Custom Advice, Part One
Sound & Vision|August - September 2019

During my many years in the custom installation industry, I've been involved in hundreds of projects of all sizes.

John Sciacca
Custom Advice, Part One

These are some of the pearls of accumulated wisdom that I typically share when new customers come into my shop with plans, or we are walking together through a jobsite.

PREWIRE FOR EVERYTHING

One of the questions I get asked now more than ever is, “With so many devices going wireless, do I even need to pull any wiring?” Yes, you do. First off, actual wire cost is usually pretty minor in a project’s overall scope. Second, even when using Wi-Fi-enabled gear, your home should have a solid wired backbone. The reasons for this include alleviating wireless traffic, data security, and gaining the ability to expand your Wi-Fi network by adding hardwired wireless access points (WAPs). Third, many devices still require physical connections, like speakers, cable boxes, and TVs.

A related thing I often tell people is, “This might be a wire that we aren’t using today, but it could come in real handy tomorrow.” I can’t count the number of times my company has gone back to a job years later and took a Cat5 cable originally intended as a phone or audio control wire and repurposed it to send HDMI video via an HDMI extender. If you think you might want to do something in the future, then make a point of pulling a wire for it.

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