Yeah...you have the right impression of the wiring scheme. Belden makes this stuff called 9451D, which is realtively thin - it's a pair of shielded twisted pair, has high tensile strength (it can be pulled with a fair amount of force without fear of the wires being stretched / connductors broken (shorted). Its jacket is also fairly slippery (low coefficient of friction), which can be really handy when pulling the wire - Belden engineered a great producte there.

As far as having an exceptional understanding, it's really not all that exceptional (though I do sincerely appreciate the comment) in the sense that it's just a balanced distribution system...but was was 'exceptional' was pulling all the wires, terminating them in something useful, and so on.

To be certain, there are more 'modern' approaches in that there are whole-house systems (i.e. with LCD screens etc that distribute digital signals and or control digital (IP-based) devices), but the way that I saw it was that I could do the whole project for not much cash, but a lot of 'sweat equity', and any additional components that I may need could be found on eBay, or the 'web at close-out prices.

I must say though...it is awesome to have - especially since I can set the (main) Audiotron like an alarm clock, and wake to whatever I want throughout the house (a web stream, playlist, track, etc).

Can you dig it?