Ceiling Speakers - Design

MsCabbage · 08-09-2008, 11:08

I have gutted my property and pretty much been rebuilding it for the last few years. I am currently doing the first fix electrics at the moment and want to lay the wiring for the ceiling speakers but need to understand more before I go ahead.

These ceiling speakers are to be spread about the house so I can listen to talk radio as I move about the house. I want to achieve this without spending a huge amount. I intend to use an existing domestic amplifier that has 4 speaker outputs spread over A and B. I would place the amp with the media centre in the living room.

As talk radio I intend to only use 1 speaker per room. So my intended set up would be like this

Channel A) Living room and Bathroom on ground floor
Channel B) Kitchen and Dining room on lower ground floor
First floor hall to be wired in series to Living room speaker

I will use speakers rated at 8 ohms.

So this setup will allow me switch speakers on or off at the amp between the ground floor and lower ground floor.

The only odd thing I am doing here is wiring the Living room speaker in series to the first floor hall speaker.

What I want to be able to do is switch off the speaker on the first floor in the hall as someone might went to resting upstairs and not want to be talked to death by talk radio . So how can I achieve this? Is it as simple as placing a double pole switch inline with the speaker cable going upto the first floor?

The other thing I have no idea of how to determine is what grade / thickness of speaker cable should I use?

Cables seem to be rated in AWG or number of stands. Number of strands seems easier for me to understand and compare. Here are some below

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__speak..._scZ1QQ_sopZ15

As far as speaker cable lengths are concerned they aprox are

Living room - 10m
Bathroom - 17m
Kitchen - 13m
Dining room - 11m
First floor Hall - 15m

Finally if somone is feeling particularly helpful they could have look at a list of speakers from ebay and give me and idea of which ones would do the job well. As there is no plasterboard up I can make nice solid enclosures for them to make 'em sound better. I also prefer basier sounding speakers...

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__ceili..._scZ1QQ_sopZ15

Sorry about the length of this post but I have never been very good at writing stuff.

08-09-2008, 11:08	#1
MsCabbage Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1	Ceiling Speakers - Design I have gutted my property and pretty much been rebuilding it for the last few years. I am currently doing the first fix electrics at the moment and want to lay the wiring for the ceiling speakers but need to understand more before I go ahead. These ceiling speakers are to be spread about the house so I can listen to talk radio as I move about the house. I want to achieve this without spending a huge amount. I intend to use an existing domestic amplifier that has 4 speaker outputs spread over A and B. I would place the amp with the media centre in the living room. As talk radio I intend to only use 1 speaker per room. So my intended set up would be like this Channel A) Living room and Bathroom on ground floor Channel B) Kitchen and Dining room on lower ground floor First floor hall to be wired in series to Living room speaker I will use speakers rated at 8 ohms. So this setup will allow me switch speakers on or off at the amp between the ground floor and lower ground floor. The only odd thing I am doing here is wiring the Living room speaker in series to the first floor hall speaker. What I want to be able to do is switch off the speaker on the first floor in the hall as someone might went to resting upstairs and not want to be talked to death by talk radio . So how can I achieve this? Is it as simple as placing a double pole switch inline with the speaker cable going upto the first floor? The other thing I have no idea of how to determine is what grade / thickness of speaker cable should I use? Cables seem to be rated in AWG or number of stands. Number of strands seems easier for me to understand and compare. Here are some below http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__speak..._scZ1QQ_sopZ15 As far as speaker cable lengths are concerned they aprox are Living room - 10m Bathroom - 17m Kitchen - 13m Dining room - 11m First floor Hall - 15m Finally if somone is feeling particularly helpful they could have look at a list of speakers from ebay and give me and idea of which ones would do the job well. As there is no plasterboard up I can make nice solid enclosures for them to make 'em sound better. I also prefer basier sounding speakers... http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__ceili..._scZ1QQ_sopZ15 Sorry about the length of this post but I have never been very good at writing stuff.

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Ceiling Speakers - Design