A whole-house speaker system allows you to play music throughout your home. Pat and Jodi show you the basics of installing one that has concealed speakers. The procedure can easily be adapted for installing speakers for a home theater system.
Choose Location for Speakers
- We began by removing the stereo equipment (including the speakers, receiver and cabinet) and placing it in the center of the room.
- Next, we measured out four feet (your measurements may vary) to one side from the center of the room, then used a stud finder to locate the closest wall stud to that area. We marked the point on the wall with a pencil.
- We then measured four feet up from the floor along that stud and marked the location for one of the speakers.
- We repeated the same procedure on the other side of the wall.
- Next, we placed a speaker template on the marked locations and traced around them with a pencil to transfer the outline. We used level to make sure the template was level.
- Next, we shut off power to the room, then used a keyhole saw to cut along the outline to cut out the openings for our speakers.
Run Wiring
- We used fish tape to snake the cables through the ceiling and the wall cavities to our speaker locations.
- We completed the cable runs on all of the speakers. Be sure to leave enough slack to strip the conductors and work on the connections.
- Then, at each cable end, we used wire strippers to carefully remove about two inches of outer sheathing to expose all of the wires.
Mount Speakers
- We removed the grills from the speakers by pushing away the front clamps.
- We then attached the speaker wire to the correct terminals for the left and right speakers. Be sure the left channel of the amplifier is connected to the left speaker and the right channel is connected to the right speaker.
- Next, we placed the speaker into the wall opening so that the speaker edge was flush with the wall, then used a screwdriver to tighten the supplied screws and lock the speaker in place. The clamps will also lock to provide a tight fit and prevent unwanted vibrations.
- We reinserted the grill onto the speaker baffle, snapping it in place.
- Finally, we inserted the wires into the terminals on the back of the receiver . Be sure to match the correct wiring to the correct terminal for the left and right speaker. You might find it helpful to label each cable beforehand.
