Prelaid In wall wiring ?

Schris22
Schris22 Posts: 983
edited July 2005 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
Hey,

This is a hard question to ask and a harder question to answer I'm assuming.

My dad got a house with prelaid in wall wiring. I've never done in wall speaker wire and in fact just did my first home theater system.

I first tried to hook the speakers up but found it hard to even locate where all the speaker wires ended up...but found them behind a screwed in panel behidn the tv labeled "Speaker" nice eh? Anyway

I tried to move them but they all seemed very taut. I didn't want to cut them right then and there because I still will need at least three feet or so to run to the receiver...

Does this wire lead to something else behind the TV? ANyone have experience on why these would be so taut? What should I do, basically...?

I know there are a lot of big spots in my description, but feel free to ask any questions, and I'll try to remember as he lives far away but I'm going to go back there in a few days.
Also got an estimate and it's going to be able 300 dollars just to install the speakers and hook everything up, this is after calling around and this is the cheapest price from a certified installer.


Thanks,

Chris
Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR502-S
DVD Player: Pioneer DV-578A-S
Left and Right: R50
Center: CS1
Rear Center: R15
Surrounds: R30
Subwoofer: 10'' Dayton 100 Watt
Post edited by Schris22 on
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Comments

  • BrentMcGhee
    BrentMcGhee Posts: 548
    edited July 2005
    they are probably really tight due to bad installers....

    one thing that you could do though is buy a wall plate with speaker binding posts on them and hook all of the wire up to those in the wall. So they you can use your own wire from the wall to your receiver. It will look alot cleaner like that too.
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  • PolkThug
    PolkThug Posts: 7,532
    edited July 2005
    Replace that panel with a panel that has speaker wire binding posts on it. Then you run a set of wires from that panel to your components/speakers.
    Never Forget
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  • Schris22
    Schris22 Posts: 983
    edited July 2005
    that sounds like a good idea, i'll just have to do that then, seems like a tight space to just switch the wall plate for 12 binding post, but I'll just get a bigger one...

    I guess this will save me some money

    my next step is a big one, is getting everything hooked up...i'll open a new thread for that in a bit...

    Thanks again guys,

    Chris
    Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR502-S
    DVD Player: Pioneer DV-578A-S
    Left and Right: R50
    Center: CS1
    Rear Center: R15
    Surrounds: R30
    Subwoofer: 10'' Dayton 100 Watt
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  • PolkThug
    PolkThug Posts: 7,532
    edited July 2005
    Home Depot has the plates you seek.
    Never Forget
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  • Schris22
    Schris22 Posts: 983
    edited July 2005
    oh well thats good

    I'll stop by there. I was just at partsexpres http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=261-354

    these have hookups for two speakers...so i would need these for 5 speakers, dad has a 6.1 system but installers didn't quite know where to correctly position the six holes so just better to stick to 5.1...

    Thanks again

    Chris
    Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR502-S
    DVD Player: Pioneer DV-578A-S
    Left and Right: R50
    Center: CS1
    Rear Center: R15
    Surrounds: R30
    Subwoofer: 10'' Dayton 100 Watt
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  • wallstreet
    wallstreet Posts: 1,405
    edited July 2005
    The wires are taut as they should be stapled to the joists. Normally, they leave you several feet of wire to extend from the termination.
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  • Schris22
    Schris22 Posts: 983
    edited July 2005
    so should i just look for those staples and pull those out?

    Still considering the plate thing as my best alternative, because like others recommended it's the cleanest, but I'm very open to other recomendations..

    chris
    Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR502-S
    DVD Player: Pioneer DV-578A-S
    Left and Right: R50
    Center: CS1
    Rear Center: R15
    Surrounds: R30
    Subwoofer: 10'' Dayton 100 Watt
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  • Polkitup2
    Polkitup2 Posts: 1,622
    edited July 2005
    From what it sounds like you have what you would call a "roughed in" speaker wire layout. You will need the speaker termination posts and wall plates to finish the job. I buy mine from http://www.smarthome.com/prodindex.asp?catid=343 and as an earlier post indicated partsexpress probably has them also.
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  • wallstreet
    wallstreet Posts: 1,405
    edited July 2005
    Originally posted by Schris22
    so should i just look for those staples and pull those out?

    Still considering the plate thing as my best alternative, because like others recommended it's the cleanest, but I'm very open to other recomendations..

    chris

    No you shouldn't. There's no extra wire after the staples.
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  • SCompRacer
    SCompRacer Posts: 8,505
    edited July 2005
    They make speaker wall jack plates with more than two pairs of binding posts too. You can use them in the wall behind your AVR receiver. I got my speaker wall jack plates from Radio Shack. They have four pairs of binding posts on one plate.
    Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 *
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