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Message
Surround sound for prewired house
Posted on 1/23/24 at 6:20 pm
Posted on 1/23/24 at 6:20 pm
hi guys.
I've lived in our house for 8 years and it's prewired in the living room, and I've just been going off a center speaker because we had small kids, and it was plenty.
I finally want to install the speakers and today I went behind the TV to look for the wires and couldn't find them coming out of the wall anywhere.
I looked everywhere and finally found them coming out in the box that's in a hallway closet far away. Its where our DIRECTV, internet and everything is hooked up. I know these are common, but can someone explain why they would have the prewired living room wires coming out in a closet 60 feet away? Why would they do this?
How in the hell am I supposed to make this work? I have a Denon 7.1 dual zone receiver under the TV in the living room.
I've lived in our house for 8 years and it's prewired in the living room, and I've just been going off a center speaker because we had small kids, and it was plenty.
I finally want to install the speakers and today I went behind the TV to look for the wires and couldn't find them coming out of the wall anywhere.
I looked everywhere and finally found them coming out in the box that's in a hallway closet far away. Its where our DIRECTV, internet and everything is hooked up. I know these are common, but can someone explain why they would have the prewired living room wires coming out in a closet 60 feet away? Why would they do this?
How in the hell am I supposed to make this work? I have a Denon 7.1 dual zone receiver under the TV in the living room.
1
Posted on 1/23/24 at 6:41 pm to dallastiger55
Sounds like you are going to need an IR repeater to control the receiver at your viewing location.
Hopefully whoever did the wiring was smart enough to run your video output cable from the closet to the TV location.
If no video out cable is obvious, then the best solution is to run a cat 6 thru your attic (assuming your have good access) and convert to HDMI on either end.
All of this is very diy friendly if you are comfortable with working in an attic(assuming you have attic access to the space).
If no attic access, I'd definitely get an av installer to take care of it instead.
Hopefully whoever did the wiring was smart enough to run your video output cable from the closet to the TV location.
If no video out cable is obvious, then the best solution is to run a cat 6 thru your attic (assuming your have good access) and convert to HDMI on either end.
All of this is very diy friendly if you are comfortable with working in an attic(assuming you have attic access to the space).
If no attic access, I'd definitely get an av installer to take care of it instead.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 9:17 pm to baseballmind1212
So do I need a receiver on the connection box end? The one in the closet? How do the 4 surround speakers plug in?
Posted on 1/24/24 at 7:33 am to dallastiger55
You put the receiver in the closet and hook it up to all the speakers. You said your DirecTV box is in there too so sounds like most/all of your input sources are there already. That presumably means there's an HDMI connection from there to your TV. Instead of going dtv box to TV hookup cable, go dtv to receiver to TV. Hopefully that makes sense.
Ideally that dennon receiver has "smart" capabilities to be configured over WiFi, that or you can run an IR repeater.
Ideally that dennon receiver has "smart" capabilities to be configured over WiFi, that or you can run an IR repeater.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 9:03 am to LSshoe
Sorry I meant all the connections coming out are there. The Directv box and Denon and center channel speaker are all by the tv in the living room.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 12:07 pm to dallastiger55
quote:
The Directv box and Denon and center channel speaker are all by the tv in the living room.
OP, are you sure you don't have a coax hook up for your direct TV in that closet?
Residential builders are idiots in most instances, but I'd find it hard to believe this one put your speaker wires in one spot and video source wiring in another spot.
Even so, if that's what happened then I think you should cut your losses and get the speaker wire re-ran.
Ideally, your video source (cable box or whatever), speaker wire, video game console,etc would all be terminated/ located in the same spot.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 12:43 pm to baseballmind1212
quote:
Even so, if that's what happened then I think you should cut your losses and get the speaker wire re-ran.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 3:47 pm to Lonnie Utah
Sorry, I don’t know how to talk in AV lingo
All of the fiber and DIRECTV rooms that have the cable outlet all feedback to the box in the closet.
I called a buddy of mine that knows the stuff well and he said it’s probably best just to rewire. How hard do you think it is to go in the attic and pull the wire from the box and move it all the way behind the TV?
I just wouldn’t know how to get it down the wall
All of the fiber and DIRECTV rooms that have the cable outlet all feedback to the box in the closet.
I called a buddy of mine that knows the stuff well and he said it’s probably best just to rewire. How hard do you think it is to go in the attic and pull the wire from the box and move it all the way behind the TV?
I just wouldn’t know how to get it down the wall
Posted on 1/25/24 at 12:21 am to dallastiger55
quote:
Sorry, I don’t know how to talk in AV lingo All of the fiber and DIRECTV rooms that have the cable outlet all feedback to the box in the closet. I called a buddy of mine that knows the stuff well and he said it’s probably best just to rewire. How hard do you think it is to go in the attic and pull the wire from the box and move it all the way behind the TV? I just wouldn’t know how to get it down the wall
It would be better and more efficient to run an HDMI or cat 6 with hdmi baluns from your tv to your media closet (if this is not done already) via an ARC or EARC connection
Your whole system can be run remotely through wifi unless you have a receiver older than 10+ years
This post was edited on 1/25/24 at 12:23 am
Posted on 1/25/24 at 7:01 am to jennyjones
thx. I have a Denon AVR s760h.
Posted on 1/25/24 at 7:07 am to dallastiger55
quote:
How hard do you think it is to go in the attic and pull the wire from the box and move it all the way behind the TV?
Is it an interior or exterior wall?
If it's an interior wall, it's not easy, but its not THAT difficult. It really depends on how much room is in our attic more than anything.
Exterior walls, with insulation in them, at a little trickier.
This post was edited on 1/25/24 at 7:09 am
Posted on 1/25/24 at 8:16 am to Lonnie Utah
Closet is interior, living room is external behind the tv
Posted on 1/25/24 at 9:47 am to dallastiger55
quote:
thx. I have a Denon AVR s760h.
That receiver would support ARC and EARC. Here is an article explaining this. Hope that helps
LINK
With ARC, you would be able to control volume and power through your TV's remote
Posted on 1/26/24 at 7:35 am to dallastiger55
OP,
Based on your questions, I would just get someone else to re run your speaker wire.
Unless you have an installers drill bit, fish sticks or tape to pull the wire, and enjoy rummaging around in your attic yelling expletives for a few hours (with the potential to fall thru the ceiling if you aren't careful), you will come out ahead having someone else do it.
If you want to diy so you can learn some new skills and have a couple hundred bucks and a day to burn, YouTube search running AV cable in existing walls.
I knew nothing before I bought a home, now I diy all this sort of stuff. But I won't pretend the process doesn't include a multitude of expletives and a sore back despite my experience.
Based on your questions, I would just get someone else to re run your speaker wire.
Unless you have an installers drill bit, fish sticks or tape to pull the wire, and enjoy rummaging around in your attic yelling expletives for a few hours (with the potential to fall thru the ceiling if you aren't careful), you will come out ahead having someone else do it.
If you want to diy so you can learn some new skills and have a couple hundred bucks and a day to burn, YouTube search running AV cable in existing walls.
I knew nothing before I bought a home, now I diy all this sort of stuff. But I won't pretend the process doesn't include a multitude of expletives and a sore back despite my experience.
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