So, we just bought a new house pre-wired for a sound system. My understanding is that generally means the builder had speaker wire installed in the ceiling and connected to a junction box I can connect to my stereo.
I hear that it is really easy to pop in the speakers and the cans. How do you decide where to do it, though? Any good books on built-in sound system installation?
Thx.
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Replies
first find the wires.
I recently wired and installed speakers throughout my house. I used in-wall speakers and a couple of ceiling speakers. The in-walls install easily. Just cut a hole in the drywall - obviously you have to know where your wires are, and pop the speakers in. The ones I bought have a plastic arm that clamps the speaker to the drywall as you tighten the screws. I liked them so much, I put them in my garage too. You can also install separate volume controls that can control the volume to individual sets of speakers.
The stereo connects to the wires at the junction box. I put a speaker switch at the box before my receiver. That way I had multiple zones I could switch on and off. Some of the older receivers had 'A' and 'B' and 'A+B' for the speakers and if this is enough you don't need a switch.
>>>>>>How do you decide where to do it, though?<<<<<<<<<<
You don't. Your builder already decided for you. You have to now install the speakers at the end of the wire where ever he left it. Is it in a good place? Does your builder care at all about your "stereo image"? Of course not. He sold you a bill of goods unless he had someone truely qualified come in and put the wires where the speakers would work well.
Good luck,
Rob Kress
Along these same lines, does anyone know of any good resources on the web for specialty wiring?
Not so simple as that anymore. New systems have surround-sound. 5 or more small speakers plus subwoofer. Many have proprietary wiring schemes. Bose uses digital connection to subwoofer which then connects to the satellite speakers. Some systems go direct from the receiver box to each speaker. Just putting a pair of wires in the wall someplace is nowhere near good enough. If you can use the wires the builder installed, great. This will be more like the sound system in your average elevator. If you do a nice system, plan on doing a lot of new wiring. I just did a media room for somebody with a Bose system. Had to get special cables from Bose and do a lot of pre-wire during rough-in. Plain old stereo is nowhere near as nice as the new surround systems. They're fairly cheap. With my old stereo system, I spent more on one speaker that I spent on a whole new Sony unit including speakers, CD/DVD, tuner, etc. Sounds better too. Get the stereo first. Look at the wiring, then figure out where/how to wire it.