Cl2 is good. 12awg is good.
I vote conduit to each location from a zone box at the rack. Your front drops can have boxes in line for heights and main channels. 1" conduit would work. Rest can be 3/4".
You can also do hdmi in 1 1/4 or larger pipe, but would recommend hdmi over cat 5 for long runs of over 25ft. Cheaper. You can mount blank covers with center knockouts and run right straight to your speaker terminals instead of terminal plates. Save much $ on wallplates, which imo are un neccesary if you are doing conduit to data boots anyway. Paint the plates the wall color and they dissapear.
Conduit = flexibility, upgradability and shielding from emf if you go emt.
I've done a 7.1 basement in 3/4 emt for ht runs for a client. Great results. About 200$ in material.
The wall plate route to that many locations is about the same if you get quality plates. Ie. not monoprice. Done that route too for another. Lowes has nice plates.
If you go wallplates, you can treat the copper with anti-ox and ensure lifelong reliability if connections are made up tight. No issue there. But lots of terminal plates become uber ugly and draw attention- especially if they are for future speakers.
Stuff to consider I guess.
Last edited by Serenity_Now; 06/18/14 09:10 PM.
