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Suggestions for starter surround sound set in pre-wired basement (1 Viewer)

Ericflyer27

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Hello, this is my first post and I am a complete newbie when it comes to surround sound. I recently bought a house and the finished basement is pre-wired for surround sound. I am not an audiophile by any means but figured I would take advantage of the fact that everything is wired already (plus take advantage of there already being holes in the wall).

For the setup, there are wires for two speakers on a front wall (mounted halfway up wall), two on a back wall (also mounted close to ceiling) and one wire sticking out on the right wall (close to the floor, my guess is for a speaker that had been sitting on the floor), plus the main bundle in the center with all five wires. It looks like the wires were cut when the previous owner removed his equipment, the wires have exposed copper ends (I would post a picture, but the forum doesn't seem to be letting me, suggestions?). From my understanding, I am looking at a 5.1 setup, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

My main question is this -- what would be a good starter surround system and how complicated will it be to attach the speakers to the wires in the walls. While I'm decently handy around the house, I've never worked with these types of wires before. Are there certain systems that would be recommended for a pre-wired setup such as this? I'm not looking for anything expensive, I would like to limit the cost to a few hundred dollars. The basement serves as a secondary TV viewing room and for video games so will not likely get heavy use. While I don't want to be completely cheap, my primary desire is to take advantage of the pre-wired setup and not just patch over the holes.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and please let me know if there is any further information I can provide that would be beneficial. Thanks

Eric
 

schan1269

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The one on the floor, it is twin speaker wire or coax?

And do you mean it appears there were in-wall speakers...or mounted to the wall?
 

Ericflyer27

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All of the wires, including the one on the floor, are copper speaker wire.

The speakers had been mounted on the walls.
 

schan1269

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That means you either need to "build" a non-powered sub...or ignore that spot.

What is your budget? $500 for speakers? $5000? $50,000?

Amenable to used speakers? Must be new?

As far as AVR, what sources do you plan to use?
 

Ericflyer27

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I would like to limit the budget to a few hundred dollars. As I mentioned, I'm not an audiophile, just something simple and basic will work. I've never worked with this type of wiring/equipment before, so emphasis on the basic, although I'm certainly willing to learn (haha).

As far as AVR, it's a work in progress per se. At the moment, just have a 42 inch LG HDTV, which has internet (if that matters). I haven't purchased a blu-ray player/quality video game system yet since I wanted to see how this would all play out. Some of the starter sets I've seen on Amazon seem to include a blu-ray player or something similar, but don't know if those types of sets are what will work for me though (obviously can purchase a blu-ray player separately as well).

I'm not opposed to used speakers, hadn't given it much thought, but would certainly consider it. If something like that is an option, what are some recommended places to find quality used speakers?
 

schan1269

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Craigslist
Ebay(you can search by distance from you)

No, you can't use a HTiB in your situation. Well, you could...but you wouldn't be able to return it if you didn't like it(you'd have to cut the wires off and HTiB use proprietary plugs).

Come to think of it, it would be nice to know what the wiring is in the walls. Cause if it was HTiB the prior owner was using...then I'd be scared what wire they used(as in not using CL rated).
 

Ericflyer27

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The wording on the wiring says Acoustic Research Pro Series II 16 Gauge Oxygen Free Speaker Cable. I attached a picture of the ends of the wires as well, hopefully this helps give a better picture of what I'm dealing with (this is from the main bundle in the center of the wall).

DSCN4274.JPG
 

schan1269

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Hope your house never burns down. Insurance companies love "non-code" excuses to partially deny a policy payment. Love when people do stuff wrong.

Hide all that wire, ignore it. Doubt you'll be able to yank it out.
 

schan1269

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Matter of fact. Ask for $5000 back from the prior homeowner. The home inspector you paid for missed it. Sue them if you have to.
 

Jason Charlton

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Putting aside the fact that the speaker wire may not actually be rated for "in-wall" use, you CAN use that stuff - it's not difficult to use at all - one end goes to the speaker terminal on the back of the AVR (Audio Video Receiver) and the other into the back of the speaker. You only need to take care to make sure that each conductor (each wire has two conductors) is connected to the same color terminal at both ends (i.e. black-to-black and red-to-red). One of the conductors will have writing on it, that's how you can tell you have the same conductor at both ends of the run.

The one speaker wire near the floor on the side of the room was probably for a passive subwoofer. We recommend using an active/powered subwoofer (the performance improvement is massive). Powered subwoofers would use a single coaxial cable with RCA connectors instead of regular speaker wire. That's why Sam indicated you won't use this wire.

"A few hundred dollars" is tough to accommodate. That usually means a "low end" HTiB system - usually one with a built-in DVD or Blu-ray player, low impedance speakers that won't work with any other system later on, and proprietary connectors for the speakers (again, to ensure you don't try using the speakers with any other hardware and cause catastrophic failure).

These systems really stink because:
1) They are poor performers
2) They cannot be upgraded piecemeal over time
3) They often have zero inputs for adding other sources (like your cable TV) for surround sound
4) If something breaks, you're out the whole system

The next step up the ladder is a decent HTiB system - one that is built around an actual AVR and real speakers that can be replaced an upgraded later on. Onkyo, Denon, and Yamaha make such systems, but they generally start at around $500 new. The latest generation Onkyo system is the 5600 and is currently about $580 at Amazon.

If that pushes the budget too much, and you're amenable to refurbished equipment, Accessories4Less has the previous version from Onkyo, the 5500 for under $300. This is a really good deal, and in terms of a "getting you started" system, I don't know that you'll be able to do much better.

Both of these systems would require you to also get a separate Blu-ray player - that's another $50 or so (there are tons of good deals this time of year).

Oh, and don't worry about these systems being 7.1 vs. 5.1 - ANY 7.1 system can be set up as 5.1. You can set aside the extra two speakers until you decide to use them later on.

Good luck!
 

schan1269

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Al.Anderson

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Not using the wire isn't sufficient, he should remove it from the walls. The problem with the wire doesn't have to do with an active electrical current; the problem is if there is a fire in the wall, the wire acts as a fuse and carries the fire rapidely to another area.
 

schan1269

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Al.Anderson said:
Not using the wire isn't sufficient, he should remove it from the walls. The problem with the wire doesn't have to do with an active electrical current; the problem is if there is a fire in the wall, the wire acts as a fuse and carries the fire rapidely to another area.
And exactly why I said insurance providers love excuses to partially pay a claim. Since this is(no buts about it) an insurance issue...the seller/realtor/home inspector can...and should be, sued.
 

Ericflyer27

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Thanks for the feedback everyone, that was actually one of my worries, and one of the reasons I wanted to get a picture posted -- although this type of wiring is something with which I am unfamiliar, it just seemed as if the wires shouldn't look like that. For what its worth, the previous owner's equipment was still attached when we had the home inspection, so not sure if it was something they should/could have noticed at that time. We've been in the house for a few months now, but it may be worth looking into if this is a serious hazard.

As for fixing the issue, is getting the wall plate suggested by Schan1269 the way to go? (Again, I apologize for my potential ignorance with this). The central cords are all in one tight bundle, so they would all be able to go into plate. If that is the case, what about the wire ends at each speaker hole? Will those wires tie directly into each speaker or will I need to add some sort of connection/adaptor? (I should add that I will definitely be looking into the legal ramifications of this as well, but thought it would be good to know what to do in the interim.

Jason -- Thanks for your feedback on speakers. Obviously, this might get delayed a bit now, but I would still be interested in putting something in at some point. For price point, I was thinking around $500, so it looks like there may be some options, especially if I consider used. Since this would be a starter system that would only get moderate use, I don't need to have the "latest and greatest", a system that is a model or two older would be fine with me. I'll definitely look into the Onkyo's you suggested, does anyone else have any other suggestions?
 

schan1269

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The only people you need to worry about is your home insurance provider.Start there. Having equipment connected is no excuse for not finding non code wiring. And, technically, not using a binding post wall plate is also not code.All wiring is supposed to be finished.
 

Ericflyer27

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For what its worth, here are two additional pictures -- the first one is the central wires coming out of the wall, this is how it looked when we moved in. The second picture is the wire for one of the wall speakers. I'm glad I came here to post, I was a bit suspicious but didn't know for sure what I was dealing with, although annoyed/concerned, I am glad that at least I have a better idea of what I'm looking at now.
DSCN4280.JPG

DSCN4281.JPG
 

schan1269

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And...And...Speaker wire can NOT be ran in the same wall cavity as electrical. Meaning there should be a stud between that big bunch of wires...and that outlet.
 

Ericflyer27

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The room is a finished basement, it was finished by the previous owner. There is definitely no stud between the outlet and wires. It definitely looks like I'm going to have to take a step back and look at this again and get some things fixed. I appreciate everyone's assistance. Like I said, this type of thing is new to me, I definitely learned a couple of things.
 

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