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building new house - want to wire my room for speakers

M

MrHappyMonkey

Diamond Member
My parents are building a new home and i'd like to wire my room with speakers. The room size is 15 x 12. I'd like to drive the speakers with my computer's Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 5.1 sound card. I would also like to add a sub woofer. I have a budget of around $350. I can increase the budget if I nessasary, but i'd like to stay in that general range.

Any audiophiles have any advice😀
 
$350.00 for what? Wire is 25 cents per foot. I don't think your parents are going to be too keen on having jacks mounted in 4 or more places on the wall at ear level. You can mount ceiling speakers even after the house is done, unless there will be a finished room above yours. I wouldn't bother, though, because those speakers won't be very good quality and I doubt it will sound as good as speakers mounted at ear level, where they should be.

Just count on mounting them on speaker stands with the wire tucked along the baseboard, behind the carpet strip. That will be aesthetically pleasing and easy to move around as needed.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
$350.00 for what? Wire is 25 cents per foot. I don't think your parents are going to be too keen on having jacks mounted in 4 or more places on the wall at ear level. You can mount ceiling speakers even after the house is done, unless there will be a finished room above yours. I wouldn't bother, though, because those speakers won't be very good quality and I doubt it will sound as good as speakers mounted at ear level, where they should be. Just count on mounting them on speaker stands with the wire tucked along the baseboard, behind the carpet strip. That will be aesthetically pleasing and easy to move around as needed.
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What's wrong with flush-mounted ceiling speakers? Our "sound guy" who my parent's general contractor hired suggested using 2 flush-mounted ceiling speakers and a sub. I'm just looking for a second opinion from you guys. How do you figure $.25/foot for speaker wire?
 
Wire is seriously overrated (as ornery said you don't need to spend $4/foot unless you're some sort of nut job who likes that sort of thing!), but $350 is going to be hardpressed to get you a decent sounding setup including the speakers and all of the stuff you want (like hiding the speakers in the wall).
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
Wire is seriously overrated (as ornery said you don't need to spend $4/foot unless you're some sort of nut job who likes that sort of thing!), but $350 is going to be hardpressed to get you a decent sounding setup including the speakers and all of the stuff you want (like hiding the speakers in the wall).
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what is a more realistic budget that will get my pretty nice sound?
 
what kind of zound, computer zound? TV zound? zound zyztem zound? could go anywhere from $400 to $50,000 depending on what you want.
 
Originally posted by: narzy
what kind of zound, computer zound? TV zound? zound zyztem zound? could go anywhere from $400 to $50,000 depending on what you want.
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I'm currently using a set of Boston Acousics BA4800 4.1 (8" sub) computer speakers ($120). Something that matches that quality of sound would be fine. I would also like, if possible, to hook up my TV and xbox to the system.
 
Originally posted by: MrHappyMonkey
Originally posted by: narzy
what kind of zound, computer zound? TV zound? zound zyztem zound? could go anywhere from $400 to $50,000 depending on what you want.
Click to expand...

I'm currently using a set of Boston Acousics BA4800 4.1 (8" sub) computer speakers ($120). Something that matches that quality of sound would be fine. I would also like, if possible, to hook up my TV and xbox to the system.
Click to expand...

No way......I would buy much better speakers before paying 350$ wiring for those speakers.
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
flat wire under carpet works pretty well.
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since the house is still being worked on by the architect (i.e. the slab has not yet been poored), I have the option of prewireing before the drywall is put in place.
 
Originally posted by: XCLAN
Originally posted by: MrHappyMonkey
Originally posted by: narzy what kind of zound, computer zound? TV zound? zound zyztem zound? could go anywhere from $400 to $50,000 depending on what you want.
Click to expand...
I'm currently using a set of Boston Acousics BA4800 4.1 (8" sub) computer speakers ($120). Something that matches that quality of sound would be fine. I would also like, if possible, to hook up my TV and xbox to the system.
Click to expand...
No way......I would buy much better speakers before paying 350$ wiring for those speakers.
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I said some that "matches that quality of sound". So I wouldn't be wiring the BA4800s. I'm looking for NEW speakers that will match/beat that quality.
 
Originally posted by: MrHappyMonkey
Originally posted by: ElFenix
flat wire under carpet works pretty well.
Click to expand...

since the house is still being worked on by the architect (i.e. the slab has not yet been poored), I have the option of prewireing before the drywall is put in place.
Click to expand...

you know you'll want to switch the furniture around at some point. why be locked in?
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: MrHappyMonkey
Originally posted by: ElFenix flat wire under carpet works pretty well.
Click to expand...
since the house is still being worked on by the architect (i.e. the slab has not yet been poored), I have the option of prewireing before the drywall is put in place.
Click to expand...
you know you'll want to switch the furniture around at some point. why be locked in?
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So if I don't pre-wire what are your suggestions? I just really hate seeing wires all over the place.
 
Originally posted by: MrHappyMonkey
My parents are building a new home and i'd like to wire my room with speakers. The room size is 15 x 12. I'd like to drive the speakers with my computer's Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 5.1 sound card. I would also like to add a sub woofer. I have a budget of around $350. I can increase the budget if I nessasary, but i'd like to stay in that general range.

Any audiophiles have any advice😀
Click to expand...


Okay, first of all where will the the computer be located? In the room or where? How far? I reccomend going through the ceilings if you want a nice, clean professional look. Under carpet along wall edges (below molding) can also be worked to look clean.

Second of all, regardless of how far it is, I think you'll have a VERY hard time, correction, you won't be able to get 2 decent speakers and a subwoofer for that price range, you don't need to be asking audiophiles, as you are way out of that league bud. I'd reccomend you up your price range to at least 500.

if possible, avoid Home Depot speaker wire. Try to go to an audio shop and consider Vampyre wire. if you are doing a lot of wiring, then consider OFC oxygen free speaker wire, 16 gauge - 12 ga. Radioshack sells it, as does monster, but monster is a bit overpriced IMO. As far as speakers you didn't mention if you want in wall or what. i know in new houses in walls are popular, and if thats what you want, consider these http://www.crutchfield.com/S-K7mcllFcyxM/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=228S1CIBF. otherwise, if you'd like bookhshelfs, consider Paradigm mini monitors. subs are generally expensive though consider anything that is an active sub (driven by its own amp) avoid passover subs at all costs.

you'd probably be better getting a computer speaker package though.
 
My guess is a in wall/ceiling speaker system prolly will cost u big bucks if you want it to sound nice, i say just get mini system or klipsch and mount those on the wall, so just have them run wire to the 4 corners of the room, and a center somewhere.
 
ugh, unless your wiring your room for some elevator musak, just put wires in wall and nothing else. put speakers in shelves and stands.
 
  • Link for Dhruv and his Vampyre wire...
    rolleye.gif
 
As mrhappymonkey mentioned, he wants to "power" his speakers with his turtle beach santa cruz card. we should probably clear up some of his misconceptions before recommending speakers/wire.

Your soundcard isn't going to power anything. It sends out a line level (unamplified) signal to an external amp which then sends the amplified signal to your speakers. therefore, you're going to either have to buy a reciever AND speakers, or buy computer speakers that have an amp built into the subwoofer box. You can probably pass the output from your XBox/TV through your sound card and out to whatever setup you have, so it isn't necessary to have a reciever, but having a reciever is obviously going to sound better and have more versitility. If you want to up your $$ limit, I'd recommend getting a used Yamaha or Denon reciever (probably can be had for under $200) and then pick up 4 decent book shelf speakers (Paradigm Atoms, etc). Even these fairly cheap bookshelves (w/o a sub) will have nearly the range of a comp speaker steup (w/ a sub). As far as wall wiring, go ahead if you want, but it seems like a lot of hassle for the system you're trying to put together

regardless of what you choose, have fun with it.
 
since we're talking about speaker wires...what would be the best gauge of speaker wire to get for 4 3ft floor standing speakers in 15x14 room? I ain't looking for massive telephone cables across my room, but when does getting a fatter cable give you diminishing returns?
 
Originally posted by: davestar
As mrhappymonkey mentioned, he wants to "power" his speakers with his turtle beach santa cruz card. we should probably clear up some of his misconceptions before recommending speakers/wire.

Your soundcard isn't going to power anything.
regardless of what you choose, have fun with it.
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Glad somebody else finally noticed this. If you are looking for stand alone speakers, which your post implied, you're going to need an external amp of sorts to power said speakers.
 
Originally posted by: llc00ljoel
since we're talking about speaker wires...what would be the best gauge of speaker wire to get for 4 3ft floor standing speakers in 15x14 room? I ain't looking for massive telephone cables across my room, but when does getting a fatter cable give you diminishing returns?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't get anything less than 12 gauge. It's cheap, and works well.
 
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