New House build - putting in speaker wires

FISHGUTS

FISHGUTS

FISHGUTS

Associate
Joined
7 Jul 2004
Posts
871
Location
N.W. England
I'm after a little advice.

I've just bought a plot to build a house and I was thinking of putting some wires around the studs for surround sound speakers, is there some sort of generic cable I can use or is it all different for different makes ?

I guess I'll need to fit some sort of power cable as well ?
I must admit I'm a complete noob when it comes to this, I thought bose were good :D and was thinking of buying until I read some ocuk members opinions.

So any advice greatly appreciated I'd be looking 500 - 1k on surround sound depending on funds, or I might just put the wires in for now if possible.

Thanks.
 
You'd use normal speaker cable. The connections on the wall are best as speakon (quite big, professional connection) or bannana sockets, 4mm (probably more suitable). You may be able to buy them fitted to a wall plate, but it's probably easiest to buy a blank plate and fit the connection socket to it yourself (drill hole, screw in sockets. usual box behind them). Connections to the sockets will probably need to be soldered.

I'm not sure what you mean by power cable. The speaker cable carries the power/amplified signal directly to a passive speaker in normal setups.
 
you may want to put in sensors for the remote control of the source, but be warned a full system could get very expensive
 
Thats why I'm tempted to just put the cables in now and get a system in a few years when I can get a better one, rather than get something and then wanting to upgrade.
 
Put in your cable points for sure, and anything else you might need. I'd just get a stereo system to start and build it into a full 5.1 over time :) . Definately buy second hand too.
 
No real problem with that, speaker cables don't pick up interferance (or more the interference they pick up cannot be audably transmitted to the speakers). Signal cables that connect to relatively high impedances can do (interconnects, especially from a vinyl player), but a speaker is 8 ohms rather than about 47,000 like the input to an amp.
 
Dr.EM said:
No real problem with that, speaker cables don't pick up interferance (or more the interference they pick up cannot be audably transmitted to the speakers). Signal cables that connect to relatively high impedances can do (interconnects, especially from a vinyl player), but a speaker is 8 ohms rather than about 47,000 like the input to an amp.
Click to expand...

Its not about interference its about regulations, he said its a new house build so i take it he's getting a all knew wiring system and getting it tested inaccordence to part-p (required by law) thorwing in some un shielded speaker cables next to mains cables (band 1 speaker cables, band 2 mains cable) without proper segregation is against the iee 16th edition and wont get you a part-p certificate. dont get me wrong you can do a diy job and not get it tested but in a few or more years you'll need a book with your electrical and corgi gas certificates to sell on your house.
 
Interesting, can't imagine why that is against regulations since we have mains wires on the floor linking up our appliances and they can be touched readily. As far as i'm aware the ones in the walls are much the same construction so I can't see why them touching another, even not fully insulated, cable is considered hazardous :confused: . Anyhow, if thats what the regs say then it had better be followed, wouldn't want to get caught out later. Looking at putting the speaker cables into some sort of conduit I guess?
 
Dr.EM said:
Interesting, can't imagine why that is against regulations since we have mains wires on the floor linking up our appliances and they can be touched readily. As far as i'm aware the ones in the walls are much the same construction so I can't see why them touching another, even not fully insulated, cable is considered hazardous :confused: . Anyhow, if thats what the regs say then it had better be followed, wouldn't want to get caught out later. Looking at putting the speaker cables into some sort of conduit I guess?
Click to expand...

are you talking about extension leads :confused:

you dont need any thing as drastic as conduit just sufficient space between the different voltage bands 50mm or more, its just another regulation made by some one who sits in a office all day getting bored :rolleyes:
 
Just any general mains flex either fixed to equiptment or in the form of a kettle lead etc. It is of the same construction as the type used in the wall (double insulated? I'm going by some builders left over cable we have in the garage, it looks more or less like thick mains flex) so can't see any real logic behind it. I think your description sums it up :)
 
Dr.EM said:
Just any general mains flex either fixed to equiptment or in the form of a kettle lead etc. It is of the same construction as the type used in the wall (double insulated? I'm going by some builders left over cable we have in the garage, it looks more or less like thick mains flex) so can't see any real logic behind it. I think your description sums it up :)
Click to expand...

twin and earth is used mostly in domestic installs if some one has stuck flex in your walls you better call him back lol

Twin and Earth

you might be talking about This Type of Cable its called armoured and has steel strands protecting the cable inside.
 
The twin & earth is the one. It has the same insulation as any ordinary mains flex by the look of it though, minus the extra sheath on the earth? I wouldn't be any more concerned about touching a live one of those than a live mains flex from a wall tbh (grabbing the insulation that is).
 
You can get away with FST, or Siamese (sp?) cable if its straight red and white phonos you want to connect; and the run isn't too long.

However, going with standard speaker cable is fine if you want to run long lengths. You don't need to spend a fortune on specialist cabling.. audio magazine usually take things to absolute extremes and tend to assume perfect conditions which in my experience usually makes no odds anyway.

If you have any questions I can answer them (install these as a living) :)

About the trunking/conduit... You are usually meant to put low voltage (CAT 5, signal cabling etc) in a different part of the trunking than the higher voltage stuff (2.5mm 3 core).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Run some Van Damme loudspeaker cable to a 4 pole speakon connector mounted on a wall plate. This gives you two speakers at each location, or the ability to bi-amp them. Then worry about the conversion from speakon to something else later.

While you're at it you may want to set up a DBX ZonePro / Audace Intelliplate as well :)
 
Last edited:
Ahh, the joys of new houses, and/or replastering.

concealed surround speakers, concealed cables for plasma tv on the wall :P
full cat5e network
tv/satallite points throughout
generous telephone points

and being able to pick how many powersockets there are.
 
when i wired surrond sound in a house it was all done in cat5 and just wired up to speakers that way and control units all around the place
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom