lebowsky
02-03-09, 10:25 AM
Let me preface this post by letting you know that I am a complete noob to home audio. I don't currently own a receiver, speakers or anything else AV related. That being said...
We are in the process of putting an 18x20 addition on our house which will serve as our new family room. The framing is complete so I have complete access to the walls and I decided that I would like to pre-wire the room for a 5.1 surround system that could possibly be used in the future.
The electrical is being run this weekend so I need to try to get ready to run the speaker wire once that is completed so I can avoid running too close the the AC wiring. As I said before, none of this wiring is going to be used for probably a year or so, possibly even longer. When I do put up speakers, they will be small satellite-type speakers which I would mount on the walls.
I calculated all of the runs I would need for all of the speakers and the total length is around 70 feet. So I figure I'll need to get 100 feet of 16 gage CL2 wire so I have extra to work with at each end point.
Here are the questions:
1) What should I use to tack the speaker wire to the studs/joists/etc. as I am making my runs? I would like to get something that is as cheap as possible and I know you aren't supposed to use staples like they use with AC wiring.
2) What do I do with the actual wires once I get them run to where they are going to go? Should I install backless junction boxes, run the speaker wire to them, and then just cap them once the sheetrock is installed? Since it will possibly be a year or longer before I will have any AV equipment, would it just be better to run them to a backless bracket (mud ring) and drywall over them?
The reason I ask about the plates is because my in-laws just had a new house built and the electrician ran speaker wire and everything runs to junction boxes which have blank plates covering them. It doesn't look too bad and I thought it might be possible to mount speakers to the actual boxes in the wall (small speakers obviously), but maybe I am completely wrong about that.
I do plan to install a junction box where all of the runs will originate from, possibly connecting all of the wires to a keystone plate of some kind in the future.
3) Is there anything glaring that I am missing? This is going to be a pretty basic set-up in the end. No multi-room stuff, no volume controls on the walls. Just a vanilla surround sound system.
We are in the process of putting an 18x20 addition on our house which will serve as our new family room. The framing is complete so I have complete access to the walls and I decided that I would like to pre-wire the room for a 5.1 surround system that could possibly be used in the future.
The electrical is being run this weekend so I need to try to get ready to run the speaker wire once that is completed so I can avoid running too close the the AC wiring. As I said before, none of this wiring is going to be used for probably a year or so, possibly even longer. When I do put up speakers, they will be small satellite-type speakers which I would mount on the walls.
I calculated all of the runs I would need for all of the speakers and the total length is around 70 feet. So I figure I'll need to get 100 feet of 16 gage CL2 wire so I have extra to work with at each end point.
Here are the questions:
1) What should I use to tack the speaker wire to the studs/joists/etc. as I am making my runs? I would like to get something that is as cheap as possible and I know you aren't supposed to use staples like they use with AC wiring.
2) What do I do with the actual wires once I get them run to where they are going to go? Should I install backless junction boxes, run the speaker wire to them, and then just cap them once the sheetrock is installed? Since it will possibly be a year or longer before I will have any AV equipment, would it just be better to run them to a backless bracket (mud ring) and drywall over them?
The reason I ask about the plates is because my in-laws just had a new house built and the electrician ran speaker wire and everything runs to junction boxes which have blank plates covering them. It doesn't look too bad and I thought it might be possible to mount speakers to the actual boxes in the wall (small speakers obviously), but maybe I am completely wrong about that.
I do plan to install a junction box where all of the runs will originate from, possibly connecting all of the wires to a keystone plate of some kind in the future.
3) Is there anything glaring that I am missing? This is going to be a pretty basic set-up in the end. No multi-room stuff, no volume controls on the walls. Just a vanilla surround sound system.