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The contractor is about to begin building my home. They want a change order to run the surround sound speakers. They will let me do this myself. My question is how should i run and attach the wires? to the joists? what type of speaker wires? I am getting the recessed ceiling speakers for the fronts and the backs.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blakeas
The contractor is about to begin building my home. They want a change order to run the surround sound speakers. They will let me do this myself. My question is how should i run and attach the wires? to the joists? what type of speaker wires? I am getting the recessed ceiling speakers for the fronts and the backs.
If you step into any store having to do with home improvement or electronics you should be able to find a jar of something like these: 250 Count Jar of Plastic Speaker Wire Staples w/Nail, Black# If you have to cross any electrical wires with your speaker wire, keep the intersections as close to 90 degrees as possible. I have several spots where electrical and speaker wire intersect but have never noticed any inductive interference, the bigger problem is if you have to run a speaker wire adjacent and parallel to an electrical wire. Even then you may not notice any interference but I think that's more risk than I would accept.
As for speaker wire, you don't need to buy the triple shielded, gold wrapped, NASA stuff that comes with a recognizeable brand name and a painful price tag. Get a roll of the generic, 16 guage silver/brass colored zipperwire. The bigger guage will mitigate a lot of distortion and interference if you have any long wire runs and there is absolutely zero evidence that (insert expensive brand name here) cable performs better than a lamp cord. Maybe if you were spending $100k on a media room with design dimensions optimized for acoustics, dampened framing, baffles, a pizza rack with a $10,000 receiver along with any conceiveable bell or whistle you would notice a difference, but otherwise I think you are just wasting money on expensive cables.
I think that most of the recessed speakers mount by clamping to a cut-out in the drywall. If that is the case, leave a big coil of wire with plenty of extra in the ceiling. Take pictures and write down PRECISE measurements to your coils before the drywall crew closes the house.
Last edited by jimboburnsy; 03-21-2011 at 07:27 AM..
12 ga multi-strand copper.
It should be done after the electrician roughs the house. That way you can stay away from any line voltage runs that can cause interference. Or you can pay a bunch of extra money for shielded cable.
But, the very first thing to do is layout the furniture placement- and from there you can determine speaker locations. And the only speakers that I would consider for ceiling installation are the sides (if 7.1) and the rears. LF, C, and RF you want at eye/ear level- not in the ceiling. The subwoofer can go any where, because it's sound waves are omni directional. But if it's anywhere other than next to, or in close proximity of the A/V receiver, you'll need to run a separate line for it. And if it's self powered, you'll need a receptacle in that location.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,307 posts, read 38,694,628 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr
12 ga multi-strand copper.
Couple of points that I forgot - Your front channel speakers should definitely be at the approximate height of your TV or you get a weird disagreement in your head between your eyes and your ears. Definitely noticeable and the kind of thing that will drive you nuts over the space of a few months. Rear channel can be in the ceiling.
16 guage is good, 12 would be better (although maybe a little overkill).
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blakeas
awesome - thx!
I will not have any built ins to the left and right of the TV. should I just put the front speakers on stands?
You could also recess your side channels into the wall if you want to keep a clean look, but there is nothing wrong with speaker stands or, for that matter, simply mounting a cabinet speaker on top of the drywall.
I will have my TV mounted right above the fireplace and so my placement of furniture is a no brainer. couch directly across from it with other couches/chairs flanking it.
I really would like something built in for the front left and right. I really like those rear in ceiling surrrounds. I cant do something like that in the wall up front? what are some other options? What type of speakers are the front lefts and rights? SO i can shop for some recessed ones.
Speaker wire ... make sure what you put in is CL2-rated. 14 gauge is the happy medium IMHO - sufficient for all but the highest powered amps, but not as expensive as 12 gauge. They have that at Monoprice too. Along with all the TV mounts you'll ever need.
If you have the room depth, prewire for the 4 surround channels of a 7.1 setup. Even if you're just going 5.1 for now, it's cheap and easy to do it now rather than later. As for locating them, I used Dolby's guide as a reference. Dolby Home Theater Speaker Placement and Setup Guide
Fronts in-walls are rectangular, to match with shapes that tend to be rectangular on the walls. Surround in-ceilings are round, to match with round objects like recessed lighting.
Oh, and for a clean install, look into prewiring in the power and HDMI connection(s) behind the TV too. The speakers, they can terminate to a plate mounted somewhere near where the equipment stack will be.
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