Multi room in-ceiling speaker system

[stacker86]

I'm currently building a home and am looking to prewire it for a multi room in-ceiling speaker system. I plan on having 2 pairs of speakers (4 total) in the kitchen/living room area controlled by 1 volume control, and then 2 other rooms with 1 pair of speakers and 1 volume control each. So in total, 8 speakers and 3 volume controls. I already have the speakers and the volume controls purchased because I got a good deal. The speakers are Energy EAS-6C and the volume controls are Episode EVC-100S-WHLA. My question is what is the best way to go about wiring this setup? Also, I plan on running everything back to one hub location. What is the best way to go about powering and controlling this setup? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[BMXTRIX]

The 'one hub location' is called the head end. That's the spot that feeds outward to all the equipment. It is recommended that this location be large enough to accommodate as much gear as you intend to use. It can be part of an equipment panel location as well with Internet and phone distribution, but you will need a spot to put an amplifier and potentially other equipment in the future.

Be really sure you want those two pairs of speakers to always be on and playing at the same volume before you 100% commit to wiring them in to a single volume control.

For wiring, pull 14/4 wiring to each volume control location from the head end. One wire for each pair of speakers would be my recommendation. So, to the room with TWO speaker pairs, I would recommend that 2 pieces of 14/4 wiring be pulled. This is to cover you only if you ever (EVER) decide you want to break it up into two different speaker pairs.

Also, pull ONE piece of cat-6 cable from the head end to each volume control location. This way, if you decide to go to a smart audio system, you will have the option of putting in volume/source selection/IR keypads in place of the volume controls.

From the volume control location to each speaker, wire 14/2 speaker cable.

At the head end, you will need a speaker distribution hub similar to this one:
Wired Home WH10SDH 10 Room Speaker Distribution Hub 182-820

You do not need an impedance matching speaker selector as you already have impedance matching volume controls.

Then you will need an amplifier, similar to this one:
AudioSource AMP100 2-Ch Source Switching Power Amplifier 302-601

Keep in mind this is for 'background' music only, not for cranking up. You won't have a ton of power available to you in this type of setup, and the amplifier linked is definitely on the 'cheap' side of things. With the wires pulled in this manner, you have tons of options which will be available to you over the long haul for upgrades and changes should you desire a higher level of control which includes phone control, more power, device control, and individual and independent room source options.

But, as you are setting it up now, this is a typical way to set up an entry level distributed audio system.

 

[stacker86]

Thanks for the help BMXTRIX! My only other question is in regards to the wiring of the 4 speakers to the 1 volume control. The volume control has an impedance switch with settings of 1X, 2X, 4X, and 8X. The impedance of each speaker is 8 ohms. If the amplifier I choose is 8 ohms (seems to be the norm), would I be correct in saying that I should wire both left speakers in parallel (4 ohms to left channel), then both right speakers in parallel (4 ohms to right channel), and set the impedance switch on the volume control to 2X?

 

[BMXTRIX]

The impedance switch should be set for the total number of pairs in your system, not on each volume control. So, it likely should be at 4x or higher. The manual for the product should have drawing examples of how the specific dip switch settings should be for proper protection of the speakers.

This is all a very 'entry level' way of doing distributed audio, so keep that in mind as it will impact the level of performance which you should expect.