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Home pre-wired for multi-room ceiling sound (1 Viewer)

Doug Pechal

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Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a home and noticed that it is pre-wired for surround sound. All of the wires are bundled into a closet, I am assuming this is were the receiver will go. The problem is I am a little puzzled when it comes to purchasing speakers. I have a total of "9" pre-wired in ceiling speaker locations.

(4)- Are in my main living room
(1)- In the room where I will have my office
(2)- In our kitchen
(2)- In the master bedroom

My questions is what hardware can I purchase to manage all of these different speaker locations? Is it possible to be able to shuffle between rooms? How can I get my master bed room speakers to sync with the television in my master bed room. I apologize for all the questions but I really am clueless. If anyone can recommend speakers that would best fit my situation I would be grateful.

Thanks,

DP
 

Sam Posten

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Adam Gregorich

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Welcome to Home Theater Forum Doug. Congratulations on the new home! Since I'm not on site I will have to make some assumptions based on how things are usually prewired.

1) Living Room: These could either be for whole house audio, OR they could be for the side and back speakers in a 7.1 surround sound system. Its hard to tell based on what you have provided. If the four wires come out of the wall in a specific location in that room that's suitable for a TV, I would say they are for the surround speakers. If they come out in another room they are probably for a whole house audio system.

2) Office: Its odd that there is only one speaker. Most full size rooms are wired for a pair of speakers. Does this wire have 4 conductors, or two?

3) Kitchen: These are most likely for whole house audio

4) Master Bedroom: These are most likely for whole house audio. If the end of the wire not connected to your speaker comes out in the master bedroom then its possible to route your TV sound through them, but this would be done by connecting your cable/sat box and Blu-ray player to a basic receiver that would be hooked up to the speakers in that room.

As to hooking them all up, its possible that you could run them all through a multi-zone receiver. While being the cheapest, its not necessarily the best solution.

If you have a blank plate in each room unscrew it and see what's inside. If you see four speaker wires, three speaker wires (2x two conductor, and 1x four conductor) you can install a volume knob here to control the volume in each room. If in addition to speaker wire there is a cat 5 (network/phone) cable then you can put a control keyboard here an use a system like Russound or Nuvo If you don't have a control point in the room you can use a Sonos system as well (highly recommended).

As to speakers, there are so many options it depends on your budget.
 

JohnRice

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This really sounds like a whole house ambient music setup, not something intended for local a/v use. It might be possible to adapt it for a/v systems, bit I doubt it's worth the trouble and major limitations. Of course, an ambient music system can have a wirelessly controlled source. If you want independently controlled systems in every room then a centrally wired one like that just doesn't make sense anymore with all the options currently available in wireless streaming.
 

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