Whole-Home Audio

One song everywhere, or different songs per room.

Sonos, Bluesound, in-ceiling speakers driven by distributed amplifiers, AV-receiver theater rooms. Wired backbone for music quality; wireless where pulling cable is impractical. C-10 / C-7 crew handles the speaker pulls, terminations, and ecosystem setup as one bid.

Request a Walk-Through (650) 550-0819
Wireless speaker on a console in a modern Bay Area living room

What This Is

Music in every room that actually sounds good.

Bluetooth + a portable speaker is not whole-home audio — it is one room at a time, with compressed audio, dropouts when the phone moves, and no real bass. Whole-home audio means dedicated speakers per room (wireless or in-ceiling), fed by a streaming platform (Sonos, Bluesound, AirPlay 2), with independent volume per zone and one library across the house.

We do the speaker pulls (CL2 / CL3-rated 14/2 in-wall), the terminations (banana-jack wall plates, never bare wire under screw), the amplification (Sonos Amp per zone, or multi-zone Russound / AudioControl for larger systems), the room tuning (Sonos Trueplay, manual sub crossover), and the ecosystem pairing.

Wireless smart speaker on a shelf in a residential setting

Voice + audio on the same shelf — multi-purpose hub.

Scope

What is included in a whole-home audio install.

Hardware, in-wall cabling, amplifier sizing, zone naming and tuning — single bid.

Sonos Ecosystem Install

Era 100 / Era 300 / Arc / Beam / Move / Roam, plus Sonos Amp for in-ceiling. Trueplay tuning to room acoustics, zone naming, family-account sharing.

In-Ceiling Speaker Pulls

CL2 / CL3-rated speaker wire (14/2 or 14/4 stranded) pulled through wall and ceiling cavities. Speaker positions per coverage map. Wall-plate banana terminations.

Bluesound / Audiophile Path

Bluesound Pulse Node / Powernode / Vault for hi-res streaming, MQA support, and integration with separate amplifiers and DACs.

Distributed Amplification

Sonos Amp per zone for budget systems, or multi-zone amplifier (Russound, AudioControl, Marantz Model 30) for higher-end installs.

TV / Theater Integration

Arc / Beam / Pulse Soundbar handle TV audio via HDMI eARC. Dedicated AV-receiver theater path for 5.1 / 7.1 / Atmos rooms.

Outdoor Zones

Weatherized in-ceiling or rock speakers, sealed wall-plate termination, dedicated outdoor zone on the amp. UV-rated cable in conduit.

Whole-home audio controlled from a phone app alongside connected devices

Equipment We Install

Sonos, Bluesound and amplifiers worth the wire.

No vendor lock-in. We install whichever platform fits your priorities — ease (Sonos), audiophile resolution (Bluesound), or open-standard with separate amplifier (Pulse Node + integrated amp).

Sonos Era 100 / Era 300

Current-gen wireless speakers

Sonos Arc / Beam (Gen 2)

Soundbars, HDMI eARC, Atmos on Arc

Sonos Amp

125W per channel, drives passive in-ceiling pairs

Bluesound Pulse Node

Hi-res streamer for separate amplifier

Bluesound Pulse Soundbar / Pulse Mini

Hi-res audiophile alternative to Sonos

Russound / AudioControl

Multi-zone amplifiers for 6 / 8 / 12-zone installs

FAQ

Audio questions, straight answers.

Sonos has the widest ecosystem (Era 300 / Era 100 / Arc / Beam / Move / Roam, plus Sonos Amp for in-ceiling speakers) and the easiest app. Bluesound (NAD Electronics) is the audiophile pick — higher-resolution streaming support (24-bit / 192 kHz hi-res, MQA), better DAC on the Pulse Node, and tighter integration with high-end stereo amplifiers. For most Bay Area households Sonos is the right call; for a dedicated listening room with $5K+ speakers, Bluesound or a Pulse Node feeding a separate amplifier is worth the step up.

Wired is better for music quality and reliability — no Wi-Fi-induced drops, no battery, no Bluetooth audio compression. The honest answer is mixed: in-ceiling speakers driven by a Sonos Amp or distributed amplifier are right for living rooms, dining rooms, and outdoor patio zones; Sonos Era 100 or Era 300 on a shelf is right for offices, bedrooms, and bathrooms where pulling cable is impractical. We design the system as a mix.

14/2 stranded copper for typical residential runs up to ~80 feet, 14/4 if running stereo pairs back to a central amp, 12/2 for long outdoor runs over ~100 feet or low-impedance loads. All in-wall runs are CL2 or CL3 rated for fire safety per NEC. We label both ends, terminate to wall plates with banana jacks (not bare wire under screw — fails over years), and document the run plan.

Yes — that is the core feature of all distributed audio platforms. Sonos: each speaker (or each Sonos Amp zone) is independent, group / ungroup from the app. Bluesound: same model, with up to 16 zones. AirPlay 2 supports it natively across HomePod / HomePod mini. We commission named zones (Kitchen, Patio, Office, Primary Bedroom...) so family members can fire music to a single room without taking over the rest of the house.

Yes. Sonos Arc / Beam (HDMI eARC), Bluesound Pulse Soundbar (HDMI / optical), and most distributed amplifiers handle TV input. For a serious home theater (5.1 / 7.1 / Atmos) we typically split — dedicated AV receiver + in-ceiling Atmos speakers in the theater room, Sonos or Bluesound for the rest of the house, linked via airplay / spotify connect / line-in.

A simple Sonos setup (3 Era 100 speakers + Arc soundbar) runs around $2,200 in gear plus install. A full distributed audio system with in-ceiling speakers in 4 zones plus a Sonos Amp per zone plus rack equipment lands in the $8,000-$18,000 range depending on speaker quality and wiring complexity. New construction pre-wire is dramatically cheaper than retrofit — every speaker location we cable during framing saves hours of fishing later.

Ready to plan zones?

Walk us through the rooms.

$200 on-site walk-through. Zone map, speaker positions, amplifier sizing, fixed quote within 5 business days — applied to project total if you proceed.

Request a Walk-Through (650) 550-0819
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