[spektral]


I just moved into a new house that has ceiling speakers in each room....but I'm confused by the wiring.

 

The living room has 4 speakers in the ceiling and the speaker wire comes out of the wall like expected...no issues there.

 

The bedroom setups are where I'm confused.  I've attached photos of one of the bedrooms.  2 ceiling speakers, 1 control knob, and the wiring mess coming out of the wall...can someone help me to figure out what those wires most likely go to?  I've setup simple home theaters before, but nothing with ceiling speakers.  The wiring coming out of the wall seems like component cables for video...not audio.

 

Thanks

 

 

 



 

 

[jautor]

You should have two, 2-conductor cables that go from the volume control to each speaker (likely red/black wires), and then probably one 4-conductor cable (usually red/black/green/white) that goes to a central closet or a wall plate. Looks like in your case the wiring comes to a wall plate. If there's more than the 4-conductor cable at the wall plate (not the volume control), its possible the house was wired to allow for both local and centralized (whole house audio) systems. Is there a structured wiring panel / closet somewhere in the house?


Jeff

 

[spektral]


No centralized wiring panel/closet.  Is it possible that each of the bedroom speakers connects to the living room speakers (daisy chained) so that the house is a single zone and the control knobs control whether or not I want sound in those rooms?  

 

[jautor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by spektral  /t/1520975/help-with-ceiling-speaker-wiring#post_24438727


No centralized wiring panel/closet.  Is it possible that each of the bedroom speakers connects to the living room speakers (daisy chained) so that the house is a single zone and the control knobs control whether or not I want sound in those rooms?  

Could be... You'll need to clarify what you've found. Tell us what is in each room specifically: wall plates, volume controls, and if wires are exposed, how many cable are there and how many conductors in each cable.


If there's a wall plate with wires coming out in each room, that's most likely the end of it.

 

[Neurorad]

One of my in-wall volume controls was also wired for IR extension, to a central location (AV Receiver in family room).

 

[spektral]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor  /t/1520975/help-with-ceiling-speaker-wiring#post_24438909



Could be... You'll need to clarify what you've found. Tell us what is in each room specifically: wall plates, volume controls, and if wires are exposed, how many cable are there and how many conductors in each cable.


If there's a wall plate with wires coming out in each room, that's most likely the end of it.

3 bedrooms and living room.

 

2 of the bedrooms are wired like the photos.  The master is the same except it has 3 volume controls instead of one.  There are 2 outdoor speakers so I'm guessing one volume control is for those.  Each room has a wall plate with a single cable coming out and 8 conductors.  In the master and one other bedroom, only 3 conductors are terminated with RCA plugs with the remaining 5 conductors cut back to the cable sheathing.  The photos above are from the 3rd bedroom, with 4 conductors terminated by RCA plugs (unlike the other 2 bedrooms with only 3 conductors terminated.)  What would these RCA plugs plug into?  Directly into a TV?

 

The living room does not have volume control, but it does have a wall plate with 4 pairs of speaker wire.  This is the only room I understand because it has speaker wire like I expect that can connect to a receiver.

 

I do not understand the conductors with RCA plugs in the bedrooms, or why their are 3 volume controls in the master.

 

[mpr5231]

Can you take a look behind the volume controls? I briefly had an A-BUS system with rotary volume controls, which were capable of local source inputs (RCA connections) wired to each volume control. Shot in the dark, but hopefully seeing what connections the volume control has can shed a little more light on your question. I've had my fair share of puzzling wiring situations, they are frustrating!