Appreciate this. We're in the same boat. Just finished our build... Considered and passed on the in-wall solutions, but we love music in the house and always planned to pursue this once we moved in. Glad to hear your experience, will research the Sonos system more since you've described exactly what features we are looking for.

Thanks for posting that information on the Sonos system -- good reading for DH tomorrow. We are also needing to make the decision soon if we want built in home audio as we are in the rough-in stage. You might consider cross posting in the Home entertainment forum.

Carol

Sonos is a great system but has always been more expensive than HTD based systems when you finally install it.

The advantage of whole house audio is having music in rooms that you don't want to see a speaker in. Or worry about a speaker getting wet. What you seem to be looking at is the wireless speakers that sit on a counter or shelf. That isn't what whole house audio is about. Sonos speaker systems must need either to be plugged into a wall (ugly cord) or battery operated (who wants to change batteries?)

The competition does all the same things as far as Pandora, media center, iphone controls etc.

I'd always be careful joining a forum and then posting how you love a product the next day after joining. To truly do it right - join, post on other topics, and then a month later post how you love some product. Otherwise it just looks like Spam...

I'm a bit torn on that one.
On one hand, Sonos is a very nicely designed and engineered system that does the job, on the other hand, home audio with this is like doing all house lights with portable night-stand lights only.
It feels like whole home audio implemented with networked boom-boxes.

All of that is OK if you just want to fill rooms with sound. For an actual audiophile, you're still talking old fashioned dedicated listening equipment and a room designed for the experience. Yes, I'm talking turntables for actual vinyl and tube amp snobs.... but that isn't 99.9% of the population.

OP - we thought about cutting wires too for our new build.
& actually skipped out on the in-ceiling/in-wall speakers.

Unlike many though, we actually like to see our speakers & equipment - albeit, tastefully presented -in the open.

So we incorporated a few of the Vers 1Q & 2Q speakers & sprinkled them around the house in each of the secondary rooms & the patio.

Additional positive for us is that they are portable, made out of wood & have a certain panache all to themselves.

& the wireless sound can be played via mobile or desktop application interfaces easily.

After a lot of research we went with Sonos and wired speakers. All of our music is in our computers anyway (apple) and we've always got our phones handy. We got a NAS so we dont need to have our laptops open. I had no desire to have a wall control.
In our situation if the Internet/router is out then our power is probably off too so I wasn't worried about that being a reason not to go with Sonos.
We wired ceiling speakers in the kitchen, den, large upper porch and MBR which are all upstairs. Downstairs we have ceiling speakers in the study and in one of the two bedrooms there (possible exercise room).
It's been a great choice. Easy to have my husband listening to his elevator music in the study while I'm jamming in the kitchen.
There are one or two other areas where we may get a portable speaker but the house is open enough and the sound is clear so those few locations let us get music to 80% of the 4500 sq ft.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have been thinking about this more and more after posting. I realized a few different things....

I may do a combo of sonos and some builtin. I am not sure yet though. For example, one of the things that attracts me to the Sonos is like for the bedroom or workout area, where would I mount speakers, by the bed, in the ceiling, etc. If that were to happen, It would be very hard to have a low volume in a controlled manner. For example, if my kids were sleeping or I didn't want it to resonate outside my bedroom. A smaller speaker like the Sonos could be low-volume and directed since it is a single source. I feel that would be much more difficult with in-wall speakers. And I also am not a fan of the in-wall panels either.

There are some rooms, like a master bathroom, where I feel in wall would make a lot of sense. Don't need hi fidelity there and don't want to worry about a plugged in device.

My other thought is audio quality. The $300 "low-end" speakers from Sonos are very high quality and sound great. I am not sure the how good typical in wall speakers are and whether the low-end is represented well like a sonos speaker. Assuming a good in wall would be $100, a pair would be $200 and then the cost to run speaker wire to the "hub". At that point, I am at the same price as the Sonos but I have the flexibility to aim and control the direction of audio which I lose with in-wall speakers.

As I said, I think it's great in some rooms where you want to "fill the room" with sound, but for me, that is not typical. I like to be able to have low, directed audio that can be cranked up to fill a room as needed. The sonos fits the bill for that. The smaller setup can function very well at low volumes but cranked up, it easily fills a room with clear and full sound.

I guess the next thing to figure out would be how to do the "hybrid" system and how to get a cheap like 3 or 4 zone system as that would like be all I would use. Or I could just use the Sonos pieces. So many decisions!

Ok, I know this is an old thread, but I'm pulling it to the top to ask....

what are your suggestions on this?

I'm looking at HTD Lync. DH says it's "salty" in price.
I'm aLLLmost an audiophile. He likes to have tunes going, but not as concerned about quality over quantity as I am.

I know my electrician, who is also a friend, is going to try to veto me on this, and come up with something on his own.

How hard should I stand my ground??

Here is a link that might be useful: HTD Lync

We have a whole house system, but did not wire certain rooms (laundry, mud room, etc). Our speakers are in the ceiling and painted the ceiling color. We can manage our system with our phones or computer and its very handy, according to my husband. I do not love the look if the ceiling speakers, but hope they fade to me over time. I was not against a unit on a shelf in given rooms, but my husband is a techie and wanted this.

Not sure which "end" I went with since it was all incorporated into my electrical contract. Have Onkyo and Apple T.V. with in ceiling speakers/ with hidden subwoofer in the corner of living room. What I like best are the apps for both and how seamlessly it all works. I can listen to music outside or hit the app and switch over to the audio for the t.v. that is outside. Inside same deal. I am sure there are hundreds of equal systems I just like the simplicity of Apple t.v. and the Onkyo system. I did consider Sonos though....great product.

We are framing our new construction and would like to have audio in the living room, kitchen, and porch. I don't know much of anything about speakers, but I do know that I don't want the big, visible boxes setting around....just not a fan of that. We would mostly use it for listening to music and for surround sound on movies in the living room. Any suggestions for what brands to look for, costs, and where to buy it?