Plan a whole-home sound system by dividing the property into listening zones, then place in-wall speakers for balanced coverage in living areas, surround speakers around the primary seating position, and soundbars or subwoofers where television audio needs reinforcement. For outdoor areas, use wide-dispersion landscape satellites around patios, seating areas, and gardens, and match the speaker layout to the amplifier’s channel capacity, room acoustics, and the desired level of sound in each zone.

In-wall speakers are installed inside walls for a discreet, built-in look and work well for distributed audio, surround sound, or whole-house listening when connected to an amplifier. Soundbars provide a compact way to improve TV audio with simple connections, while outdoor speakers use sealed, weather-resistant enclosures and wide dispersion to deliver sound across patios, yards, and landscaped areas.

A multi-room house sound system typically uses a distributed-audio amplifier with enough channels for the planned zones, and the amplifier should match the speakers’ impedance and power requirements. Run properly rated speaker wire from the amplifier to each passive speaker zone, and plan separate line-level, network, or control connections when the system uses a centralized source, streaming platform, or automation system.

A house sound system can route audio from sources such as music players, televisions, and streaming services through a multi-zone amplifier or networked audio platform. Each listening zone can then play the same content throughout the home or different content in separate rooms, with independent volume control for each area.