Ok audiophiles,

My gf has a new house, basement unfinished.

She wants, home theatre for the living room and at the same time would like to hear music etc from the same system in different rooms of the house.

Are there receivers that have UHF remote, or speakers with IR receivers or displays to tell you what is playing and give you control?

Best option wired or wireless speakers for the other rooms?

Any reccomendations on equipment?

My Integra receiver has a wireless remote that can do what you want. No display of what is playing though. The receiver has 2 zones that can switch to separate sources (eg. zone1 is DVD, zone2 is tuner).

Really it comes down to budget. If there is only $1000 to spend, then your options are seriously limited.

I dont have the Integra receiver that Rob has, but i have the Onkyo TX-SR602 that has the same capabilities as the ^^above, but lacks THX and a few other specs.

But i do agree, if your total budget is $1k, options are limited.

If your doing it in the basement. Run the wires.. VERY EASY and then you KNOW you'll have connection!
We just did a house with same kind of set up*1.2 million dollar home* Get Speaker wire and get your drill it's very easy and simple. Or go to your local construction site and ask for the HOME SECURITY INSTALLER,He will more then likely do it on the side,cheap and GOOD

1k is really going to limit your choices. My speakers in my basement not including receiver cost $1700, Bose baby

Well I figure I'll chime in seeing as I own a company that manufacturers speakers as well as a retail store selling such items.

As people have already mentioned anything is possible it just depends on what funds are available. If she's starting from scratch she'll need a home theater receiver, if she wants music in another room of the house this can be done without having a second zone built into the receiver she purchases. The only time this is necessary is if she would like to have two rooms playing different things. In other words if she would like to have a movie going in the living room while listening to music outside (or where ever you plan on putting a second set of speakers)

Another option is to get a Sonos ZP120 (www.sonos.com) which is a device that can play internet radio and stream music from your computer (as well as many other music services currently offered online) This model comes with a built in amplifier, eliminating the wire running that everyone hates to do. Let me know if you need more information.

As far as the speakers go, that's a much more personal choice, as what you might enjoy she may not. I've been in the speaker business my whole life and can honestly say there is WAY too much over priced over branded products now a days. I don't like naming names, but one of them has been mentioned in this thread so far. For a well balanced system capable of doing a great job at reproducing both your favourite singer and movie star you should try to budget between $1200 - $2000. That being said if that's too pricey I would start with a few speakers and add to the system as time goes on.

Your far better off with a pair of quality loudspeakers then you are purchasing a pair in the front, two pairs in the back, centre channel and powered subwoofer for the same cost.

If you don't mind taking a drive, come up and see me at my store and I can show you what we have to offer in the way of loudspeakers. We also sell the full line of ONKYO components, Sony Blu Ray Players, VisionQuest LCD's and Plasma's, turntables, tube amps, wifi radios .. and more.

www.studiolab.ca

What ^^^ he said.

Running sound to other parts of the house is easy. Go wired if you can (you'll thank yourself later) but there are wireless speaker options available. Expense comes down to how much control she wants. If you just want to start up a CD and play it downstairs, it's too easy. If you don't mind running back upstairs and changing it yourself when it's done.

Personally, I couldn't build a house these days without completely wiring it with Cat6.

What he said x 2.

We run a Denon Receiver, with 2 Zones, and an equalizer for both zones ( to change the volume, etc. for the patio speakers, dining room speakers, hallway speakers, kitchen speakers, etc. (all in ceiling).

If you want to actually SEE what is playing, and you have a wireless network, you could use an ipod touch/iphone, with itunes.

All you need to do is have a pc/laptop connected to your receiver, which has itunes on it. Download the app iremote on your ipod touch/iphone, then you can wirelessly control your playlist all throughout the house, while seeing what album/song is playing.

It is pretty damn cool when you are having a party, and some girl says, 'I want to hear blah blah blah song', or 'This song sucks, change it'. A simple whip out of your iphone, and instantly you have that song.

Good information everyone, gives me a vision.

I don't think $2000-$3000 is even out of the question, including a multimedia PC w/HDMI and digital audio out, which I was going to put together myself.

It will be easy to go wired in this house as the basement is not finished, its a bungalow. Plus I work with linecrew guys at the air base in Trenton, they have all the tools I need.

She will definitely want different zones. What about having independent volume controls for sets of speakers in these zones? For instance you want it loud outside but in the kitchen at a waiting room level (playing same music).

Mike, I would definitely consider coming to see you when she decides to do this.

People may say Bose is over priced but they are rated the #1 speakers in the world for a reason. But they do have a huge mark up. The system in my basement on the website is worth $1700, paramedic discount at a electronics store in Toronto, they were out the door $700. Not including receiver

What matters most is how the speakers sound to you, and you only. If you like them, then great. However, I will tell you that Bose is universally mocked in the audiophile world. Listen to their acoustimass home theatre system for 10 minutes at a moderately loud volume and you will find them fatiguing as hell. The saying "no highs, no lows, must be Bose" is sadly quite close to the truth. Bose is great at marketing, and that's about it.

See below for some light reading:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html#subwoofer