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Home Audio System Designs
Step 1. Zones.With an understanding of your goals, your lifestyle preferences and audio priorities, the easy part is done.
To prevent any hiccups in implementation of your multi room audio solution, you'll do well to bring in a system designer (or system integrator to use industry lingo) expert at this stage. Even if you're a home audio geek who's read every review and knows the whole house audio system they want down the kHz, or if you're the hands-on, weekend warrior who isn't intimidated installing in ceiling speakers 20 feet overhead; you're still far better off calling in an experience system integrator.
No matter how handy or well prepared you are, there will be critical variables you haven't thought of until it's too late. With free system design services available, you'll do well to talk to them before getting too far down the path to whole house audio.
Primary Zones. Primary zones are the key places in your home where you value the very best audio experience. Usually this includes a living 
room or home theater as the center piece for whole house audio systems and generally represents the larger part of the whole house audio investment since this is where most people will consume their media.
However, based on your lifestyle and priorities, the living room may not be your only primary zone. People who entertain a lot or true audio aficionados may prefer to have more than one primary zone. While that usually still includes a media room like the living room it frequently extends to game rooms, outdoor areas, home gyms and master bedrooms where they choose to invest in a premium sound experience.
Secondary Zones represent areas of the house where you may want to extend great audio but not invest heavily. These are areas of lesser priorities or where media consumption isn't the primary focus. Secondary rooms like bedrooms, dining rooms or transitional areas like hallways are areas where you either won't enjoy the investment or the room's size or configuration doesn't lend itself to this investment. While your sound is extended to these zones, these aren't areas where you'll enjoy your media.
Step 2. Sources.
Single Source. Simply extending your audio source (TV, CD, iPod) to your "speaker-fied” zones is an easy enough prospect in the hands of you and your system integrator. This single source multi zone layout is particularly favored with entertainers and "backgrounders” who enjoy continuous and contiguous music without competing sources throughout their zones. 
While a little simpler to configure, you may still want to consider multiple controls, to save you from having to walk back to the audio source (which may be several rooms) away to mute the music so you can take a phone call.
Multi Source. Allowing individual zones to utilize different audio input adds some complexity, but independent input sources allow you to get the most out of your whole home audio investment. you'll be thankful for multi source audio for those all too frequent occasions when you want to watch the match in the living room, the kids fight to listen music in the game room, all while your spouse choose to listen to their music in the kitchen. By establishing separate audio inputs for each zone you'll have this peacemaking flexibility.
Step 3. Environment.
Having defined your goal around you lifestyle and planned out your zone, sources and controls… you're now almost ready to begin implementation. One big step remains. Evaluating the environment in which this system will be implemented is the next critical step. This is where design integration experience and training really pays off and can make the critical difference between the perfect whole house audio implementation and one wrought with imperfections and frustration.
Construction State. A critical question is: what state of construction is the space for your whole house audio implementation? Is it being renovated? Under construction? Neither? Clearly, installing whole house audio under "finished” post construction conditions posses a lot of constraints on the placement of speakers and ease-of-implementation of your system.
Speakers, receivers, amps, sub-woofers all require connections to a power sources, as well as audio signal connections to their corresponding components. This is easily done during the construction phase, but post construction wiring will either need to be tediously threaded through drywall or channeled through special replacement molding that your interior designer won't like.
Space Dynamics. Room size, shape and volume (vaulted ceilings?) play the biggest role in defining the audio solutions for a room. The room's configuration defines the acoustical arrangement of speakers for optimal affect.
Not the least of which are the construction material of the room and other acoustic absorbers and reflectors. Curtains, carpets and tile floors can have a dramatic impact on the type and placement of speakers in order to optimize the sound for a given room.
Even the positioning of seating inside the room defines part of the audio solution. Good sound engineering for a room takes into account where listeners will be located in order to focus sound "on- axis”, channeling sound specifically to where listeners can enjoy it. It is important, with embedded in wall speakers or in ceiling speakers, where you define your key listening areas within the room. You better be happy with the living room arrangement as is. Moving the couch could throw listeners off-axis to most fix mounted speakers. Luckily some models like the SpeakerCraft Aim Series offer "aim-able” in wall speakers or in ceiling speakers. This allows some flexibility on moving the sound axis to different listening areas in the room.
Aesthetic Considerations. Aside from the space that needs to be filled with sound, important aesthetics need to be considered. In fact, depending upon your goals, the speakers themselves may have important aesthetic contributions to the room as a part of your home décor.
Some people like the flexibility of free standing speakers that can be arranged around any furniture 
configurations in the room. (Not to mention you can take' em with you when you move!). Indeed, the sculptural look of a pair of 5.1 Channel Definitive Technology BP7000SC SuperTower System speakers flanking your 55 inch flat screen, maybe part of the noticeably impressive high tech living room look you're going for. (Not to mention inspiring the envy of your guests.)
Alternately, others may prefer complete speaker obscurity. Many installations revolve around "architectural audio”. With unbeatable audio fidelity available in discrete, flush mounted in wall speakers and in ceiling speakers (some even have paint-able grills) offering a nearly invisible design and will make "where is that music coming from?” a common question from guests.
For secondary zones (secondary rooms and transitional spaces) in your whole house audio planning, aesthetics may play a different roll. For hallways, entryways and dining areas in wall and in ceiling speakers tend to be preferred over the additional clutter free standing or externally mounted speakers may present in these confined spaces. Additionally, media consumption isn't the primary focus in these areas, as a result, you may not want those impressive 36 inch tower speakers to be as noticeable in the kitchen.
