Anita, we had sound people at our new house today. My DH is psyched. We basically have speakers anywhere you can think of (ok, maybe not the powder room!). Glad to hear they are so great. We are excited. Plus, I love talk radio, so I will enjoy that during the day in my kitchen.

Oh, I'm so glad to read this! I waffled for weeks about whether to put another couple of holes in the kitchen ceiling for speakers, and finally bit the bullet and said, "Do it," although we're just doing 2 speakers. The more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea was because both DH and I love to cook, and jammin' with some tunes while we slice and dice just seemed like the best way to go. Although our house plan is "open", the stereo and main speakers will be some distance away...in the living room with a large hearth as a room divider. Rather than have the volume up loud enough to be heard all over the first floor, now we'll have the option of two sound sources...plus CAT6 wiring from the PC to the stereo receiver for streaming audio from the web, as well.

Thanks for the recommendation. It's also nice to hear the recommendation coming from a woman (no offense intended to either sexes). My DH did most of our AV planning and did put speakers in the kitchen and the controller nearby. I'm sure I'll enjoy it too.

We put speakers in the ceiling of both the Kitchen & DR with the remodel (the only ceilings that came down). Our sound system setup is in the FR but it controls all the downstairs rooms (the other rooms have floor or wall speakers for now.) As I type, I'm listening to Holly in both the Den & DR (going back & forth) while my DH watches a movie in the FR.

You're absolutely correct, they're great!

OK, I confess that such a thing never occurred to me, but now that I've read these rave reviews, I would love to know more! How is it installed? What does it cost? Can you connect XM to it? How does it work with your iPod?

One of our daughters is deaf (bilateral cochlear implant user) and we use an FM system with her in our homeschool. I would love to be able to get the speakers off the buffet table and up into the ceiling!

we hadn't even thought of built-in speakers.. thanks for the suggestion.

and, i can't find the finished pictures of your kitchen... what color did you end up going with for your walls. we are avoiding white cabinets and will most likely end up with a color scheme similar to yours-- wondering what you did with your wall color.

thanks!

We put in a single stereo speaker (hmm, not sure what that means, technically) because we weren't sure how two stereo speakers were going to work in our smallish galley kitchen. It's fabulous! The only control in the kitchen is volume and 99% of the time we just listen to the iPod, but we could listen to radio, TV or whatever movie is on in the family room. Since the family room is just a couple of steps away, changing the source is easy enough.

DH could have installed it himself and the electrician could have done it too. We're not really audiophiles, though, and it just seemed easier to have a local audio store do the design and installation.

I wrote the name of ours incorrectly - it is Niles, not Niels.

The receiver was about $900. The speakers can be as inexpensive as a couple of hundred dollars a pair and can go through the roof.

We have a single speaker in my new laundry room which was about $200. In the kitchen we have 2 pairs of speakers which were a fancier kind and were about $400 a pair.

The iPod hooks into the receiver. You can control it through a remote at the receiver, or you can put in keypads in the wall to control it from the room you're in. Our receiver is in the laundry room in a high up cabinet, so we have one of the keypads on the wall in the kitchen. The keypads are pricey at $250 each.

You need to do the wiring when the electrical is going in - they'll run wires from your receiver location to your speaker (and keypad if you use them) locations. Even if you don't want to pay for all of the rest of the equipment while you're doing the remodel, it would be worthwhile to run the wiring while the ceiling is open as it is way harder & more expensive to do it later.

You can also hook up a CD player to these units and play CDs.

Danielle, was your question about wall color directed at me? My color is SW Jogging Path. It is a neutral greyish color which has just a hint of green. It is great w/ the backsplash tile and all of our stained woods. here is a photo:

{{!gwi}}

Anita

We are not in our new house yet, but we put speakers in the kitchen, as well as in the bedroom and master bath-- and of course-- the family room, etc. I am looking forward to enjoying them.

NoMoreBlueKitchen: I'm really not that knowledgable about audio/visual stuff but love my music - just curious why the receiver is in the laundry room and not the FR, for example. We are also planning to put speakers everywhere (eventually when we start to build) but planned on the "control center" to be in the FR where the main TV will be. Also, do you have keypads in every room where you have speakers or can you designate which rooms will "hear" the music? Does the I-Pod, connected to your receiver, play from the laundry room and go through all the speakers? Can individual rooms play different music at the same time? In other words can you take the I-Pod to your bedroom and play your music there and your kids can be playing something else in their rooms? This is really so neat - thank you so much for sharing this information!

Has anybody heard of or tried HD radio?

I have been begging (okay, nagging) my husband for 9 years to install speakers throughout the house.

Hopefully, I'll be able to play my Christmas CD next year!!

Thanks for the info, NMBK....... I'm going to look up that brand!

Hi Morton5,

We have XM radio and love it,sound is great and no commercials, love the theme channels.
Re built in speakers --love it. We have a smart home system, all audio/video, lighting, ceiling fans, HVAC controlled by a control centre in basement. It is great as we don't have to have any satelitte boxes etc or AV equip anywhere in the house except the basement, just the TVs mounted on the walls and a projector in one ceiling. Everything is accessible from touch panels on the walls or remote controls. It was the dream system my partner has wanted for years. All our DVD's & CD's are on a hard drive and we just call up what we want from TV, FM, AM, XM or our own collection. Can listen to different sources in each room/bathroom and all speakers except front in the family room are ceiling or wall insets. Only thing is if we ever move we would either have to sell it all with the house or have all new wiring done for the equipment.