Best prep for in-ceiling speakers, for blown insulation?

[Grymlot]

I am finishing a theater room in my basement that will have some speakers in the ceiling. I already have the speaker wiring done, tacked to the joists in the ceiling. I have an insulation company coming in a couple weeks and they'll be blowing insulation into that ceiling to provide a small amount of sound-deadening. It sounds like they put u p some sort of netting and then blow the insulation in, so they suggested using an outlet/switch box to coil the wires in or even just hang them out through. I am seeing a couple possible issue with that though: 1) Am I going to be able to remove that outlet box when I cut my circular speaker hole in the drywall later? It could be hard to get a hammer up in there to pry those nails out. 2) I've done extra wiring for the future possibility of atmos ceiling speakers, but it seems unlikely I will ever use them, so I'd rather not have a box/panel.

Has anyone dealt with this before? are there other ways of enclosing/attaching the speaker wire in the ceiling without using an outlet box?

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

I've never dealt with it, but a picture of the room as it currently appears would be helpful.

 

[BMXTRIX]

If this is blown insulation and not foam insulation, then don't worry about it. You just typically tack the wires back and forth a couple of times between the joists. When you open up the ceiling, the insulation falls out, you push it to the sides and stuff some back in and you are done. It's a bit of a chore, but not all that much of a headache to deal with. I work with this on a regular basis for ceilings with attics above it when I cut in speakers or if I add recessed lighting to the space.

There are back boxes you can put in place, but you would often want to know exactly where the speaker is going and what size/make/model. So, maybe not the best option. I'm not sure I would spent money on standard insulation in my ceiling over doing something like double drywall in a specific space to help deaden the sound, and I would definitely avoid in-ceiling speakers as that will cast half the audio straight up into the adjoining floor. If I did use ceiling speakers and really wanted to do my best to deaden sound, I would get specific back boxes designed for sound deadening.

Dynamat, for example, has some flexible, post construction, back boxes which you can use to really help with deadening speaker audio into adjoining floors.

 

[-Jim-]

If I was doing this I'd put some fiberglass (or rock wool) batts between the joists extending a foot or so on either side where the speakers are going to be mounted before they blow in the insulation. Then when you cut the hole you can push up the batt (like a hump) and get the speaker mounted. Insulation companies here often can supply the batts. Ours did this on the Attic Hatch for example.

I hope this is helpful.