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Speaker cables for surround sound

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  • 06-03-2008 10:27am
    #1
    Noviceman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 176 ✭✭


    Hi,

    I've just moved into my new house and I got my electrician to wire for surround sound with ordinary speaker cables. I've bought my home cinema system now and realised that I should have bought this before he did the wiring, that way he could use those wires as they're all colour coded for the various speakers and probably better quality.

    Anyway, my spark never labelled any of my 5 wires coming out of the wall behind tv like i asked him to and i've no way of telling what wire is linked to what. Has anyone any suggestions on how i could test this, i have a samsunh home cinema system and I don't believe it does a test on each speaker like the Sony does. Any ideas\suggestions?


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    #2
    stevenmu
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,689 Mod ✭✭✭✭stevenmu


    It'd be unusual if it doesn't have some kind of speaker test, but if not it shouldn't be a problem, I presume the ports on the back are marked at least? If so you should be able to wire the speakers up as normal around the room, then for each speaker try each wire at the surround end untill you get the right one, for e.g. start with the rear left speaker, try plugging each wire into the rear right connecter on the surround unit untill you get sound coming out of the right speaker. Mark/label the cable then disconnect it and move onto the next one. Then when you've figured them all out connect them all up again.

    You'll obviously need something with sound playing to try this, and it might be best to use a stereo source (such as tv) with dolby prologic switched on to give you the best chance of having something coming through the rear speakers as you test them. Having the volume up at a decent level will help too.


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    #3
    Homer
    Registered Users Posts: 4,261 ✭✭✭Homer


    Or an easier way to find out which label is which, would be to connect all the speakers up and then get a 9V battery (like what goes in your smoke alarm). There should be 4 or 5 wires back at a central location (depending whether sparks wired a center speaker or not) Ccut back a small amount of the plastic sheath covering the cables and then place positive and negative of the speaker cable onto the +/- terminals of the speaker battery. The (v current will produce a popping sound from the speaker so you can identify which one is which. Simply label the one you hear sound coming from and move onto the next wire.
    Ensure you match polarity on either end (very important) or your speakers will be "out of phase".
    All speaker cables will have some distinguishing marks on them to tell which is positive and which is negative.


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