules, the wires for the pool room still aren't in yet as the building isn't complete.

In the mean time, I was specifying equipment to the customer and seeing what we could put in equipment wise. We would be using all Middle Atlantic Racking as to be honest there isn't anything better. This is what I came up with.

Also specced individual rooms but we won't know final products until we come closer to install.

DAY 1

This is what I came too in the basement,

I used a 37U Space DWR rack which allows me to fold it back to the wall and still able to get in behind for install and any other changes later on are made so much easier.

So backplate on and I could start tidying the cables. The cable were run in in most instance before they even knew where they would be terminated, hence there being about 15m spare on most runs!

Whilst doing this I stripped all the cables out of the cable trays and re done the tidying myself, I may be a little OCD.

But the end of the day the cabinet was looking like this

That was the end of the day, its very time consuming having to feed cables of that length through and being able to tidy them, for anyone that knows a massive bundle of free cable like that isn't the lightest!

 

[Bluebeard]

Holy s**t! How much are they spending??

 

[DannyR]

DAY 2

Involved more tidying of cables and getting some into place for the Sonos Connect:AMPs. We did spec higher equipment than Sonos as its nothing specialist in all honesty, but customer didn't want to pay extra and Sonos does what it does relatively well.

As you can see all the Cat6 (Beige) cable has been cut back to a more manageable length, each individual one is labelled so this took a good half a day! Then getting the speaker cables (Pink) tidy in the afternoon. Was starting to become a bit more manageable.

Over these two days the site electrician has been wiring up our iLight lighting racks which will be doing all the control, using 0-10v on most if the lighting circuits which are LED.

Also previous to this I have started to cut out speaker holes on the first and second floors. These will be Bowers & Wilkins CCM665's and terminated inside B&W BBC6 acoustic enclosures.

 

[Russ_16v]

Looking great mate!

I know naff all about this type of stuff, but my brother owns an electrician company and I talk to him a lot about the jobs he does - It's amazing where some people pull a couple of hundred thousand quid from to renovate a house!

 

[Euan94]

Jesus!

I thought the wiring I had to do at work was bad! That looks hellish! Although I would appreciate a good bit of cable tray in my house

 

[realnumber 1]

Looks tidy! I'd love to get into home AV/networking like that. Already work in IT so know that side and into my AV also ... What qualifications to you need to do the AV side?

Is it not missing a UPS for the CCTV?

 

[DannyR]

DAY 3 (Today)

Had some audio cables and CCTV cables left to tidy so got those done first thing, most audio cables are audio back from the televisions in the dedicated areas.

Also started getting some of the equipment for the termination of the Cat6 cables and cable tidies for those installed.

And also fitted the thermostatic controller and two top mounted cooling fans, I have since bolted this in not leaving it cable tied

Unfortunately this is where the photos stop today, I came back from lunch and the corridor leading to this room, where all my tools and other equipment to install was, was absolutely soaked. Plumbers had plumbed something to a wrong pipe and it flooded in from a pipe on the ground floor and leaked through as so far only the concrete floors are in. I was then moving and drying it when the f**king thing done it again soaking me so I packed up my s**t and fucked off.

Won't be back for another week as the floor to the basement/gym/pool area is being screeded. Currently doing an order for all the faceplates for our bits and pieces and then the downstairs speakers to cut out. Having to work around the decorator as I don't fancy messing his paint work up.

I'll keep this updated everyday I visit.

 

[DB.]

Will keep an eye on this!

 

[DannyR]

Holy s**t! How much are they spending??

Just on our side of stuff I imagine could buy me a nice little house!

Looking great mate!

I know naff all about this type of stuff, but my brother owns an electrician company and I talk to him a lot about the jobs he does - It's amazing where some people pull a couple of hundred thousand quid from to renovate a house!

This guy just sold his business for A LOT, and I mean a lot!

Jesus!

I thought the wiring I had to do at work was bad! That looks hellish! Although I would appreciate a good bit of cable tray in my house

What do you do Euan?

Looks tidy! I'd love to get into home AV/networking like that. Already work in IT so know that side and into my AV also ... What qualifications to you need to do the AV side?

Is it not missing a UPS for the CCTV?

I luckily fell into the job, I have no "real" qualifications apart from my GCSEs

Started at 18 doing similar work all over the country in boardrooms and schools, started getting fed up of working 4AM to 8PM most days and getting nothing extra for it and found the current job I have 5 years ago. It's only me and another bloke, he looks after the sales side, speccing jobs and helping out installing when needed and I get to spec jobs and install/program.

We've never used UPS' for any of our jobs but none have ever been this big. I may suggest that though as sounds like a good idea thank you!

 

[realnumber 1]

I luckily fell into the job, I have no "real" qualifications apart from my GCSEs

Started at 18 doing similar work all over the country in boardrooms and schools, started getting fed up of working 4AM to 8PM most days and getting nothing extra for it and found the current job I have 5 years ago. It's only me and another bloke, he looks after the sales side, speccing jobs and helping out installing when needed and I get to spec jobs and install/program.

We've never used UPS' for any of our jobs but none have ever been this big. I may suggest that though as sounds like a good idea thank you!

Lucky sod then ha!!
Not sure quite sure how it'll all work but it'd need some kind of UPS/generator incase for the door system, cctv etc.
I thought about doing this type of thing (on a much smaller scale lol) with my jobs on the side... At least I know who to ask for help now.

 

[Flat Eric]

This is dead interesting. I'll be keeping up with this as you go along.

Those bloody plumbers! What they like ay

 

[Rubicon_]

You have such a cool job! I'd love the satisfaction of looking at it when finished and thinking I done all that lol.

 

[DannyR]

Lucky sod then ha!!
Not sure quite sure how it'll all work but it'd need some kind of UPS/generator incase for the door system, cctv etc.
I thought about doing this type of thing (on a much smaller scale lol) with my jobs on the side... At least I know who to ask for help now.

Was very lucky to get where I am now, but nice to know I've worked up!

If the entry panel and gate wouldn't open its always got manual override, we've never had any issues before, most power outages are usually a very short period of time. If anything major was needed to be done we would do it. Also the thermostatic controllers aren't allowed to be UPS'd either, if the question comes up ill think of you now and tell you!

CCTV isn't too much of a worry, its more a deterrent than recording anything happening 99% of the time.

 

[Euan94]

I work at a post graduate Uni as an apprentice technician. So I build, run and maintain the rigs on the research side of things.

I wire up a lot of thermocouples to take temperature readings around the rigs, the last rig I did had about 80 to wire up and I swear I was getting depressed by the end. Don't think I could cope with the amount of wires you have there

 

[DannyR]

This is dead interesting. I'll be keeping up with this as you go along.

Those bloody plumbers! What they like ay

Pissed me off more that all my tools and paperwork were soaked and they didn't even apologise just laughed about it!

You have such a cool job! I'd love the satisfaction of looking at it when finished and thinking I done all that lol.

Thank you, I love my job and this part is my favourite just making it look a tidy job, it makes all the difference!

I work at a post graduate Uni as an apprentice technician. So I build, run and maintain the rigs on the research side of things.

I wire up a lot of thermocouples to take temperature readings around the rigs, the last rig I did had about 80 to wire up and I swear I was getting depressed by the end. Don't think I could cope with the amount of wires you have there

Sounds very interesting, I think after the Cat6's I'll be depressed. Each one has 8 cores and got about 100 to terminate! Nigh on 800 bloody terminations! And that's just the rack side, let alone all the sockets!

 

[realnumber 1]

Was very lucky to get where I am now, but nice to know I've worked up!

If the entry panel and gate wouldn't open its always got manual override, we've never had any issues before, most power outages are usually a very short period of time. If anything major was needed to be done we would do it. Also the thermostatic controllers aren't allowed to be UPS'd either, if the question comes up ill think of you now and tell you!

CCTV isn't too much of a worry, its more a deterrent than recording anything happening 99% of the time.

Cool, suppose just putting the cctv on UPS might be an idea depending on how paranoid these people are lol...

 

[DannyR]

Cool, suppose just putting the cctv on UPS might be an idea depending on how paranoid these people are lol...

Yea that's a good idea, I reckon I'll put one in as he will go for pretty much everything we specify as long as he knows we aren't trying to have him over.

 

[Euan94]

Sounds very interesting, I think after the Cat6's I'll be depressed. Each one has 8 cores and got about 100 to terminate! Nigh on 800 bloody terminations! And that's just the rack side, let alone all the sockets!

Well good luck with that haha!
I look forward to following this as I do appreciate nice tidy wiring.

 

[Daz.]

I used to do this for a living.

f**king loved it. Hated the travelling though so jacked it in.

 

[DannyR]

I used to do this for a living.

f**king loved it. Hated the travelling though so jacked it in.

That was why I jacked my first job in doing this. We're lucky that we rarely have to go out of East Anglia. We have a good client base with being very good contacts from architects so usually end up on a lot of jobs through them. Also if they're saying to use us it gives it a bit more backing and more confidence for the customer.

 

[Scrooge]

What lighting you having in?
I do all the MK astral projects, easily the best smart lighting system IMO.
We also work closely with Dianemo allowing everything to be interfaced and controlled via iOS software

 

[DannyR]

What lighting you having in?
I do all the MK astral projects, easily the best smart lighting system IMO.
We also work closely with Dianemo allowing everything to be interfaced and controlled via iOS software

We are using Cooper Controls iLight for the control and the fittings are a mix of Bruck, Abstract and some others which I forget the name of.

We don't push any iOS capabilities, although it is, because who really wants to get the iPad out to mess around with lights. It's easier to go in your room and turn the lights on at the wall. Most smaller rooms such as utilities and bathrooms are all on PIRs anyway.

Most of our customers want something simple to use and want to press one button and it works.

I think we do have a gateway in for this job though as when it was all delivered to site I remember checking that on the list.

 

[Scrooge]

I know what you're saying, we thought the same so we have wall controls as well as ipad/iOS incompatibilities. We also like to control everything from one place so if that'ss viewing cctv, putting a film and setting a moody light scene it can all be done it one place.

If you're installing a lot of these i'd definitely say look at MK Astral as a lighting option, someone I know on here has got it and they were blown away by it.

 

[mace¬]

Thats just mind boggling and I don't understand it. I thought my mates house was modern and futuristic because he had chrome light switches. This sort of goes one step further.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

someone I know on here has got it and they were blown away by it.

Dodgy wiring ?

 

[Scrooge]

Remember that video I posted for you mace of me controlling the blinds with my ipad?

 

[mace¬]

I was very impressed.

Got one controlling the toilet seat?

 

[Deeg]

Mental.

I need to sort the wires for my very basic AV set up, and haven't got round to it yet, ha.

 

[Cookie]

When I finally get my own place, I will do something similar. I can get hold of discarded cable from our datacentres, free racks and switches too. Just the actual AV stuff that can get to stupid money.

Good job on it so far. Terminating cables is a f**king nightmare, but at least you aren't having to splice fibre.

 

[DB.]

I don't understand why this is so advanced for a 3/4 bedroomed house? I'm going to show what an idiot I am here, although it is an area that really interests me. Why go to all this hassle, when you can quite easily just plug stuff into the nearest sockets, hide the wires and have a few lights set up to turn on and off via remote/ipad and it will all look very plush etc?

Seems like a hell of a lot of work, but not quite sure why so much if that makes sense?

 

[DannyR]

When I finally get my own place, I will do something similar. I can get hold of discarded cable from our datacentres, free racks and switches too. Just the actual AV stuff that can get to stupid money.

Good job on it so far. Terminating cables is a f**king nightmare, but at least you aren't having to splice fibre.

That's where I get lucky too, once I get my house I can get discarded cable and AV stuff at trade price

We get another company in to do our fibre terminations, the tools are too expensive for the once or twice we would use them in a year. We run about 200m of fibre to the bottom of a guys garden for his shed once.

I don't understand why this is so advanced for a 3/4 bedroomed house? I'm going to show what an idiot I am here, although it is an area that really interests me. Why go to all this hassle, when you can quite easily just plug stuff into the nearest sockets, hide the wires and have a few lights set up to turn on and off via remote/ipad and it will all look very plush etc?

Seems like a hell of a lot of work, but not quite sure why so much if that makes sense?

It's not you average 3/4 bedroom house, its massive, the two secondary bedrooms are probably the floor plan of a standard house. He didn't need loads of bedrooms so just made the rooms he needed with masses of space.

Think of it this way, you get home at night and have to find your iPad to turn your lights on. That isn't going to work. Each room has a seven button keypad, usually 4 scenes, 2 for curtains, LEDs or dimming and an off. When its a new building you'd be stupid not to put the cables in, it would work out cheaper too as all the voids and holes to hide cables are already there. There isn't any hassle involved at all.

Everything nowadays is Internet capable so our standard TV point is 2 Coax and 2 Cat6 cables, if speakers are present in that room then an audio cable will also be run. By having 2 Coax, this allows us to have a TV and 2 Satellite feeds and 2 Cat6's allows us to send full HD to any TV.

 

[DB.]

Ah ok, I get it, cheers, Never knew how complicated it could get!

 

[Jamie86]

Looks like a nice job Dan,
I try and get some sneaky pics when we do a silly amount of cabling.

Today alone we installed around 60 4-core fibres which is fun!

What Cat6 are you using? Got the the new brand-rex modules on this job and they are crap!

Seems mental to me seeing a 40U cab in someones house though!

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

Can't wait to see the progress on this.

School I work in was rewired with Cat6 just after I started, around 300 cables in said cab. I had the job of patching it all up correctly (didn't have to terminate anything) and I still feel for you.

 

[DannyR]

Looks like a nice job Dan,
I try and get some sneaky pics when we do a silly amount of cabling.

Today alone we installed around 60 4-core fibres which is fun!

What Cat6 are you using? Got the the new brand-rex modules on this job and they are crap!

Seems mental to me seeing a 40U cab in someones house though!

Sounds good! No idea what Cat6 it is, usually just use Excel stuff. Nothing too specialist as its really not needed in a house!

That's a 35U cabinet and for the multi-room audio and data/telephone bits. Still a 40U rolling rack to go in for the AV bits!

 

[Steve]

AMX or Crestron control?

 

[DannyR]

RTI, I used Crestron for a couple of years and used to program Crestron Systems but they're a ball ache to program.

RTI is simpler to programme and they have the best iPad app I've ever used for this kind of thing.

Whole house will be controlled by 2 x iPads and 3 x RTI T1B's based in the main rooms at all times.

 

[DannyR]

And Crestron is very expensive for the processors and the like.

 

[Cookie]

We've just had to order 3 spare batteries for our Crestron control thing we use in one of our AV suites at work. They are a fucktonne of money, for absolutely sod all.

 

[Christopher.]

Is it sad I'm getting moist over that cabling ?

Nice work mate, A/V and custom builds is something I'd like to get in to in a couple of years time. Spent my last few years on CCTV and data cabs. Dabbled in A/V before but not too that extent.

Again great work.