atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Wiring ceiling speakers?

There's approximately 8 speakers. Not adding anything, just trying to resurrect what's there. No music source. Was thinking something basic (e.g. Radio Shack).

Can't/won't be adding amps, transformers or flashing LED disco lights. Volume controls are already present in each room. This worked years ago, it should work again. Just need to know how to connect what's already there, thank you.

As Mike points out, you may need a combination of speakers that are in parallel and series to keep the load around 8ohms. In parallel the resistance is the inverse of the sum of the inverse of each resistor. In series they just add. If you end up with a 2ohm load on your music source, you may burn up the output. Maybe they had something in there before with 8 outputs? As Merritt points out, the volume control will affect the overall circuit, so that needs to be taken into account as well. A volume control that is in series with a speaker, and they are both in parallel with another speaker/volume control, and that whole mess is in parallel with the same again, that should give you 4 speakers on one output. How well the music source deals with that depends on the quality of the music source.

Disclaimer: I don't deal with audio ever...just digging back to my electronics education from 1996, so I may be completely wrong here.

You home run from the volume control to the source of the background music. Wire from the volume control to the speaker or speakers if it happens to be a stereo volume control or two channel as some call it.

After home running you need something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Niles-VCSHUB...p;ie=UTF8&qid=1302816939&sr=1-37

a speaker wiring distribution hub.

It works really well. The input goes to the music source/amp (can be 8 ohm or 70 volt) and the output to the volume controls.

If customer doesn't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on this you will just end up with a mess of wire nuts somewhere...you can't punch down stranded speaker wire on a 66 block, it just will not work.

You need to determine the wiring, and whether or not its usable. At that point come back here and give us a rundown of whats going on and they'll be much better help. 8 speakers is nothing and should relatively easy to get going right with minimal tweaking.

Can't/won't be adding amps, transformers or flashing LED disco lights. Volume controls are already present in each room. This worked years ago, it should work again. Just need to know how to connect what's already there, thank you.

Just sitting here shaking my head.

You want us to tell you how do do something and you have no clue what's there. There ARE impedance matching volume controls that allow multiple 8 ohm speakers to be hung off an 8 ohm amp output. Niles, Russound and many other manufacturers of residential systems make them. Are you competant enough to determine WHAT kind of volume controls are "already there"?

If this is a hack job and the proper equipment was not used, wire it up any way you want to any POS Rat Shack amp. It should work "just the way it did years ago" and there is a reason it's not working today. Just collect your money before you leave.

-Hal

So glad you're back, Hal.

Glad to be of service.

-Hal

It's not working today because the previous client moved from the office and the source wires were cut at the ceiling during a re-model.

Nonetheless, project is finished, music sounds fine and client is happy.

Thanks, all!

You got to love Hal. Jeez I missed him. Lets talk about electricians doing cabling and then lets talk about CAT 5 being punch down on 66 blocks for voice just to welcome him back.

Just kidding Hal. The place has been boring without you.

Jim