Whole-home audio vs smart speakers in a NYC renovation

Three ways to put music in several rooms

Multi-room audio comes in three forms. They differ in where the amplifier sits, how much cable is needed and how much equipment stays visible in the room.

Most houses end up with a mix: in-ceiling speakers in the kitchen, living room, bathrooms and garden, smart speakers in the bedrooms. Speaker wire in the walls keeps every one of these options open.

Smart speakers are the right answer when no renovation is planned, when the home is a rental, when only one or two rooms need music, or when a built-in voice assistant matters more than hidden hardware. A stereo pair of Sonos Era or Apple HomePod speakers covers a typical living room for background and casual listening; it does not match in-ceiling speakers on an amplifier for even coverage across an open floor or a garden. Smart speakers are not wireless, either. Each needs an outlet, which is electrical work to plan at rough-in, and each depends on a strong Wi-Fi signal. In a brick or plaster house, a wired network connection or a well-placed access point cures most dropouts.

Streaming amplifiers on the market, October 2026

The amplifier sets how many speakers each zone can drive and which apps and voice services the system supports.

• Sonos Amp: 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms across two channels, for one stereo pair or two mono zones.
• Sonos Amp Multi, announced January 27, 2026 (opens an external site): eight outputs at 125 watts into 8 ohms, up to four independent zones (opens an external site) and up to 24 Sonos Architectural speakers (three per output) in a fanless 1.5U chassis with an optional 2U rack mount. It is sold through Sonos installation partners; availability and pricing are confirmed at the time of purchase.
• WiiM Amp Pro and Amp Ultra (opens an external site): compact streaming amplifiers rated at 60 and 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms, with AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Spotify Connect.
• Bluesound Powernode: 80 watts per channel into 8 ohms, HDMI eARC for a television and Gigabit Ethernet, running the BluOS platform.

Sonos, WiiM and Bluesound each run their own app, and products from different brands work together mainly through AirPlay 2 or Chromecast. Choose one platform for the house. Two 8-ohm speakers wired in parallel on one channel present a 4-ohm load, so check the amplifier specification before putting several pairs on one output.

Speaker wire, fire ratings and the equipment closet

Wire installed during a renovation should outlast two or three generations of amplifier. These are the rules we follow at rough-in.

• Home-run each speaker pair, or each speaker, to the equipment location. Daisy-chaining from room to room ties the system to the amplifier you buy today.
• Choose the gauge by routed length: 16 AWG for most in-ceiling runs up to about 50 feet at 8 ohms, 14 AWG for 50 to 100 feet or for 4-ohm loads, and 12 AWG for long or high-power runs. Measure the actual path through joists and walls and add 10 to 20 percent.
• Use 2-conductor cable to each speaker of a stereo pair, or 4-conductor cable (16/4 or 14/4) to a single location where one stereo speaker or later flexibility is planned.
• Pre-wire 16/4 or Cat6 to each volume-control or keypad location, even if the system will be controlled from an app. Where many speakers share one amplifier channel, the amplifier manual says whether impedance-matching volume controls are needed.
• Run one Cat6 to every amplifier location and every television. Wired streaming is far more reliable than Wi-Fi in plaster and masonry houses.
• Run speaker cable for future surrounds behind the television wall, even where a soundbar will be used for now.
• Label both ends of every cable, leave 2 to 3 feet of slack at each speaker location, and photograph the open ceiling with a tape measure in view before it is closed.

Speaker cable inside walls and ceilings must carry a listed in-wall rating. CL2 is the minimum and CL3 is preferred, because CL3 may replace CL2 but not the reverse. Vertical runs through shafts between floors require riser-rated CL2R or CL3R cable, and ceilings used as return-air plenums, common in small offices, require plenum-rated CL2P or CL3P cable. Lamp cord inside a wall does not meet code. In New York City these rules sit in Article 725 of the 2025 NYC Electrical Code (opens an external site), which is based on the 2020 NEC; on Long Island, where a job is inspected under the 2023 NEC, the cable-type rules are in Article 722 (opens an external site).

Under NYC section 725.136(I), speaker and other Class 2 or Class 3 cable stays at least 2 inches from power conductors unless the power wiring is in raceway or in NM, MC, AC or UF cable, or a fixed nonconductor separates them. Where speaker cable must cross power wiring, it crosses at a right angle. The NYC version of 725.24 also requires exposed cable to be supported by approved non-combustible straps, staples, ties or hangers, which matters in unfinished basements and equipment closets.

Amplifiers, switches and recorders give off heat. The equipment location needs a dedicated outlet, a network connection and an air path, whether a louvered door, a vent or a small thermostat-controlled exhaust fan. A closed closet without airflow shortens equipment life. The outlet and circuit are installed by our licensed electrical partner.

Brownstones, plaster, co-ops and rated ceilings

• Brownstones and row houses: floor joists usually span between the party walls, so a run from the front of the house to the back crosses every joist. The route is set while the ceiling is open, because fishing the same run through plaster later is slow work.
• Plaster ceilings: in-ceiling speakers need a clean, stable cut. New-construction brackets installed at rough-in give the speaker a solid mount and a fixed location.
• Co-ops and condominiums: many alteration agreements restrict speakers in a ceiling shared with the unit above or require back boxes. Back boxes reduce sound transfer and improve bass response, but they do not eliminate transmission. Read the alteration agreement before the design is final.
• Fire-rated assemblies: an opening in a rated ceiling between units, or in a multifamily corridor, requires a listed fire-rated speaker enclosure or a tested firestop detail. That is settled during design, not after inspection.
• Bathrooms and outdoor areas: use speakers rated for moisture or exterior use, and cable rated for wet locations or direct burial where it runs outside.

We mark speaker, volume-control and equipment locations on your floor plan, coordinate the rough-in with your general contractor and the licensed electrical partner who installs the outlets, and label and photograph every run before the ceiling closes. The estimate can cover the pre-wire alone or the complete system.