Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Jan 08, 2010 6:46 pm Hi all, In my home theatre room I wanted something simple - two rear surround speakers to be cabled up. So, the front of the home threatre room would have a wallplate with the connections, then the rear wall would have the wallplates at each side of the wall, and I'd mount my rear speakers alongside. So... that's basically what it said in the building contract, and as far as they're concerned, it's what's been delivered. However - what was installed was very thin speaker cabling (22AWG I'm guessing), using RCA jacks for the connectors. I was expecting something like 16-18AWG cable and banana posts, which I had thought were pretty much standard these days. I can replace the connectors, but that thin cable seriously has me worried. So, if this isn't good enough - how much would it cost to get someone to come in and do it properly? i.e. I buy a roll of proper speaker cable and they just install it for me? I don't know if I can do it myself, as I think he's actually used some clips to attach the cable to the frame, so you can't really connect the new cable to the old cable and pull it up easily. At the time I didn't realise what he'd done, until it was too late! Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 2Jan 08, 2010 7:34 pm So i assume the plaster is up. Firstly try and connect the new cable to the old cable and pull thru. If it really doesnt work it then depends if its been run thu the wall (not reccommended) or up the nogs to the ceiling then down again. Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 3Jan 08, 2010 7:50 pm Yeah, the plaster is up - everything happened way quicker than expected! On the rear wall, he'd run it down inside the wall cavity, and clipped it against the frame - this should be easy to fix (from inside the roof - he put them up high so I should be able to stick my arm down to rip it out). On the front end of the room (which is an exterior wall), I'm pretty sure it's going down through noggins, with no clips - so if that's the case, I should be able to pull it up. However, my main concern... I'm 99.9% sure the hole through the noggin houses both the speaker cable + TV coaxial cable... so I'm not sure if the holes are big enough to fit everything through! I guess I'll find out soon enough! In that case I'd need to call a professional in I guess! Plus I'm scared of going into the roof, standing on the wrong thing, cracking the ceiling or putting my foot through it! EDIT - Something I forgot to say - as soon as I move in I'm getting an electrician in to add another power point in one of the walls, and move a light switch. Can an electrician easily (i.e. cheaply) replace the speaker cable at the same time if I provide the cable? Or likewise, if the TV coaxial cable isn't quad shielded, when the antenna guy is here I will get him/her to replace the coaxial cable, and in that case, could they do the speaker cable too? (since that cable goes down the same hole) Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 4Jan 09, 2010 1:45 am Would 18AWG be good enough for rear surrounds? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/50m-CUSTOM-In-Wa ... 3359064145 (which seems to be Selby Acoustics, they have the same street address)... Or Selby Acoustics themselves directly sell 16AWG from their own website, though it's purple! http://www.selbyacoustics.com.au/storef ... =243654039 The 18AWG would probably be easier to work with, and since it's white, I could easily just do away with connectors entirely and just have it come through the wall plate directly... perhaps using something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BLANK-AV-WALL-PL ... 5638222e0f What do people think? Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 5Jan 09, 2010 11:24 am 18AWG is fine for small/low end surround speakers, but 16AWG is recommended for more substantial surrounds (however, I don't see it as necessary to go much bigger for surrounds, and too big can be a bit of a hassle with connections as well...). Unfortunately the 22AWG crap is often what you get when a 'sparky' says he can run speaker wires, as well as those stupid RCA or even 3.5mm socket wallplates (proves they simply don't understand audio or speakers...). If you end up with those stupid wallplates then you have to either find speaker cables that terminate with those plugs or make your own (which is another unnecessary hassle)... Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 6Jan 09, 2010 1:57 pm In that case I'll buy a roll of the 50m 16 AGW in-wall cable, even though it's purple.... the only issue is the installation, and finding someone who'll swap it over cheaply enough if I can't do it myself (and there's a 99% chance I won't be able to do it myself!). The place is in Melton, Victoria... so I will have to call around the local sparkies/handymen to find out who has some cheap labour rates! I will complain to the builder about it all, but I know what'll happen... and it cost me $300 for this ** work as done by the sparky. I want my money back. I just hope it doesn't cost that much to do replace it all with the proper gear! Re: Bad speaker cable installation? 7Jan 29, 2010 11:06 am Just as an update - it's taken a while, but the builder has agreed to bring the sparky back and will re-run the cable provided I bring in the cable. So I'm getting that 50m roll of 16-AWG cable for him to replace the crap stuff with. But I'm going to get him to leave a metre dangling out of the wall at each end, and use bull-nose plates instead so the cable will go straight from the AVR to the speaker without any extra connectors in between. do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 25264 You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 12905 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place - Iām new to the property/building journey (trying to buy my first home) so not sure where/who to go with these sorts of… 0 14126 |