Help with Ceiling Home Speakers - New Owner


Hi, I have recently purchased a new home that has built in speakers, I’m not familiar with audio equipment/wiring at all and hoping someone can assist with me finding the right equipment.

The house has 6 indoor speakers and 2 outdoor.  2 in the living room, 2 in the dining room, and 2 speakers in the master bedroom upstairs.  There appears to be wiring for them in several areas - one set of wires in the living room, one set of wires in the playroom downstairs, and another set of wires behind a tv console built in (same level as the playroom).  The previous owner left me a box that allows me to select which speakers to play but no other device.  There are three wall control knobs - one in the living room and two in the dining room.  I’m looking for a cheap device that can allow me to play Bluetooth and maybe radio.

 

I have added photos to my public Google Drive:

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_zhdABuYsrO4pDebTFXmS-dJTpzRFN6v

 

nis20082012

I had a similar setup in my home I bought 8 years ago.. There were two pairs of installer-grade 6.5" 2-way ceiling speakers inside and a pair of surface-mount small outdoor Yamahas on my patio. The "wires" were just that, two 4-lead cables out of a wall box with a single hole, no labels. There was a rheostat on my living room wall and another by the door to the patio. No amp, no source. 

I sorted out and tagged the leads, the inside speakers were wired in parallel to one 4-lead cable, the outside speakers were wired to another 4-lead cable. I rewired the lot to a labelled 8-jack plate (AMZ my friend) instead of the single-hole plastic box cover that came with the house. I left the wall rheostats alone. I replaced the indoor speakers with 2-way 8-inch low-profile ceiling speakers from Definitive Technology (DT8Rs, IIRC) which was a significant performance upgrade. (the 8-in. units from DT fit the cutouts already there for the old 6.5 in speakers, no enlarging of the ceiling hole needed). Each system runs off a Sonos Amp 125W receiver which is WiFi compatible and controlled with a smartphone app.

It sounds as if you have three separate systems. You haven't given information about the speakers themselves, which would be helpful. The simplest arrangement would be to have three separate streamer/DAC/amplifiers one powering each stereo set of speakers. Wiim Amp Ultra would be a good option, and you would be able to control each of them separately (or create a single distributed system with any number of the amps) from a smartphone app. Sonos would also work, but does not have Bluetooth capability where the Wiim Amp Ultra does. (AMZ, your friend here.) I recommend you terminate the "wires" at the wall box with banana jacks (4-jack units) so you can easily connect and disconnect the amplifiers going forward.

 

2 things to determine first:

  1. determine what each wire set powers which speaker, maybe by connecting to a stereo. Mark/keep track of the results 
  2. then for the remaining speakers not determined in step 1, determine where the speaker wires end- hopefully it’s not to difficult.

Afterwards, determine how you’d like to control the speakers. For example, separate systems, or a centralized setup.  After you determine what you want, then it’s time to look at options which may include rewiring or maybe bring in a professional, etc.  

Thanks all for the response.  What is meant by terminating the existing wires with banana plugs? Are you referring to simply connect the existing wire ends with the plugs? If yes, will these work:

 

https://a.co/d/0cnhXATU

 

Also, for the exiting Sonance SS4 multi speaker device the prior owner left me, there is an input port - what type of device/wiring can I connect to the ss4? I’m looking for something cheap and simple to connect - if so, will the following work (or can you guide me on how to connect these devices to the ss4)?

 

https://a.co/d/06kXxCxV

 

https://a.co/d/05HEwmr7

 

https://a.co/d/082abCee

 

 

What about this wall device? Could I connect my speakers to this device in an adjacent outlet and use it to play music through Bluetooth?

 

https://a.co/d/06VrSvr9

 

https://a.co/d/0bkj9MsX