[thefish]

Noob question here.


We recently purchased a 6 year old home that is pre-wired for sound in 4 rooms. In each of the four rooms, there are two outlet covers in the ceiling with a two-pair wire in each. On the wall in each room, there is a outlet with 2 speaker wires (presumably from the ceiling speakers) and another cable/wire that has two sections - one with 4 speakers wires (red. black, white, green) and a second that has 8 thinner wires (likely cat-5). These four larger wires terminate in the family room on the same wall wired for TV, etc.


My expectation was to find speaker wire in all ceiling locations that could be routed through in line volume controllers on the walls in 4 rooms to the central room and connected to one amp/receiver. However, the presence of what appears to be cat-5 wiring sheathed with speaker wire threw me off. Can anyone help me identify what this wiring was designed for?


Also in the family room, bagged with these four larger cables, is a rca Monster cable which I would think is for video. However, I have not figured out where this video cable terminates. I may have to crawl around the attic to find it as there are no other empty outlet covers that I can find (not that I have checked all the speaker ones).


I can post pictures later if it will help.


Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[jautor]

You're super lucky and you didn't even know it!

That wiring setup has positioned you to be able to use just about any Whole House Audio system on the market. The speaker wire is looped through the wall outlet location. The cat5e cable is for a keypad / controller.


You can use something as simple as passive volume controls or more elaborate like the NuVo Essentia or Grand Concerto which has keypads / displays in each room. And a lot of choices in between...


What exactly is that RCA Monster cable - how many RCA jacks are there? If it's 2, it'll be to feed L/R audio from some source, if it's 3 RCA's, it's likely a component video run to somewhere.



Jeff

 

[thefish]

That is good news. Thanks. Maybe I will start with passive volume control and the speakers and look to upgrade later. I have seen volume controls on monoprice for under $20.


The RCA Monster cable is just one jack which made me think it is for video out. Not sure where is terminates yet. Maybe my luck will continue and it runs to my back patio for a TV there!

 

[thefish]

so here are my initial thoughts on my budget 4-room sound system under $250 for 4 rooms speakers and volume controllers. I own everything else already. Please make any suggestions, thumbs up or thumbs down. I won't be insulted as I am new to this.


In the main room I will have my 5.1/7.1 setup connected to my Denon AVR3321ci. The preout for Zone 2 will go from the 3312ci to my old Denon AVR3801 (7 channels x 105 watts @ 8 ohms). If I understand the zone 2 options properly, I can use Airplay, net/usb from 3312ci and analog connections from other sources for output to zone 2 (even if listening to same source as main room).


The 3801 will beset to one input (from the pre-outs on 3312ci) all the time with the audio setting on 5 channel stereo. Speaker pairs from each of the 4 rooms will be wired as follows:

Room 1 - main L/R terminals

Room 2 - center (the pair from this room will run in parallel to one terminal and this receive half the power of the other rooms - thus choosing the room with least volume needs)

Room 3 - surround L/R

Room 4 - surround back L/R


i will use in wall volume controllers like this with jumper switches to x1 for all rooms.


I plan to get 8 ohm in ceiling speakers like this or this .


Questions:

1. will the 5 channel stereo setting on the 3801 output to all 7 channels? Or can it only drive 5 channels simultaneously? If so, then I need to modify wiring and run 3 rooms in parallel with only one wired to separate channels for each speaker (loudest room).

2. can the remote control out jack on the back of the avr3312ci control the 3801 via IR blaster? There is no remote control in on the back of the 3801. If not, I will need an IR extender and program via my harmony remote. avr3312ci control of the receiver would be nice given the app/ip control features.

 

[jautor]

Your plan sounds like a good one, leveraging a lot of existing gear. Don't know about the "all channel stereo" setting on that receiver, but would expect it should output on all 7 channels. Test it if you can. I think you're correct on your source usage - you won't get digital-input sources (HDMI, toslink), but the analog and net/airplay stuff (IIRC) was listed in the manual as available to Zone2...


Not sure about the IR control output, and you might have an issue with two Denon receivers sharing the same codes (check the manuals for code set selection).

Quote:
The RCA Monster cable is just one jack which made me think it is for video out. Not sure where is terminates yet. Maybe my luck will continue and it runs to my back patio for a TV there!

Blech! Standard Def...

 

[cwpl]

You might find other end of RCA near front door for camera.

 

[thefish]

I will look the next time I am crawling around my attic.


Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[thefish]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor  /t/1417597/please-help-me-identify-home-pre-wiring-and-capabilities#post_22170191


Blech! Standard Def...

Quote:
Originally Posted by cwpl  /t/1417597/please-help-me-identify-home-pre-wiring-and-capabilities#post_22170264


You might find other end of RCA near front door for camera.

finally got a chance to scope it out. the cable has an rca tip but is RG59 22awg cable. I was able to trace it to a wall plate behind the couch in back corner of the room. it is soldered to an rca jack outlet. I had forgotten about that since it was behind the couch. It appears it is really meant for an alternative subwoofer location. I could relocate the subwoofer from the corner of the TV wall to the back corner behind the couch using the jack. Or for a second subwoofer using a splitter.


Could use it for video also, but not sure what I would put in the back corner of the room. At any rate, mystery solved. Thanks for everyone's help.