How do you hook up speaker volume controls for in-ceiling speakers?

[free2day33611]

The house I moved into has speakers in three areas of the house (not main listening area). I've read where wiring for speakers and volume controls is from receiver to selector to voume control to speaker. The house I moved into was not wired this way. There are speaker wires and volume control wires coming out of the wall. I've hooked the speakers to a Niles speaker selector and they play fine. Where do I hook the volume control wires to?

 

[MDS]

I've read where wiring for speakers and volume controls is from receiver to selector to voume control to speaker. The house I moved into was not wired this way.

Can you hook it up that way or is there something preventing it?

 

[jcPanny]

VC wiring

Free,
Your understanding of the normal wiring is correct. If your VCs are the impedance matching type, then the speakers selector box would be optional.

It sounds like the wiring for the speakers in each room was run back to the main receiver location instead or to the VC boxes. If you want to use the VC in each room, then you will need to reroute/pull the wires from the speakers to the VC boxes: Receiver or Amp -> Speaker Selector -> VC -> speakers.

Right now the VCs are out of the circuit which will work if you don't mind having all rooms at the same volume.

 

[free2day33611]

Thanks. I was afraid that may be the answer.

Unfortunetly the wiring was done pre-construction and it would be very difficult to rewire. One room is the patio and I'm not even sure I can get back there. The other room is the game room and it has blown in insullation, etc. But, not that big of a deal. I can at least turn the speakers off/on thru the Niles selector, I just will not be able to control the volume individually.

 

[annunaki]

In this case I would just do a speaker selector with built in Volume Controls. They are a tad pricey but get the job done.

 

[free2day33611]

So I would just hook up the speakers and control the volume thru the selector and forget about the wires to the separate volume controls?
Something like this?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=SISSWL4EX&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=251930

 

[MDS]

Are the speaker wires near the volume control wires? If so I'd just replace the volume controls with impedance matching versions and not bother with a speaker selector. Then you can control the volume independently.

 

[free2day33611]

MDS, yes, the speaker wires and the volume control wires are coming out of the wall in the same place. But I'm not sure what you are sugeesting? If I don't use the speaker selector, what do I hook the speaker wires and volume control wires to?

 

[MDS]

So I guess there are no volume controls either - just the wires?

The inputs of a volume control come from the receiver (or speaker selector) and the outputs go to the speakers.

To help you picture how it works here is how my house is wired for the patio:
The wall plate where the volume control would go has one 16/4 wire and two 16/2 wires. One end of the 16/4 comes out of the wall behind the AV rack and the other end goes to the volume control location. The two 16/2 start at the volume control location and go up through the attic and out to the patio.
You may have two pairs of wires instead of a single 4 conductor wire.

You take the 16/4 wire and connect it to the inputs of the volume control and connect the 16/2 wires to outputs of the volume control. The other end of the 16/4 that emerges behind the AV rack is connected to the speaker outputs of the receiver and the other ends of the 16/2 wires are connected to the speakers.

 

[free2day33611]

MDS, actually there are volume controls. I will have to look behind the volume controls to see the wiring when I get home. When you refer to 16/4, I assume that means 16 guage and four wires? If there are four wires coming out, what are they connected to. Two of them would go to the speaker selector, where would the other two go to? Maybe I was mistaken in my original post thinking two came from the speaker and two came from the volume control. Maybe all four are coming from the volume control? And I was able to hook two to the speaker selector and the speakers work. Could that be the case?

 

[MDS]

Yes, 16/4 means 4 separate wires, each 16 gauge, bundled together in one jacket. Yours may be 14/4 or 18/4 but most homes seem to pre-wired with 16/4.

16/4 is just a convenient way to run the wire for a pair of speakers. Since each speaker needs a positive and a negative, the 4 conductor wire will handle two speakers. If there are 4 conductors they will be red, black, white, and green.

So...you'd use one pair of the four for the left speaker and one pair for the right speaker.

 

[free2day33611]

I looked again again I have six wires (actually two sets of six). I've hooked four to the speaker selector and there are two left which I thought came from the volume control? I mis-spoke when I said I had four wires. So either it was wired incorrectly or I'm missing something?

 

[MDS]

Typical volume controls are for one pair of speakers so you need 8 wires. It doesn't matter if they are 8 separate wires, 4 pairs of two or as is often the case in home pre-wires one 4 conductor and 2 2 conductor wires.

You may need to trace the wires to find out which wires go where.

Are there 3 speakers total or 3 pairs of speakers? Are both sets of 6 conductor wire at the same location in one room? Is there just one single volume control or one for each speaker and where is it located in relation to the speakers?

 

[free2day33611]

There ar three pairs of speakers, but only two volume controls (patio and game room). The bedroom speakers do not have a volume control. Yes, all the wires are in the same place.

 

[free2day33611]

When I said I "looked", it was perring behind an entertainment center. I moved the entertainment center (should have done that in the first place) and the four wires I thought I saw are bundled with four wires in each one! So there are four 16/4 and there are also the wires I have hooked to the Niles selector which the three pair of speakers are currently playing. So, could it be they ran the speaker wires to a central location and ran the volume control wires to the same central location? I apoligize, but I'm just not seeing how this would work?

 

[MDS]

Well, little by little I'm getting a better picture of what you have.

How many wires are connected to the speaker selector? When you say the speakers play when connected are you talking about all 3 pair of speakers or just two pair (as there are only two volume controls)?

 

[free2day33611]

There are 12 wires (four for each pair of speakers) hooked to the Niles selector and all three speakers play. Then there are the four 16/4 wires.

 

[MDS]

OK then the 12 wires currently connected must be connected directly to the speakers and not the volume controls. The volume controls must not be working because otherwise we wouldn't be going through this exercise, right?

So you have 12 wires from the receiver to the Niles and 12 wires from the wall connected to the Niles and the other ends of those must be attached to speakers. Correct?

 

[free2day33611]

Correct, the volume controls do not work. I only have four wires from the receiver to the niles selector (an old two channel receiver) and yes, 12 wires from the wall connected to the Niles selector.

 

[MDS]

OK fine, you are playing a single source over three pairs of speakers.

To get the VCs in the loop you need to get four conductors to the volume control and then 4 more from the VC to the speaker.

Before I go into my theory about how the pre-wire was done, where are the volume controls? Normally they are in or at least near the room containing the speakers they should control. If yours are in the same room where all the wires emerge, it is a bit odd but I have an idea of how it may be intended to be hooked up.