I would have to say its just all a matter of taste and your needs. Me personally, if I have the option to have something hardwired versus wireless I'm going to always choose hardwired, thats just my take. I like that fact that when a system is hardwired its going to work whether my internet is working or not! For example, we have a wireless router but I still have hardwired outlets around the house I can plug ethernet cables into as well. It is so much easier and cheaper to run speaker wire and cat5e or cat6 cable while the walls are open. As previously stated unlike Sonos you don't have to carry around a speaker, purchasing multiple expensive speakers nor worry about looking for an outlet/changing batteries. You still have the option of all the internet radio stations, you can control your system from an ipad, phone, etc. and you can listen to any of the different input sources you have (TV, radio, dvd, internet, etc) in any room in the house or outside if you have speakers there. I liked the fact that whole house audio can be done in phases as well and doesn't have to be done all at once since we were watching our cost and are fully aware of how much builders mark these up! I personally ran speaker wire and cat5e wire through out the house, left it behind the drywall and took plenty of pictures (if your builder won't let you run the wire you could always have them just run wire and purchase your equipment later on). We ran 16 gauge 4 conductor wire and cat5e wire from each keypad/volume control location to the central hub in bonus room and ran 16 gauge 2 conductor wire (2) from each keyapd/volume control to each speaker location in each room. This gave us the flexibility to put in any type of whole house audio system we liked. We wired the whole house for 12 zones of audio (6 zone and 6 sub zones). This way I can build my system in pieces and pull wires when I need them to install keypads, volume controls and speakers. I do love the fact that the whole house audio can be tied into our home automation system as well. Whole house audio systems can get expensive but we are going with a mid level HTD system and will be using their speakers or either monoprice. We figure for background music and not critical listening either one of those speakers will fit our needs and you can always order more expensive speakers if you want audiophile quality and feel the need. I'm not completely against Sonos and I do think there is a niche' for it such as if you aren't able to run wire to a certain area or you are just looking for a room or two for music then it would be a great choice. I just would never consider it to replace wiring a whole house for audio. Just my .02 cents! Here is a link that might be useful: HTD

Ponydoc--David suggested several months ago when I was in your boat (total newbie) that I check out www.htd.com for their controller / amps (to connect the audio source--like stereo, CD player, iPod, etc.--to the speakers). I liked what I saw and bought from them. It's a couple of weeks away from being installed, so I can't comment on how I like it, etc., but it has great reviews on the website. Please see an earlier post I started on "whole house audio"; I asked a lot of the same kind of questions you probably have. I just ordered the Squeezebox Duet. I didn't want to miss the sale, but also didn't want it too soon--we won't be moved in for about 4 more weeks. I hope I can at least try it out before the return policy ends.

While the iPad has apps available to talk to the equipment that controls what you desire, I think first you need to look at the cost of that equipment, and that fact that most if not all is only sold through installing dealers. It's an understatement to say that it can get very expensive. Running lighting control circuits should have been addressed prior to installing the existing electrical. Distributing the overall video/TV takes a lot of planning, design, equipment, interfaces, and then pulling a lot of different wire and cable to meet those needs. I really don't mean to sound negative about what you want to do, but it required planning before the build and a substantial budget. You can still run a more traditional system (if you haven't sheet rocked already) by running in-wall stereo speaker wiring, including in-wall volume level controls, to each room and then back to where your entertainment equipment will be - commonly referred to as "home runs". From there, you could find consumer price range equipment to provide you with the ability to provide whole house audio. Once again I don't mean to sound negative, and I don't know your budget, but most of these whole house control systems get into many tens of thousands of dollars.

For anything that needs to be hardwired, RUN CONDUIT. Stnadards are always changing as technology evolves, and what works now may be obsolete in 10, 15, or 20 years. Realize that wireless is better to day than a few years ago, and will likely improve in future years too. But it's best to still hardwire some things. I still prefer hardwired speakers. In my own house, when I built I ran conduit for everything and have all my speakers hardwired. Like a previous poster, I have two 400-CD jukeboxes in my main area that can pipe music anywhere...to any room, outdoors to the pool, etc. A while ago I went over to Sonos for music. It allows my teenagers to listen to what music they want in their rooms, it allows me to listen to what music I want where I am, or my wife where she is...you can pipe different music to different rooms. Easy. It also allows you to play the same source in each room, with it synched up perfectly. The "synch" aspect may not sound important, but we have a couple of friends who have Apple wireless for "whole house" and when they simulcast music to each room, the synching can be off just a tad. Even a tenth or a quarter of a second and it sounds weird. Sonos has control apps so you can run the system with complete control from either a Sonos controller, or from a iPhone or iTouch. It's pretty slick. I prefer the Sonos over my old Niles, and that's a bold statement on my part. Sonos also allows you access to pay sources like Rhapsody and Pandora, plus internet radio. Initially I wasn't interested in that, but we signed up for Rhapsody this summer. It's pretty slick, and at $12 a month it's less than what my kids were paying for iTunes downloads. Several time this summer we'd have friends over and we'd be out at the pool, the conversation would turn to music and if I didn't have that particular song/artist on CD, I'd use my itouch or Sonos controller to call up Rhapsody and play the obscure song or artist that we were talking about. I live in CT, my in-laws were visiting from Wisconsin and my mother-in-law mentioned polka. I called up internet radio and in about 20 seconds I had the radio station from Appleton WI that they listen to back home playing polka out by the pool here in CT. It's pretty cool. Fluff to a certain extent, but the capability is there to listen to what you want when you want, with ease. And without having to do it from your computer. With Sonos, you need a "box" for each area that you want to play independent music in. Figure about $400 per box. Their S5 box is an all-in-one, it looks like a small boom box. They have other stations (ZP100) that plug into an existing stereo or theater setup and you play through those speakers. They have a third type (ZP120) that has a powered amp and you can plug your own speakers into that box. There are other options available too that may suit your needs better than Sonos. I just thought I'd toss Sonos out as an...