New - Moved into a house with prewired whole home audio (now what????)

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donnosu

Audiophyte
First let me apologize because I know nothing about audio or how it is setup, all I know is how to plug in speakers from a receiver to a speaker and it works. With that said, we just moved into a house with wires coming out of the walls, in the closet, and ceilings. I have no clue what I need to buy to get this system working. Here is the jists of what we have:

Speaker wires in 4 rooms (3 with volume control) one room is the bathroom connected to the bedroom that has volume control.

There are red, black, and grey wires coming out of the living room wall.

There are white wires coming out the bedroom wall

There are what appear to be speaker wires coming out the closet ceiling going into the attic.

I tried just hooking up a small receiver I had to the wires in the guest closet to see if I could find what speaker belonged to the wires hanging out of the ceiling with no luck. I hope this makes sense to someone because I have no clue what I need to get this thing up and running. Thank you.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
going to need some pics and a wire count in each location.. that will help us help you...
 
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donnosu

Audiophyte
Here is what I have:
Living Room 1(club room):
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3db5fe03baa00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000059051.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
There is 1 black wire (splits), 1 red/black wire (splits) & 2 grey wires

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3da23361b0e00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000336236.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
There are 2 clear wires

Living Room 2(formal living)
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3dba5f8baff00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000328879.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
Volume control

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3dae802daf700000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000347700.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
there are 2 of these clear wires in 2 different corners

Bedroom:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3db05293b4e00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000358831.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
Volume control


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3db54c0fa2700000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000347968.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
there are 2 of these clear wires in 2 different corners (sorry bad pic)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3dba3afbaab00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000425364.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
These come out by the tv

Bathroom:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3db09f53b9400000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000410336.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
There are 2 of these (just pictured one)

Patio:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3da0e4fdac900000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000412641.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
Volume Control

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3dbc73a3b3c00000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000421719.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
2 places for speakers. the other has just one clear wire like the other pics above

Guest Closet:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d926b3127ccef3da40535bc200000030O00AZM3Ldo2aNmYPbz4U/cC/f=0/ls=00306464793220130708000433040.JPG/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/
There are 6 total wires grouped in sets of 2

I hope this provides more insight.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Looks to me like you need a continuity tester to figure out which wire go where {each pair of wires goes to one speaker, I imagine each tied pair of pairs go to one room with 2 speakers , meaning a pos and neg for each speaker, to fin which go where, tie 2 together one at a time and then check them in the closet with an ohm meter}...

Anyway, You have a couple options, 1 you will need a source which can be anything, ipod, apple, cd whatever... next an amplifier 4z-75 2-Channel, 4-Zone Amplifier | Sherbourn Technologies not sure what your budget is... Or you can go with a d box and 2 ch amp For only $15.88 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 4-Channel Speaker Selector and for an amp yuo can use Dayton Audio APA150 150W Power Amplifier 300-812 or what ever 4 ohm stable 2 ch amp you want, upa200, ect.. {you want medium wattage under 200 and 4 ohm stable}....

Then for speakers you can do what ever you want, just make sure they are 8 ohm and mildly sensitive. Choose between built in or bookshelfs...

If I were doing it as cheep as possible, I would get a dayton apa150 amp for $160, a monoprice secector for 25, then buy a couple of these for under $200 For only $79.90 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 5.1 Channel Home Theater Satellite Speakers & Subwoofer  - Black, use them inexpensive speakers for all the rooms maybe even wire in the subs {or sell them, or use them in a lil pc system, what ever}... That would cost around $400 all done, and although it wont be super hi fi or anything, it will get sound in all them rooms, amazon has ton of cheap little hangers that will work fine too...

In my house I use an emotiva 200 amp, monoprice selector and yamaha in ceiling speakers, running off zone 2 off of my HT preamp.... Never any problems, just turn it on and music everywhere...
 
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donnosu

Audiophyte
thank you very much. I'm going to digest this and move on with your suggestions.
 
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