new home wiring questions

["vluke" <virtualluke@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone!

We are having a 5 bedroom home built (basement + 2 floors, rectangular
28' X 48') and I have certain audio/computer plans and had some
questions.  You guys seem to be very knowledgeable about so many
things.  My wife has some very definite requirements and constraints
(that may seem odd)  -  I aim to please her  :)  Hey it's Valentine's
Day!

As far as computer networking - I think I have it understood okay
except for a few points.  I got a great deal (someone I have dealt with
needed to reduce his inventory quickly...long sory) on some shielded
cat6 cable (1000 ft spool).  I believe it to be pretty high quality
cable.  I plan on wiring about 12 wall jacks in various places
throughout the house.  For Video I plan on streaming video over cat6
to/from media pcs.  We only have (and ever plan to have!) 2 tvs so this
seems pretty manageable.  One server in our media/computer rack and a
pc next to each of the tvs we will stream to.  The server will have 2
(maybe 3) capture cards.  I haven't decided to go media center 2005 or
mythTV yet (leaning towards wmc2005).  Are there any special cat6 (vice
cat5) concerns?  I have run a fair amount of cat5 before but never
cat6.  I haven't unwound the cable yet but I expect it to be a lot more
stiff than the cable I am used to since this is solid shielded 23awg
cat6 cable.  Should I run this cable before or after insulation is put
in the walls?  Any suggestions on securing the cable?  Anyone use some
safe staple-like brackets that you like?  Things to avoid?  I plan on
trying to stay at least 6 inches away from the power line wherever I
can.  Is this enough?  If I need them to go through the same whole in a
floor joist somewhere how bad is that?  Anyone know of good cat6
modular jacks?  Should I definitely look for gold plated - I hear that
the jacks need to be pretty high quality or you lose much of the
advantage for cat6.

okay for the requirement whole house audio.  My wife only wants 1 zone.
 I have asked her a lot on this and she doesn't want more zones. I am
planning on having 8 sets of 2 speakers for the house and will be
putting them in mostly sometime down the road.  I don't have a decent
amplifier at all right now so this will be for the future.  (Any
amplifier suggestions for driving 8 sets of speakers would be
appreciated).   I mostly just want the infrastructure in place.  My
wife's point about 1 zone is that if anyone for example in their own
room wants something different then they can play it on their personal
sound system.  I am thinking of a spool of 250' of 14/4 speaker wire to
run to the various impdedance volume controls for each of the pairs of
speakers and 14/2 speaker wire to the actual speakers (from the volume
controls). How does this sound?  I believe almost all of the speakers
will be either wall or ceiling speakers - I still need to price and
look at these.  Any suggestions?  What wattage rating speakers should I
be considering for such a system?  I know it depends on cost a lot.  I
hope to spend <$500 on an amplifier.  Two of the pairs of speakers will
be outside (1 in front and 1 in back).  Again most of the work will be
many months after the house is done (probably parts will be over a year
away.)  I am just trying to get done what makes the most sense to get
done that will be very hard to change after the house is built.  Does
anyone have good suggestions for volume controls?

I plan on having a media/computer rack in a storage room on the first
floor to be a control point for all my audio and ethernet needs.  Do I
need special power run to this rack or just a few power strips plugged
into the wall outlet?  Are there any concerns I need to be worried
about when I run my speaker wire?  Should I run it before or after the
insulation is put in place?  How much separation do I need to try and
keep from any power lines?  How about separation from the cat6 cable I
am putting in place?  Is there any places I should think to use
conduit?

Okay, this may be a mistake but right now I am not running coax
anywhere except from the outside box to the media/computer rack.  I
don't see the need since I really really like the streaming video idea.
(I used to use mythTV server and client and really liked the results) .
If no coax seems grossly a mistake let me know.

Any and all suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
Luke