Wiring Your House for Speakers
A home theatre may not be the only thing you are looking for; many people want their whole house to be wired for sound. This is great when you host parties and you want to have music throughout the house without having to blast one set of speakers in the living room.
Wiring the entire home means you can have music in every room and control it all with a remote in one location. It is simple, high-tech, and super convenient for your weekend parties.
A simple way to have a multi-room audio system is to use the ‘Speaker B’ feature on a stereo receiver and install a pair of speakers in another area. You can enjoy your favorite radio station or a CD in the bedroom or even the patio using the receiver in your family room.
The challenge is to run the speaker cables from the receiver in the family room to the speakers in the other room. There are a few ways this can be done, depending on your home’s construction and the access you have to the attic, basement, or crawl space in the house.
The first thing you need to do is inspect your home to determine where you have the best access for running wires. Some of the best options are through the wall to an adjacent room, through the attic, through the basement, or through the crawl space beneath your home.
Be sure to wear gloves when crawling through areas covered with insulation materials, such as fiberglass. Use one of the following steps when you decide where you have the best access.
If you go through the wall, and your family room is adjacent to where you want speakers, consider drilling a hole through the wall to the adjacent room. Before you drill through, make sure there are no obstacles, such as cables or pipes behind the wall.
To locate obstructions, drill a quarter inch hole in one side of the wall and insert a coat hanger bent at 90 degrees. Move it around in the space behind the wall to feel for obstructions.
If the area is clear, drill a quarter inch hole through both sides of the wall. To run wires through the hole, tape the wires to a coat hanger and pull through the holes.
Basement access requires drilling a hole through the floor from the family room to the basement. Make sure that there are no obstacles like pipes of electrical in the way, and make sure you do not try to drill through a support beam. After you drill the hole, run the cables to the basement and to the area beneath the area where you want the speakers.
From the second room, drill a hole through the floor down to the basement, and run the wires up through the floor into the second room. Going through the attic requires that cables are run from the floor up through the walls and through the 2 x 4 top plate at the top near the ceiling.
Inspect for obstacles and use a fish tape pull the speaker wires up through the ceiling to the attic. Fish tape is a long piece of stiff steel cable, available at hardware stores. If there is a ‘fire break’ inside of the ceiling, you will have to drill a hole for the wires.
An alternative to going through the walls is to use a wire channel; which is a length of tubing with speaker cables inside that sticks to the outside of the wall. A wire channel is paintable to match the walls.
If you go through the crawl space, from the family room, drill a hole through the floor to the crawl space beneath. Drill another hole from the floor in the second room to the crawl space.
Run the cables through the floor from the family room through the crawl space and up through the hole into the second room. After you do that you can have your entire home wired for sound and ready to set up.
Ronald Pedactor has worked in the solar electronics industry for the past 12 years and written hundreds of articles about solar electronics. He recommends gettingSolar Flagpole Lights for simple and inexpensive lighting around flags at your home or business.
Contact Info:
Ronald Pedactor
ronaldpedactor09@gmail.com
http://www.21st-century-goods.com
