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Old 11-17-2012, 12:27 AM   #1
I-Hate-Hulse
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Default Whole home speaker wiring / Sonos

I'm the 3rd owner of my house. It was originally wired with ceiling speakers but no one ever used the system. Sadly I don't know much about stereo speaker wiring.

I'd like to wire it up to a Sonos Connect:Amp - looks like a pretty slick setup. Unfortunately the wires were not labelled.


Can anyone identify what the wires are? I'm thinking the ones with many small wires are cat 5, but then I'm confused by the one with 4 wires inside it. Is there a chance that it powers 2 sets of speakers? Why would there be cat 5 in the audio wires - I'm not aware of any extra cat 5 ends in any room of the house.

There are 4 pairs of speakers (3 on main floor, 1 upstairs) with 4 volume control knobs.


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Old 11-17-2012, 02:48 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse View Post
but then I'm confused by the one with 4 wires inside it. Is there a chance that it powers 2 sets of speakers?
My guess is 4-conductor speaker wire.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

As far as the cat5, if you don't have ethernet outlets, it could be used for phone jacks.
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Old 11-17-2012, 08:07 AM   #3
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Wow you got lucky...that's good looking speaker wire. Whoever wired my house before I moved in used dollar store electrical wire for speaker runs..idiots!

The cat5 may have been run for something like the control4 systems. You could also use it for multiple other things like Sirius sat radio or an iPod dock.

I too am planning to go with sonos. Good luck with your setup.
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Old 11-17-2012, 08:42 AM   #4
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You'll have to explain to me.... 4 conductor... what is this? Since there are only 3 non cat 5 wires, and 4 pairs of speakers, is there a chance that the 4 conductor wire powers 2 pairs of speakers? The dining room and living room ones would make sense if they were like this given how close they are in proximity.
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Old 11-17-2012, 12:52 PM   #5
J Diddy
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That is how it was wired for me in a previous house. There was a run of speaker wire to the kitchen speakers volume control...then from the volume control to the kitchen speakers...then from the kitchen speakers to the deck volume control...then from the deck volume control to the deck speakers. My amp was able to power both sets of speakers. So it is possible there is a daisy chain somewhere. Do you have access to a toner?
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:16 PM   #6
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You'll have to explain to me.... 4 conductor... what is this?
I'm not overly familiar with it, but the instances I've seen it in are for volume control (since you have a volume knob I'm assuming that's where it fits in), as well as bi-amping.

Found this:

"4-conductor cable is also often used to run from your amplifier to a stereo volume control. Two 2-conductor cables are then used to continue the signal from the volume control to each speaker (one to the left speaker and one to the right speaker)."

Last edited by DownhillGoat; 11-17-2012 at 02:21 PM.
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Old 11-19-2012, 03:02 PM   #7
HerbalMagic
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I run a home theatre and automation company here in Calgary and we do a ton of multi-room audio wiring.

Volume Controls(most atleast) will require a 16/4 - 4 conductor wire to be run from the 'Source' to the Volume Control 'Input' you then have your speaker wire terminated at the 'Output' on the volume control.

Now keep in mind that the Cat5 is there for 'FUTURE PROOFING' so that if in the future you wanted to install a digital keypad to control the audio system you would be able to do that. If you take out the volume control there should be a cat5 in the wall at that location.

If you haven't purchased the Sonos system yet...you should PM me i'll give you a deal
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Old 11-19-2012, 03:07 PM   #8
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double post DELETE ME!!!

Last edited by HerbalMagic; 11-19-2012 at 03:10 PM. Reason: double post DELETE ME!!
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Old 11-19-2012, 03:09 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kunkstyle View Post
I'm not overly familiar with it, but the instances I've seen it in are for volume control (since you have a volume knob I'm assuming that's where it fits in), as well as bi-amping.

Found this:

"4-conductor cable is also often used to run from your amplifier to a stereo volume control. Two 2-conductor cables are then used to continue the signal from the volume control to each speaker (one to the left speaker and one to the right speaker)."
This is correct it is used for volume controls, or if you have a good set of speakers and a good amp you would use it for bi-amping.
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