Architectural in-wall speakers (top) and wiring panels (bottom) simplify the total home audio system.

Building Technologies Group Research Analyst R. Srivatsan says that despite the housing downturn, home technology has been experiencing a favorable trend for the past few years because many young buyers prefer single-family units, are tech savvy and are more willing to part with their cash for a finer sound throughout the home.

The NAHB, in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association, found 74 percent of builders who offered home technology in 2005 offered multiroom audio as a standard or optional installation, up from 68 percent in 2004 and 56.8 percent in 2002, according to their most recent "State of the Builder Technology Market" study in 2006. The NAHB/CEA survey also found that consumers seem willing to spend more than ever for custom A/V systems. The typical price of a multiroom audio system rose in the latest builder survey to $2,500 from $1,300 in the previous survey.

With more builders marketing custom-installed A/V systems, new-home installation rates continue to rise. Builders surveyed who offer home technologies installed multiroom audio systems in 15 percent of the homes they built in 2005, up from the previous year's 12 percent, which in turn was up from 8.6 percent in 2002, the NAHB/CEA survey found.

Choosing the right audio distribution system depends on many different factors, from the size of the house to the customer base you plan to attract. Adding an audio distribution system may add significant value to the residence when it comes time to refinance or sell. But buyers on a budget might not see the value in a state-of-the-art audio distribution system and are less likely to pay top dollar for it. However, banks and mortgage lenders, who used to see home audio solutions as appliances and not as an amenity, are now adding these systems into the home's value.

Integration is a word you should beat yourself over the head with. Builders need to choose audio products carefully to make sure each part of the system, from the wiring to the speakers, works well with one another without much (or any) third-party programming costs.

Enclosures, like those made by On-Q/Legrand, divide audio zones.

Structured wiring vs. wireless

If you want to distribute audio correctly, you're going to have to use the venerable Cat-5 cable to wire up for distributed audio. You can't get away with just installing a phone line and some coaxial cable anymore. For those builders unwilling to splurge on expensive cable, wireless speakers could be another possible entry builders should look for. Wireless systems typically use the 2.4-gigahertz spectrum (like your phone) to transmit and receive the audio signals. Bear in mind these units have a maximum distance of about 80 feet.

The NAHB/CEA survey reports builders selling home technology increased their sales of all home technologies except structured wiring, which was offered by fewer builders in 2005 and whose installation rates likewise declined. Structured wiring's decline, the study speculated, might be attributable to "the plethora of inexpensive wireless networking technologies."

The latest advances include gigabit-speed (1 billion bytes of information) home networking solutions, enabling today's homeowners to support both current and future technologies, such as the latest in multi-player gaming consoles, media servers, high-speed networking devices and other home technologies.

The HIP-100 user interface by Lagotek installs directly into the wall in lieu of a 2-gang light switch. The touch panel controls most elements in a total home system. "Modes" can be set for each user or for times, night and vacation.

The next step is choosing speakers. Mark Pickard, director of marketing for Sonance, says that in speakers, "You don't always get a better bang for your buck if you spend more, but don't forget that most of the time you do get what you pay for." Builders have a variety of options, including flush-mount in-wall, in-ceiling, bookshelf, floor-standing or a number of "invisible" speakers. Speakers in the walls or ceiling get the sound off the floor for a rounded effect.

Builders should rough in a distribution point such as an equipment closet to store the audio-video gear. Although the point is to keep all the gear hidden, homeowners will still have to toy around with the hardware eventually.