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b. Select your speaker wire and purchase the proper lengths.
Now that you know the
speaker locations and have a wire-routing plan, the wire lengths you’ll need can be estimated.
In most cases, 14 gauge wire should be sufficient (the speaker terminals will accommodate
up to 14-gauge speaker wire). If larger wire is needed, terminate the wire using pin
connectors to ensure it will fit into the terminals. Behind-th e-wall wire runs should use UL
Class 2 or 3 approved cable to ensure compliance with local building codes (it will be
marked CL2 or CL3).
c. Route speaker wires away from household wiring because electrical lines will
interfere with your speaker signal.
Avoid the temptation to “piggyback” and use existing holes in the studs where electrical
wiring runs. And, when possible, keep speaker wires more than 18” away from electrical
wiring. If you need to cross electrical wiring, go directly across at a 90° angle.
Extra Tips For Distributed Sound
•
Many distributed sound systems feature individual in-room volume controls. This means
you will need additional wire runs from the control to the speaker so be sure to account
for these when planning your wire runs.
•
If you plan to use more than two sets of speakers, be sure they don’t present an unsafe
load to your electronics.
There are two ways to deal with this potential problem:
1)
Buy a distributed audio amplifier with one channel for each speaker (best option).
2)
Buy an inexpensive speaker selector (works, but is not the optimal solution).
Speaker selectors are usually not recommended because they can greatly
degrade the speakers’ sound quality (by wiring your speakers in a series with one
another other or by placing a resistor in series with them).
