Linked by David Adams on Wed 21st Jan 2004 22:52 UTC
If all goes well, this summer I'll be building a new house. I've owned a few houses before, some of them built in the 1920s and 30s, and full of all the charm and quirks of an old house, and a couple that were pretty new, with the lack of craftsmanship and imagination that's typical in most new construction in the USA today. But this time I'm building a custom home, just to my specifications, so I can have whatever features I want, limited only by my imagination (and budget). I'd like to integrate some home automation features into the house, and include wiring for future expansion. 
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According to code, low voltage ( lan, Cable TV, etc. ) and high voltage should never be mixed in a cable, conduit, or junction/outlet/switch box. That is highly illegal. Additionally, the code also states ( or HIGHLY recommends ) that low voltage wiring be in a separate stud bay than the high voltage stuff. Having all of them together in one jack plate sounds like a bad idea. If you have a short/overload that melts the outlet ( which I have done with power tools - oops ), you now have the possibility of dumping mains voltage onto your cable TV, lan, audio distribution systems, etc. You WILL encounter serious damage in this case at the very least. Check your local electrical codes.
Another thing that you did not mention is the audio distribution. Are you going to have a central amplifier for all of this? For best sound quality, I would recommend that you keep the speaker wires away from all of your other wires as well. This would mean separate speaker jacks ( or in-wall speakers ) in stud/rafter bays away from your signal or power lines. This is probably also a good idea from a safety standpoint as well since speaker wiring can carry a large amount of current, especially if you start thinking about home theater. Bundling all that together would probably also cause havoc with your signal wires from all the EMI/RFI.
You might also get away with smaller individual amplifiers throughout the house. Some of the newer units include Net Tune, which will allow you to stream audio off your computer to your audio system. Some very cool stuff with that. The newer amps also allow a large degree of video switching and conversion. You might want to look into metal conduit for that so you can ground it and use it as additional shielding.
You might also consider the x10 stuff for simple home automation. Something as simple as pressing the power button on your TV would also send a signal to dim the lights and draw the curtains as well as turning on all of your DVD player and Amplifier. This is readily available stuff and requires very little in the way of wiring since it uses the existing power wiring in your home for this.
Hope this was helpful to somebody....