In-wall Speakers/Wiring for Home Theatre

[treg50]

Does anyone have any personal experience with this? Are all in-wall speaker installers/jobs 'created equal'? I'm looking at this company that does in-home wiring and security alarm systems... that could be the first red flag...

Are there different types of wire they could use? What do I look for in quality in-wall wiring? in a quality installer?

Any and all tips/advice are welcome.

[eblend]

Did this myself just recently, used some balden wire from B&E electronics (local in calgary) and 7 speakers from monoprice. the inwall speakers from monoprice are cheap and provide excellent sound quality, read the reviews. I am doing a 7.2 setup in the basement. People replace their BOSE speakers with inwalls and say they can't notice a difference, don't know how true that is, I am no audiophile.

For my setup, I build boxes out of MDF and lined them with B-queit inside to ensure there is no vibrations.

Don't know any companies, just did it all myself, it's simple really, monoprice has all you would need for fancy wall plates ect. My whole setup is fed into a 7.2 wallplate and I just use banana jacks to hook up to that from the reciever.

[digi355]

To vouch for the Monopirce gear...

I did my ceiling speakers in my house with Monopirce speakers as well. They have been great, the only thing I'd suggest is a large sub to make up for the small drivers.

I have 4 Monopirce 8" in my roof and a 550 watt 10" sub in my place and have 0 complaints. Sound quality is really good.

[treg50]

Cool, what gauge of wiring did you use? They say thicker is better for longer runs?

And how was the process of punching into the ceiling and running the wire (I don't even know how you'd get wire to run horizontally in the ceilling lol)?

[eblend]

Originally posted by treg50
Cool, what gauge of wiring did you use? They say thicker is better for longer runs?

And how was the process of punching into the ceiling and running the wire (I don't even know how you'd get wire to run horizontally in the ceilling lol)?

I used 14 guage if I remember correctly. Think there is a chart online on how long you can go and guage wire required, alot of them vary.

I did mine in a new basement development, doing it in an already developed house would almost for sure require cutting out some drywall.

[digi355]

Originally posted by treg50
Cool, what gauge of wiring did you use? They say thicker is better for longer runs?

And how was the process of punching into the ceiling and running the wire (I don't even know how you'd get wire to run horizontally in the ceilling lol)?

I went 12 gauge becasue all my gear is dropped in the basement.

Once I figured out which way the trusses in the roof ran I was able to figure out how to fish the wire to a wall that had all the mech. running through it, from there I was able to drop everything into the basement. It wasn't easy, and at one point required a drill with a broom handle taped to it, but doing it myself saved a lot of money and it's probably a cleaner install than most pros would have taken the time to do.

[msouther]

Sorry to jack the thread, but I didn't want to start a new one.

Some of you guys have ordered from Monoprice and I am about too as well. I am ordering 4 pairs of in-ceiling speakers, 3 TV mounts of various sizes and some HDMI cables. The weight is 140 lbs, price is $462.77 + $183.16 shipping through UPS Worldwide Expedited which is fine.

I am curious if you can help me figure out what other hidden costs there will be?

This is a great deal when compared to local retailers, but if there are tons of fees then it might not be worth the effort.

Thanks for any insight you can provide :-)

[eblend]

Worldwide expedited should have no further costs, but I would double check on UPS website. Someone on here posted recently that there were additional costs with that, but I have ordered stuff from there without issue before, $900 dollars worth of equipment.

[Mar]

I have a question regarding this, may be pretty obvious.

Would I need to tear up my stucco ceiling to run the wire across and down the wall back to the receiver? And of course put holes in the wall as well?

[eblend]

Originally posted by Mar
I have a question regarding this, may be pretty obvious.

Would I need to tear up my stucco ceiling to run the wire across and down the wall back to the receiver? And of course put holes in the wall as well?

This depends on how things are setup. If your trusses run correct direction, you should be able to fish the wires throught the seiling. To put the wires down the wall would be pretty tought without tearing something up, but if you have access and a path, and just going straight down the wall, that is easy as well, just need to fish it with tape. they sell special super long flexible drills that can be used to drill through the wood via a small hole without damaging the surrounding drywall, but I have never done it myself and would leave that to the pros. I did all of mine in a new basement development, so didn't have to worry about that, but did have to worry about like 20 thousand other wise going into my av cabinet, cuz once you cover things up, it gets real hard to put any new wires in. If you do end up ripping out the walls, I suggest you add some cat6 wires and whatever else you may need while you are at it.

I don't know if it is necessary or not, but when I did my in-wall speakers for my 7.2 surround in the basement, I made MDF boxes for all of the speakers, sounds great! I love watching movies downstairs, like in a freaking theater, expecially when there are explosions or chase scenes.


On a related note, my friend has a bunch of these speakers all throughout the house when he bought it, but all the ends are just dangling in the basement, what does he need to make it all work, so that he can listen to music throughout the house?

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by eblend
On a related note, my friend has a bunch of these speakers all throughout the house when he bought it, but all the ends are just dangling in the basement, what does he need to make it all work, so that he can listen to music throughout the house?

He needs a proper multi room amplifier with some sources for it. If he tries to hook more than one pair of speakers up to a regular receiver he will most likely fry it. Here are some examples:

Acceptable:

http://www.nilesaudio.com/product_detail.php?recordID=ZR-6 Multizone System&categoryID=Multizone Products&catcdID=2

Good:

http://www.control4.com/residential/products/av/8-zone-amplifier/

Better:

http://www.savantav.com/press_releases/savant_introduces_16channel_class_d_amplifier_.aspx

Best:

http://bryston.com/875z_m.html