some advice please

I think as a start point you can get the celler sorted out.

Invest in a decent NAS. One that will allow hot swap of drives and the ability to increase storage. Drobo is an excellent solution for this.

I would also consider at this stage a network switch so that ethernet is available both in the main music are and other areas of the house. I have ethernet everywhere except the kitchen, and if you are running on you may as well run three into each room, honestly you will be surprised how much you can use your network with the right tools.

Ensure the NAS has adequate ventelation. And another food for thought is actually having a proper server in there, a cheap(ish) computer with attached storage which can do other duties as well.

Back in the lounge simply purchasing a DAC is not enough. You need a streamer. This can be something like a mac mini/small PC or a Sonos or Logitech Squeezebox or HDX or Uniti.

Any of these devices except the uniti could then feed a DAC. But if you are using a supernait I would seriosuly consider a mac mini directly into the supernait via optical.

Regarding Hi Res. I have no idea what music you listen too and I know future proofing is important, but there is not a lot of hi res material out there and when it arrives if you are using a mac mini or similar you have the main tool for making sense of it anyway.

Thanks Gary,
I am planning cabling throughout, but am still trying to finalise my understanding of CAT cabling 5e, 6a and 7 as well as what hdmi cables 1.3 (c?) before I finalise the supplier.
The server idea is a good one as I am wiring the house wiring for domotics.
I was considering the NAS01 but maybe the mac mini is another potential route.
Barrie

NAS01 would obviously sound better.

Cat6 will cover you just fine.

Not sure what you want to achieve with HDMI? Ethernet is all you need, server in the celler and clients where ever you want them. So HDMI might suggest you have plans for video, thats fine, again you want the mac mini or PC receiving the video stream and you only have a HDMI cable or what ever locally connected from the client pc to the TV. You don't want to be running metres of HDMI cable there is no point and it probably won't work.

I would say NAS01 for quality, mini for convenience, have both, you have worked hard.

XBMC is a software application for PC, MAC or LINUX and is free. It will sit on your client machine and receive streams from your server. It will play any video format known to man and present it in glorious HD and 5.1 surround sound.

Hi,

Yes, the HDMI was for DVD to a projector, and TV from a cablebox in a simple but effective way.

I was looking to get my DVD collection onto a hard drive so I will look into XBMC.

Cheers

Barrie

With the celler below I presume its not far for an hdmi cable to travel so for your needs it might be fine to run one from the server.

But in reality you want flexibility, if you ever choose to move your projector you are stuffed. So the best bet is that client. A small form factor PC or mac mini streaming from your server.