[archiguy]

I've just built a dedicated 7.2 theater room and all the loudspeaker locations are wired up in the wall with that standard gray, solid copper speaker wire by the electrician. There is a bundle of 9 wires coming out of the wall in the gear closet and my nice electricians didn't bother to label which wire goes where. (The subwoofer wires probably should have been coax, so I'll have to run a separate cable exposed along the baseboard for them anyway.) Oh boy.

My question is, is there a way to quickly figure out which wire goes to which speaker location without first hooking up the receiver and going through a laborious, trial & error test-tone process? Some little gadget and a voltage meter or something along those lines? Sure would save me a lot of time & trouble.

 

[jroyv]

A Continuity Tester like this is what I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Extech-CT20-R...ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1427116152&sr=1-2

 

[jjslegacy]

9volt battery and your tongue.... or a volt meter

 

[jautor]

Or just hook them all up to your AVR and run the speaker test. It will cycle through them in order around the room, you just make note of the correct order, and do the swap (and labeling!) all at once.

The 9V battery test is an easy one, though - after you connect the speakers. Touch the other end of the wire to the battery, and you'll hear scratching in the speaker.

 

[kmhvball]

As for your Sub wires, if you go with a 'passive' sub, then normal speaker wire works... by passive, I mean you have an external Amplifier mounted near your receiver. Active subs, have 'built into the Sub' amplifiers/ plate amps which, then I do think you need the RG-6/ Coax for.

I originally thought I would do 'active subs', as that was what I was most familiar with, but have since decided to do a DIY Sub, and will now use a 'passive' sub, and an external amplifier.

If you don't have your subs yet and don't want to run a wire along the baseboard, you could just get a passive sub and go that route (whether Manufacturer made, or DIY).

You can also use a 'tone tester/ cable tracker' at Harbor freight... http://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html a few $s less and worked well for me (my application was slightly different, I had buried in ceiling speaker wire for whole house audio, as well as buried electric wire for smoke alarms, but would easily work in your application too).

 

[drunkpenguin]

Could be the perfect oportunity for a great experiment! I would hook them up randomly to your receiver. Then pop in a movie and see what it's like. I think it could be fun. If by chance you get them all right you need to run out and quickly buy a lottery ticket!

 

[duals99]

I've always done the 9v battery after speakers are hooked up to determine which speaker is which when I've had to fix poor car audio installs in the past.

 

[archiguy]

A Continuity Tester like this is what I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Extech-CT20-R...ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1427116152&sr=1-2

Ordered one of these yesterday. I've got some 3-way switch problems created by my electrician that I need to try and fix, so this device can do double duty with my speaker wire issue. But the 9-volt battery suggestion is a great one too! Thanks to all.