[rhiggs]

I am curious how everyone has wired their surround speakers that you hang on the wall. Do you just have a pair of wires hanging out of a hole where you are going to hang your speakers or do you have electrical box with a plate and connector? It seems to get the speakers flat against the wall, you would need to have the wires just coming out of the wall.


How did you guys do this?

 

[etcetera]

I have holes with cords coming out of them, but my speakers don't sit flush against the wall. I didn't want them to. There are windows and doors in the way of the optimal surround positions, so my speakers are almost at ceiling level. They are aimed down towards the listening position.


At some point I might install some plates, but it's low on my list of projects.


Eric

 

[bpape]

Just a hole in the wall leading to some 1" Smurf Tube that runs back to the equipment rack. The hole is caulked with the wire coming through.

 

[Ian Fleet]

I would put them on brackets at ear level. something I noticed about my surrounds were they directional. Originally I had them facing forward, now I have them facing inward towards my sitting position.

 

[pcrx]

Ian, (and others)


Interesting as you mention the ear level thing - in the builder forum I have asked the question of how high to place my rears in my new room - I had planned 48" but the concensus seems to be that I need to go higher - to 71" or so. I would like to hear why you say to place them at ear level. Right now they are at ear level - actually pointing in my ear from behind the sofa at 36" - so I figured 48" was a lot higher.


Also to keep on topinc here - I will be mounting my surrounds on the wall and using this flat speaker wire to run up the walls. It will connect to the regular speaker wire which is run under my moulding. I will simply paint over the flat wire.


Better than knocking holes in plaster and lathe....ugh.

 

[Ian Fleet]

Here's a link to how I modeled my speaker placement.
http://www.homestead.com/klyckproduc...placement.html

Come to think of it my surrounds are a little higher than ear level. I don't think there is a tried and tested way to do this. I just liked that fellows geometric approach. I listened and played around with the direction after. You can click my gallery button and see what I ended up with.

Since those pictures were taken I raised the center by putting it on a 5'' pedistal and angling it up. I noticed at times it was difficult to hear the dialogue. The clarity of the dialogue is much better now.

So making little adjustments for me, went along way.

 

[UMDMatt]

I routed all my speaker wire through the ceiling joists in my living room while I was installing recessed lighting. To get the speaker wire down the wall I cut access holes at the top of walls where the speaker was going to be placed, then drilled holes through the drywall where the speaker is going to be mounted and another hole in the stud at the top of my access hole. I pushed a stiff copper wire (often easier than steel tape) through the speaker wire hole and up the wall. Made a little hook on the end and pulled the wire through. I picked up some paintable RG-6 Feed-Thru Bushings from the local hardware store to pass the wire and put a clean baffle over the hole I drilled. After lots and lots of patching drywall, spreading joint compound, sanding, joint compound, sanding, swearing, more sanding, and priming...my living room is now complete with recessed lights and 14-2 speaker wire


Speakers will be mounted 6 feet above the ground, so about 3 feet above ear level when sitting. Dolby's website has guidelines and suggestions for optimal speaker placement.

 

[rhiggs]

Here is another problem I am running into. In my temporary HT room, I was planning on using ceiling speakers as the surrounds (they would fire down, from behind with the tweeters angled toward the listener).


My first question is has anyone done this?


These speakers would also be used as "whole house audio" speakers.


Now, I found out, my wife my wants a vaulted ceiling in this room (we are building a house, by the way) and so I was thinking of using speakers mounted on brackets as placing them at floor level will not work.


So, I can understand running the speaker wire to the place where I want the speakers but when the Drywaller does his thing, it is going to be tough hooking and pulling the wires through a "little" hole.


Has anyone done this?


Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[gregpr]

I ran the wires thru the walls, then used a standard switch box with a blank plate for cover. I drilled a hole in the center of the plate a little larger than the speaker wire, then pulled it through. I'll see if I can find a picture and I'll post it.

 

[Morespam]

Old home was all concrete so had to route into wall then run cable followed by re-rendering the wall and painting.


Cables hanging out of the wall straight into the speakers.

 

[Morris Jones]

My electrician ran them to a standard low-voltage box that nestled in the drywall, and covered it with a standard plate with a hole in it. The speaker wires just extend through the hole.


Mojo

 

[RTChoke]

You can conceal the wires behind moldings at the ceiling/wall joint -- crown or something else that fits in there. I made a small molding that fits beneath the crown that was already there, with a groove in the back to run the wire through, and nailed/caulked it just under the crown. If you look, and know it's there, you will notice it, but otherwise it is fairly unobtrusive.


I ran the wires up through the wall from the receiver, pulled them out at the top, back through the molding, then hooked one spkr to one wire, fished the other up through and across the ceiling (had to cut some corners out to do this as mentioned above) and then down a bit to the other spkr. A bit of spackle and paint and it looks fine.


On new construction I think the idea of a box with a cover is the best, and maybe run some conduit to it so if you ever need to run anything else, it will be easy.


--R