New place. Strange connection in the wall.

[byrannewell]

Hopefully you guys can help me out:

I'm moving into a tri-level condo, and in having the cable guy install my HD-DVR, I noticed a connection that is certainly not the norm in places. This is a newer (3 year old) place, and has speakers in the ceiling on the second level (the living room), and speakers in the ceiling on the third level (the master bedroom). Near the cable connection on both floors, there is a blank faceplate- behind the faceplate are the speaker wires. About 20 feet away on each floor, there is a female connection that looks like a digital coaxial sound connection. In fact, when I took the faceplate off, it's connected to coax, but it is not a standard coax cable connection.

I should point out that the only male digital audio coax connection I saw was behind the blank faceplate tied together with the speaker wires in the master bedroom. Any idea what these connections would be used for? I'm going to move to the place next week, and would love any suggestions that you guys could give. I'm in the process of selling my HK AVR630, and picking up a Denon 4306 to pair with both my existing speaker setup, and the new in-ceiling ones. I'm trying to make my A/V connections as minimal looking as possible- one HDMI cable to my plasma running to my new receiver. Are these in-wall connections going to let me do anything new/cool?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Try posting a picture, it will more likely help you to get a definitive answer.

Personally, I have no idea what it might be for. But, others may, especially if they have something to look at.

Jack

 

[BMXTRIX]

My inclination would be that it's a subwoofer connection.

To note: All audio, that isn't being fed at speaker level, over speaker wires, is typically carried on coaxial wire. This may be the exact same stuff your cable company uses, or something you buy from the store with RCA ends on it. Really, the ends are NOT what matters, the cable in between is what matters. So, whatever you use the cable for, it is going to be to carry some sort of audio, or data signal.

What's on the OTHER end of the cable? That is, where does it feed from? If you aren't sure, they have products called toners or 'fox and hound' kits that let you place a signal on the cable, then you can trace the path it follows so you can find out where it goes.

Better yet, talk to the prior owners, or maybe even the builders.

 

[JaceTheAce]

Post pics!

 

[byrannewell]

I haven't moved in yet, so posting pics might prove to be challenging. That fox & hound idea is one I was considering- do you know where I might find that toner (I'm assuming Radio Shack)? Additionally- the prior tenants didn't have much in the way of sound, so they would be the wrong people to ask. The connections, by the way, look as if they are unused- both the speaker wire and the digital coax cable, and the place was built 3 years ago.

In lieu of posting pics- maybe this might help: You know that digital audio connection on the back of an A/V receiver? Marry that with this. Now picture one of these on the second floor about 20 feet AWAY from the blank faceplate which hides the speaker wires. The speaker wire faceplate incidentally, is right next to the standard cable faceplate.

Now, picture that same setup on the second floor. The only difference, is that grouped together with the speaker wire is a standard digital audio coax cable. I assume that this cable connects to either that floor's in-wall connection, or is somehow tied in to both floors. Unfortunately, I do not know if the second floor has that same connection bundled with it's speaker wire connections. Hope this helps, and thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

[MDS]

The faceplate with a square hole could be used for just about anything, so that doesn't help.

Let me just say that pre-wire in homes generally consists of a few types of wire:

1. 16/4 wire which is just a sheath with 4 individual conductors (red, green, black, white). It's just wire. It can be used for anything. One sheath can be used for 2 pair of speakers because there are 4 wires. By convention red/black for one and green/white for the other. It is also used for security systems, remote controls, tying smoke detectors to your security system, etc. Again it's just wire. It was probably intended for speakers but that doesn't mean it must be used for speakers.

2. Coax cable - RG59 or if the place is newer, RG6. This is your standard cable used for the cable tv system. It is also just wire and can be used for other purposes. Usually they terminate it with the standard 'F' connector (the type with the little pin in the center that you use for your cable tv hookup), but often they just leave the bare wire in the wall. You can terminate it with RCA connectors and use it as a subwoofer cable or even as the cable to connect the pre-outs of a receiver to an amp located in a different room where the wire goes.

3. CAT5 - this is wire that has 8 conductors and is used for phone and/or network connections. If any of that wire exists, you will almost certainly have a network connection center somewhere in the house where all of the wire terminates (mine is in the master bathroom closet). They are supposed to follow conventions like blue wire for data and green wire for voice, but of course they never do.

There is virtually no chance that any of those wires you see that are not terminated have to be connected together to tie the first floor to the second floor or anywhere else. The speaker wires simply start somewhere in the living room where they assume you will place your equipment and go to the other floors where there are speakers. The coax cables are probably in every room where you might want a tv and either go to the central wiring closet or are installed in series as one giant wire where you just tap at each room.

The only way to be sure what is what is to trace the wires. You can do it the hard way by carrying a tv around to test the coax or hooking up speakers to the speaker wire. Another way is a tone and probe generator kit which can be found at most electronics stores and places like Home Depot and Lowes. I bought a cheap one called the Lan Tracker at Home Depot and it worked well enough for me to sort out the mess of my install because of course there is no documentation whatsoever about which wire is which.