We went to the home show last weekend, and it was honestly a bit of a disappointment. Since we're so far down the road toward signing with Builder Chad, we don't really have the need to look at various products and construction materials or other such things. We'll use the windows he likes to use, the cabinetmaker he uses, etc. so it's sort of more frustrating than anything to look at innovative insulation techniques or nice flooring when they're out of reach in your project.

But, one of the first booths we saw when we entered was a home wiring integrator. They had some in-wall speakers on display and that hooked me, so I went over (after asking my wife if I could stop and look it over for a couple minutes). They impressed me as forthright individuals, so I chatted with them about wiring and such for a moment, and they invited me to enter their drawing, so I did.

Imagine my surprise when they called back and told me I'd won: a $1,000 pre-wire package. A major award! Of course, I figured it was a scam, or at best a marketing ploy. But I called the guys back up and whaddyaknow, it was no obligation. That made me glad, because I'd sized these guys up as being pretty cool while in the booth. They said they hoped to sell me a piece or two of equipment as well. That's okay with me, I talked to them about that at the show actually, and they said they'd sell to me at builder prices, so I welcome that. I need a source for speakers still. I don't expect to buy a lot of other stuff, mainly becuase of my advanced surplus location talents.

So I sent them a copy of the house plans. I've already placed 8 Cat 5 jacks in most rooms of the house, plus either speakers or jacks for speakers. My builder referred to that as "excessive." So I think I'm on the right track, I'm interested to see how they view it. I still have about 800m of Cat5 cable, plus 170m of quad-shielded RG6 coax. I haven't bought speaker wire yet, but I was planning on 18AWG, which I can get for $45/1000ft. Moving to 16AWG steps up the price a good deal, so I was really trying to avoid that. But maybe I'll see what I can do with this integrator, they may have some thoughts on speaker wire that will enlighten me.