ceiling speakers

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Thanks again. Since I cant afford the speakers just yet and I reckon i will need 6 gooduns and 2 average single speakers, I wanted to confirm that at this stage I just need to ensure that each of them has the specified cable arriving at the point where the amp will be located. I will draw a plan so I know exact location of speakers before I board out and plaster. I will also label all the cables. Anything else at this stage? Also, can I assume that the speakers will just hang on plasterboard and don't need any battens etc. in the selected locations? Also, for purpose of selecting 1/3, 1/5 line, what diameter do i assume for these speakers?
 
Can someone kindly confirm the above please? I would particularly welcome input from you @Lucid since I am following your earlier guidance. Thanks in advance.
 
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Thanks again. Since I cant afford the speakers just yet and I reckon i will need 6 gooduns and 2 average single speakers,

How do you plan to position and arrange these in your home?; I ask because it affects the number of channels of amplification required, and this ties-in with the model of speaker chosen. By that I mean that if you choose conventional in-ceiling speakers say in a group of four in the extension (2x left + 2x right) then you need four channels of amplification just to service them. Change the speaker type to one that can daisy-chain then you halve the amplification requirement in that area. It's cheaper in the long run to buy better speakers compared to buying bigger multi-zone amps.

The second part of this is that the speaker speck changes the the wiring topology.

Third, pre-wire to the places where you would have speakers too if the budget was unlimited e.g. the patio/garden, the garage, any groundfloor en suites etc Wire itself is cheap, and it's the cheapest time to flood wire when the house is a building site. Putting wiring in after a year or two is the most expensive and most disruptive way of doing things.

Once the wiring plan is decided and you or your sparks run the cable then make some precise diagrams that explain where the ends are hidden in the ceiling spaces. All you need do then is measure accurately and cut the hole for the speaker and the wire will already be there.


Also, can I assume that the speakers will just hang on plasterboard and don't need any battens etc.
Decent speakers will, Yes. They'll each have three or four fixing points that worl like a vice to grip the ceiling board.

Also, for purpose of selecting 1/3, 1/5 line, what diameter do i assume for these speakers?
Speaker size (and hence the cut out diameter) depends on the make and the model of the speakers you select. Until you have decided that then no-one can tell you the exact cut-out size.
 
I don't know if its been covered on this thread, but I found it quite confusing trying to work out if I did or didn't need to install fire hoods on top of the speakers, given I was considering installing in a new/extension pre-building control sign off. Its not easy to get your head round, but this can add another £30-50 per speaker. When I compared the cost vs quality, I decided to go for a conventional set-up as I have an angled/vaulted ceiling and large wall to attach speakers to.
 
Whilst Lucid is giving you excellent advice I must make the point that it pointless spending a lot of cash if your signal source is an ipod
 
Morning Guys,

Everything now makes sense. Just one question please. As I will have a separate "zone" for living room, lounge, kitchen and hallway, should I daisy chain speakers in a ring formation within each room or instead bring a separate cables from every speaker back to the point where the amp system will be located and then form rings at this point? Thanks for all the help.
 
OK. So every speaker should have its own cable coming back to the amp? How do I create "zones" as there will be around 10 speakers in total?
 
One of the zones is the surround speaker set. 7 in-ceilings (centre, front L&R, side surround L&R, rear surround L&R). Don't forget to wire for the sub, but that will (or should be) a well shielded phono to phono cable. Anyway, 10 - 7 = 3. That's an odd number in speaker terms. Or are you not counting the surround speakers at all?
 
Hi Lucid,

Please forgive me but I understood from your earlier post that I would divide the room into thirds/fifths (as described in your post) and then position the ceiling speakers in these intersections. As an example, my lounge will require 4 ceiling speakers in this arrangement. I'm not bothered about purchasing speakers at this stage. I just want to put the cables in before the plastering.

Returning to my latest question, should each of these speakers be connected to each other (similar to a ring main configuration) or shoudl each have its cables separately returned to the point where the amp will be situated?
 
You're confusing room acoustics (1/3rds and 1/5ths) with zones which is the rooms or segregated areas of your home. For example, a bedroom is a separate room in your home, so if you were to put speakers in to it that you wanted to use independently of any other rooms then that would be a zone. The same principle applies in open plan areas. In your case the TV area is a zone, the kitchen is a zone, the dining area is a zone.

In every case when wiring for domestic surround sound each speaker is wired directly back to the amp location. There are no daisy-chains or rings involved.

In the majority of cases where there are a stereo pair of in-ceiling speakers in a zone then each speaker is wired directly back to the amp. Again,
there are no daisy-chains or rings involved.

The only semi-common exception is to the latter scenario where 4 speakers are being run from a 2 channel amp, and that's only the case because the speakers have a switchable impedance setting to allow one level of daisy-chaining.

No domestic HiFi speakers are ever ring wired.
 

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