I'm building a new home and have had some folks do the prewire for 16 zones (yes, its a big house). They ran wire for distributed audio, cat5e for network/phone/audiocontrol/other, rg6 for cable/cameras/projectors, and cat5e to light switches for ALC. As has been pointed out here many times, when in doubt, run more wire. I think we estimated that 5 miles of wire was installed. But the walls are still open, so maybe more!?!? One guy said, "Looks like you're insulating the house with wire, eh?". All the wire meets in a 5x6 wiring closet where we have 2 large panels and I envision a rack (for a/v equipment) and space for 2 or 3 computer servers.
My current concern is how the audio will be distributed and controlled. My installers tell me that the various models of 4-source 6-zone controllers can be daisy-chained to support this number of zones. (Because 4 of the zones are outside, I'd like to have 40+ watts RMS). I'd like to be able to select and control the source as well as volume in each zone. I suppose the cat5e will facilitate that. But its not clear to me what these wires would attach to ... and in turn how they attach to the audio sources, given the large number of zones.
Can anyone here lay out my options for handling this many zones? Of course, I'd like your recommendations too.
By the way, I plan on installing an HAI OmniProII (though I have no great interest in PLC or X-10). The installer recommends an OnQ solution, but the HAI (which manufactures both) seems to be a superset and not badly priced. I felt the OmniProII provided additional options, whether I ever use them or not.
I know the world of home automation, etc. can change quickly. Maybe that's the excuse for no one writing a good, detailed book on the subject. (But it never stopped folks in the software world. I've got more obsolete dead trees on my bookshelves than I care to admit). Does the Holy Grail of HA, aka documentation, actually exist somewhere?
Any comments would be appreciated.