Your interior designer is choosing finishes, lighting and furniture. The ceiling plan is coming together. This is the moment to bring audio into the conversation, before the plan is final and before the drywall goes up.
Speakers that are planned with the room disappear into it. Speakers added at the end end up wherever there's space left. Here are the three decisions to make early, with your designer and your integrator at the same table.
1. Where the speakers go
In-ceiling and in-wall speakers sit flush behind a paintable grille, so they blend into the room. They still take up space on the ceiling, alongside recessed lights, vents, sprinklers and the lines of the room.
Placing them early lets your designer decide how they look:
Lined up with the lights, so the ceiling reads as one clean pattern
Centered on the seating, so the sound is balanced where people sit
Built into millwork, such as a media wall or a bookcase, with grilles that match the finish
We mark every speaker location on the plan next to the lighting plan, so the electrician, the designer and our team all work from the same drawing.
2. Which rooms play together
Each room or area with its own volume and its own music is a zone. Decide the zones before the layout is set, because the zones decide how the speakers are wired.
Think about how the home is used:
Do the kitchen and the family room play the same music, or do they need their own?
Should the patio and the pool share a zone with the great room for parties?
Which rooms need to stay quiet, such as a nursery or a guest suite?
Answering these questions now means the wiring matches how the home will be used, and there's no need to open a finished ceiling later. Here's more on how whole-home audio works.
3. How the music starts
Playing music shouldn't mean a trip to the equipment closet or handing a guest your phone. Plan the controls with the rest of the room:
An app on every phone in the family
Engraved keypads by the door or the island, placed with the light switches so the wall stays clean
Scenes in your control system, so a "Dinner" button can dim the lights and start a playlist in the dining room
We design with Sonos and Bluesound for streaming, and tie audio into Savant and Control4 systems. The right choice depends on the rooms, how you listen and what else the home will control.
Bring us in during design
The best time to plan audio is while the plans are still on paper. We work with your interior designer, architect and builder to place speakers, plan the zones and pre-wire every location before the walls close.
Homi Home Automation is based in Sherman Oaks and designs whole-home audio across the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.
