Hooking up speakers (what do I need?)

[Lagz]

Hi guys,

I've recently started renting a place that has speakers built into the ceilings. I'm a complete non-expert, so could someone advise me as to what I need to buy to get them working (specific product recommendations would be great in addition to the general things!)? I'm assuming some kind of amplifier and a load of cables? The wall plate looks like this (I think there are three zones):

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4750/img20101016094251.jpg

p.s. Looking to be able to hook them up to the TV, laptop, stereo, whatever really!
p.p.s. I think there are three distinct zones, although we would only ever be looking to either link them all together (same music in all zones) or use a subset (music in only one zone).

 

[MikeHunt79]

Those look like banana plug connectors, an amp should hook right up to those, you just need speaker plugs with banana plugs on the end.

 

[Lagz]

So I need an amp + cables from the amp that end in banana plugs?

Presumably they plug into the bottom line of connectors. Any idea what the top line is for (I am a complete beginner at this stuff!). Also, will I need six cables to hook up all three zones to play the same music? Do AMPs have six outputs to do this, or do I need some kind of splitter cable?

 

[MikeHunt79]

So I need an amp + cables from the amp that end in banana plugs?

You need any bog standard amp and speaker cables, and some banana plugs. You can then attach the banana plugs on the the end of the speaker cables.

Presumably they plug into the bottom line of connectors. Any idea what the top line is for (I am a complete beginner at this stuff!). Also, will I need six cables to hook up all three zones to play the same music? Do AMPs have six outputs to do this, or do I need some kind of splitter cable?

Each speaker will have 2 connectors, so you need to use both lines. If you want to hook up all 3 zones you'll need 12 cables and 12 connectors.

 

[Lagz]

So is something like the Pioneer A209R suitable for this? Is there any benefit of getting this one (60W) over the cheaper A109 (40W).

The Pioneer A209R says it has 2 speaker outputs. Can you tell me exactly what cables I need to get these 2 outputs to all 6 speakers? Presumably they need to split somehow? I have no idea what I'm doing. If you could give me links (to non competitors) or product names that would be great.

Thanks for your help.

 

[MikeHunt79]

So is something like the Pioneer A209R suitable for this? Is there any benefit of getting this one (60W) over the cheaper A109 (40W).

The Pioneer A209R says it has 2 speaker outputs. Can you tell me exactly what cables I need to get these 2 outputs to all 6 speakers? Presumably they need to split somehow? I have no idea what I'm doing. If you could give me links (to non competitors) or product names that would be great.

Thanks for your help.

No problem. Can you tell me if you want all 6 speakers playing at once, or would you be happy with only 2 speakers playing at once? There is more than 1 way of wiring this up...

As for amp power, it depends on what speakers you have in the ceiling really... Could you post up a few photo's?

If you don't know the exact make and model you can roughly guess by the size of them how much power they will take. Not ideal but there's no way a 4" diameter speaker is gonna need more than 30W RMS.

If you have 8" ceiling speakers then I'd try and aim for a 100W RMS, but bear in mind that you don't need lots of power if you don't want lots of volume.

Sometimes even 10W can be enough to annoy the neighbours if you 're using efficient speakers.

As for hooking it up, any stereo amp any will have L and R outputs meaning that will take up 4 plugs in that white box.

What I would do is get 3 x stereo amps, and that way you can then independently control the volume in each room.

Or, if you don't mind a little DIY, a 6 channel TA2020 based amp can be had on ebay for less than £50 but that will need a PSU and is hassle really.

Finally, as for wiring it up, I can't really explain it very well, Rod Elliot has an awesome site though, look at the beginners section: http://sound.westhost.com/articles.htm for everything you could ever want to know.

 

[Lagz]

Thanks for your help. I'll take a look at the link. The speakers look like this:

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6973/mypic329.jpg

and are roughly 6 inches diameter. Ideally we want all six speakers playing at once, but with three volume controls (each controlling a pair of speakers).

 

[MikeHunt79]

Thanks for your help. I'll take a look at the link. The speakers look like this:

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6973/mypic329.jpg

and are roughly 6 inches diameter. Ideally we want all six speakers playing at once, but with three volume controls (each controlling a pair of speakers).

I see, I think the easiest thing here would be to get 3 stereo amps.

This will allow you to have all the speakers playing at once and each pair of speakers will have it's own volume control.

Alternatively you can get a single 6 channel amp like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250703790288

But then you'd have to add the volume controls externally in a pre-amp, as well as a a case, the choice if yours.

If you go the 3 x stereo amp route, anything between 20w and 100w will work, you won't need anything particularly expensive, just something that works.

Try and get amps which have a pre-amp output if you can, this will make it easier to connect everything together.

I have a few Cambridge Audio amps which seem to have this.

If you're short of space though, the TA2020 amp is a nice choice.