You'll need an amp that can power any/all of the speakers, and some sort of impedance matching component to put between your amp and the speakers so you don't burn out your amp driving those speakers. The impedance matching device can either be an impedance-matching speaker selector box that you can locate where all the speaker wires home run to, or you can install an impedance matching volume control in each room of your house. With ethernet and computers there are myriad options out there. But on a low budget, you can hardwire the house with a few spools of 14ga speaker wire, which is DIY, ceiling or wall speakers, which are DIY, your existing stereo (if the amp is up to snuff), and the aforementioned impedance matching device. If you install volume controllers for each room, they are DIY install and are about $30-$40 each. Tangent alert: I just bought a Sonos setup. Started with a 2-unit set-up, then once I gave it a trial run, I bought three more components. I absolutely love it, and use the 5 components to play music in 7 rooms. The same or different music in each room. With Pandora and Rhapsody, I think my two 400-CD jukeboxes may not be seeing much action. The Sonos remotes are fabulous. I also downloaded a free application to use an iTouch as a controller, but it's not as nifty as the Sonos remote.

Well, you point the remote at the device you wish to control, however, human nature always makes you want to point it at the television. If the cable box and television are roughly in the same area, the cable box will hopefully "see" the remote control's IR (infrared) signal. If they are too far away, or if the A/V components are in a cabinet, you can purchase an "IR repeater". The repeater consists of a IR receiver which you discreetly place near the television. It then sends the IR signal to small IR emitters that you place near your A/V components. They come in both wired and wireless versions between the receiver and emitters. You may need some help from somebody that can look at the outputs available on your A/V components: Cable Box, DVD player, etc, and the input options of the television to determine what types of connection/cables you will need between the two. You may also want to add some additional cables for "future components." Additionally, Ethernet wiring (for an internet connection) should be run to the television and also another to where your A/V components are located. If you're installing a home theater sound system, the wiring for that needs to be figured out as well. The single HDMI cable reference I made earlier refers to connecting all you A/V components to the receiver for the sound system, and using it to control which source is displayed on the television. Many people end up preferring to send the signals to both the receiver and the television. That way, if you are "just watching TV" you can use just the TV. If you are watching a movie on DVD and want the full surround sound, then you turn on the receiver as well. By the way, the cables/wiring used in-wall to the television (and speakers wiring if done in-wall) need to be in-wall rated. That refers to the type of insulation used in the cable for safety purposes.

> where does the second output from the current splitter go? That is a fascinating question. Thanks for asking, prompting me to take a look. There are three outs. - One of them them goes upstairs to the shark fin cable modem in my office. - One was a wire to nowhere, likely for when the previous owners had a TV on the first floor, which we do not. - One is a mystery. It goes to a black modem marked Touchstone Telephony Modem (Arris). There don't seem to be any wires coming out of this, and I'm not exactly sure what it is. My guess is that a couple years ago, we briefly signed up for a package cable modem/telephone service, but the quality was so bad that we canceled it after a couple weeks. I wonder if we got a free modem when we signed up for that, and they never removed it? It remains plugged in, ready for action. I'm tempted to unplug it to confirm that it doesn't affect my Internet service. So, the service from outside should not go to a splitter, it should just connect to the cable that goes up the chase to my office, right? As in, I really just need a simple connector/coupler, not a splitter. Upstairs, the current cable terminates in a wall outlet with one connection for the coaxial cable and two for Ethernet ports (only one of which I use). Does a wall unit exist that is also a splitter? Basically, a coaxial out in the back? Or do I cut the cable before it gets to this wall outlet, and split it to the attic bedroom? And again, planning for the future, should I just use the old basement splitter, which will have an extra Out for the day I decide to fish another wire to the 2nd floor TV room? So, the attic splitter would be: - In from the street (actually two coupled cables) - 1 Out to the cable modem - 1 Out to the attic TV - 1 Out open, for future routing to the 2nd floor TV room Thanks so much, --Jonathan

I did this recently for a family's new house and my own as well, and yosemitebill's description summed the process up. In my home, I knew where my 'home office' was going to be so I added extra CAT5e there to account for the additional equipment. I also had 5.1 surround sound and knew that the TV would be in one of two locations, so I wired speaker wire in a way that either location could be used without re-fishing wires. I also beefed up the number of RG6 and CAT5e plugs in those areas (enough for my network enabled devices). Considering this is a rental, what I would recommend is having 1 CAT5e/CAT6, 1 RG6, and 1 telephone to each room. You probably want two setups in the tv/living room. You can add speaker jacks if you want. I prefer bananna jacks but they're more money. This recommendation is pretty minimum since this is a rental - it's enough to prevent you from having to drill holes in floors/walls and gets you credit for having in-house wiring. If this was a personal home, my 'recomendation' would change. Similarly you could go crazy and try and anticipate every scenario placing multiple plugs on each wall but the costs for that goes up so you'll have to decide what's worth anticipating and what you'll get back from tenants for doing more. Also, what will the access be like to add new lines in the future? Using a centralized closet to run all the cables to will keep wire costs down. It will also be a good spot to place the wireless access point / wireless router. If the closet is at one end of the house, then the other end might struggle to get good wi-fi and you might end up using more wiring. Make sure to have all wires labeled on both ends. I have probably 15 RJ-45 plugs but only use 4 or 5 at a time. Since large ethernet switches can get expensive, I use a small switch and keep the unused wires unplugged. The same thing goes with the RG6. If I had all of them connected at once I would need some amplification, which was pointless for me since only 3 cables have something connected to them. If you buying the plugs and wire yourself, try monoprice.