Ceiling-mounted speakers are inconspicuous.
The only experience better than enjoying a great-sounding stereo is enjoying a great sounding stereo without seeing the speakers. This plus is the premise behind ceiling-mounted speakers. Wiring specially-designed ceiling speakers can provide your room with gorgeous music or pulse-pounding surround sound without the clunky look of space-eating speakers. This straightforward job doesn't require prior electrical experience. However, certain steps must be followed to ensure proper installation and accurate sound reproduction.
Instructions
1. Chart the layout of your stereo system. Determine the ideal placement of your speakers. This decision is important if also provides surround sound for your home entertainment system. Use the measuring tape to ensure even spacing and proper placement.
2. Use the stud finder to locate the ceiling joists. If a ceiling joist is found in one of the spots where you were planning on installing a ceiling speaker, make whatever adjustment is necessary to avoid the ceiling joist.
3. Hold the speaker housing template against the ceiling where you are planning on installing the speaker. Trace it with a pencil.
4. Cover the ground and furniture with drop cloths before you start cutting to prevent the drywall dust from getting over everything. Use the drywall saw to cut out the speaker outlines on the ceiling.
5. Enter the attic above the room you're working in (if possible). Drill a hole through the top plate on the wall where the speaker wire will be entering the ceiling. If attic access isn't possible, you will have to cut away drywall on both the wall and the ceiling at the point where you need to get the speaker wire through the top plate. A drill with an extended keyhole saw will help you get a hole through the thick wooden top plate.
6. Cut another section of drywall away on the wall at the point where the speaker wire will be entering the wall. If you are using a terminal box, ensure the cut is no bigger than the size of the box.
7. Fish the wire up the wall and across the ceiling until it comes through one of the speaker holes. Using a nonmetallic wire-pulling fish tape will make this an easier job, especially if you're pulling the wire across the ceiling joists.
8. Label the speaker wire where it comes out of the wall to make it easier to keep track of which speaker the wire is feeding. For example, if the speaker wire is feeding the rear right speaker in a surround sound system, wrap a piece of tape around the wire and write RR for rear, right.
9. Install the speaker's housing in the ceiling according to the manufacturer's instructions.
10. Strip about 3/4 inch of insulation away from the ends of the speaker wire using the wire strippers.
11. Connect the speaker wire to the speaker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Speaker systems vary but most have either compression connectors or screw-type connectors.
The most important aspect to remember when wiring the speakers is to get the polarity correct. The wire that's connected to the positive terminal on the speaker needs to be connected to the positive terminal on the stereo receiver. If the polarity gets crossed, static or interference will be the result, or the speaker may not work at all.
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