Speaker Wire Connection Plate

[dhill]

Hey Gid,
I pulled speaker wire into an outlet box so I could connect wiring for surround sound. I bought a connection plate at Lowes and then discovered it only separates speakers front to back and not left to right. Where can I get a connection that separates speaker wires front to back and left to right?Radio Shack?

[giddonah]

I would just use two 6 connection plates at the amp and mark them frontR, frontL.... HD carries Leviton stuff and they have a 6 opening plate that accepts their modular plugs. I think Lowes carries similar stuff by a different name?

Where is this outlet you pulled the wire into? At the speaker or at the amp?

I'd do this:

Something like this at amp:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/41290DMW.jpg
With these in it:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/412912QW.jpg
and these in those:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/fam_bindingposts.jpg
Something like this at speaker:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/410802WP.jpg
with thses in it:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/fam_bindingposts.jpg

[dhill]

Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. But I want to put four of those in one box because I pulled all the wire into one box on the wall like a regular wall plug. That would be at the amp. I'll pull the speaker wire out of the attic at the speakers and attach them later. I haven't gotten that far in the set up to know exactly how I'm going to do that.

[dhill]

Thanks, G. I knew you'd steer me in the right direction.

[giddonah]

Well, if you want to go with a single gang box at the amp, they make a 6 opening plate. I haven't seen an 8 opening single gang plate. I think they go to double gang for that many wires. If you're set on a single gang opening, you could just have the wires come out of the wall, but I'd really push for the double gang plate. It would be a much cleaner install. At the speakers, why not put in the plates I linked to? If you're worried about them messing up the look of the walls, you could go with wall or ceiling speakers and paint the grills.

[dhill]

Maybe I should describe to you what I did so you can tell me how it's going to work. I think a single gang will work with a 4 opening plate (if they make one). I pulled 4 speaker wires into a box. Each wire of course has a positive and negative side. I intended to hook up a connection for RF, LF, RR and LR. That was my simple plan. I bought a hook up kit from Lowes but after looking at it, I realized it wasn't what I needed. From the pics you posted, I think those plugs will work just fine. Don't they accept the positive and negative side of the wire? And shouldn't I be able to get 4 of those in one box?
Thanks again. Hey, heard any good jokes lately? I heard one about 2 old ladies but I can't remember the punch line, something about going to the beach. :)

[giddonah]

lol. Yeah, the beach. That was a good one. :lol:

I see what you're thinking. One problem though. Each speaker wire is a pair of connections. Four wires = eight connections.
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/fam_bindingposts.jpg
This is a pair of connections, one wire per connection, making this picture good for one speaker. I might be able to figure something out though. Why don't you want to go to the double gang?

Oh, and btw, you can get 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 opening plates. Maybe even 5, but I can't remember.

[giddonah]

Ok, you can do it with a single opening. It's a bit tricky, you probably won't want to do it, and you'll need a RJ-45 crimping tool and a 110 punchdown tool.

You splice the 8 wires into one end of a piece of cat5 (remembering which color goes to which speaker). Then, you use a 110 punchdown tool and connect the cat5 to one of these:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/fam_category5Connectors.jpg

Plug that into a single opening. Then, you grab the crimping tool and another piece of cat5 and wire up this thing:
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/graphics/webcatalog/websmall/fam_ezrj45connector.jpg

Then, you plug that into the single jack, and now you have a single cable with 8 wires coming out of it. You just run that to the back of the amp and wire in the separate wires (since you were so good at keeping track of which wire was for which speaker).

Problems with this? Well, speaker wire is made up of many strands. A wire within the cat5 cable is very thin, maybe the thickness of two strands. It takes the smallest wire stripper I could find to strip them. This might actually not be a problem though, since some people use cat5 for audio/video anyway, plus, you'll only be going a few feet. Probably not a problem, but just wanted to bring it up.

Oh, for a single use, you can make do with the plastic punchdown "tool" leviton puts in with the 10-packs. If you can borrow a compression tool from someone, or even from... HD (shh!) :lol: , then you can get around shelling out $70 for the tools. Actually, you can just buy an ethernet cable and cut off one end :idea: :!: . No crimping tool, and you don't have to buy 500ft of cat5. If you get a 10ft cable, you can snip off one connector and cut off a few inches for the splicing and you're all set. At most, you'll waste the 9 cat5 snap-in connectors.

[rgramjet]

Why not pull the wire out of the wall and hook it directly to the speaker terminals on the equipment? Why break up the conduit?

I used to use the wall plates, they look kinda cool but, I feel they are limiting.

There is nothing sweeter than an uninterrupted home run.

[dhill]

I could pull the wire out and hook it up direct. But I really wanted the wall to have that finished look. But, come to think of it, I could use a cable plate, pull the cable connector out of it so that the one hole is there to pull the wire out of it and connect directly into the amp. Voila! All done and no mess. Thanks for the idea, ramjet. The price of that plate is quite a bit cheaper than all those connectors. And I'm not smart enough to do the cat5 like Gid told me to, I'd have to fly him down here to do it for me and the cost of that ticket would likely break the bank.

[Mike44]

hey, I found exactly what you are looking for. I used one of these (except a half size one for two speakers) but you need it for four speakers. So you basicially hook each wire up to 1 pair of the terminals for +'ve and -'ve. It fits into a single-gang box just like you want.

I found it at Future Shop at http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10031411&catid=# for $38.99 CAN. A little pricey, but totally worth it in my opinion for the clean look.

I've attached a picture of it too in case the link goes inactive. If the link doesn't work, go to the "audio" section of the site, "audio accessories", and then "other audio accessories".

Good luck!

Mike

[Vector]

Now that's a densely packed set of binding posts. I generally use the Phoenix Gold ones that you custom configure (they're ala carte, buy binding posts, RCA jacks, etc separately kind of like the Leviton), but they only go up to 6 posts on a plate.

And that's pretty crowded for making connections as is. I'd hate to have to terminate that 8-post model very often. My hands just aren't that small.

[Mike44]

Yeah, I do agree with you on that one. It can get a bit 'squishy' to work on it, but it's really the only option for his 1-gang box that he has all the wires coming out of. You're right though, it would be nicer to use the Leviton double-gang plate with the eight posts spread on the plate.

Just thought I would mention the 8-post model though because I really would hate to have to do the solution that giddonah presented with the cat6 wire. I think that there would be a lot of resistance built up within the cat6 wire, especially if dhill is using a low guage, high quality (in other words, thick) speaker wire.

[Vector]

Actually, while in general I like the Leviton jacks/plates, I really dislike them for speaker binding posts. They become too prone to popping out of the plate when you're working with them. That's why i use the Phoenix Gold ones which don't snap in, but rather are affixed with a nut.

[giddonah]

The company I work for now uses these:
http://www.hometech.com/techwire/va-wpbw.jpg

found here: http://www.hometech.com/techwire/wallplat.html (don't know our supplier off hand)

When they're hidden behind a cabinet or in a closet, they allow the wires to be fed directly into the equipment. They will cost a whole lot less than something with binding posts or keystones. If asthetics don't dictate otherwise, this may be another option.

[Mike44]

Hey that's pretty neat too! I guess that would actually be better than any kind of 'binding post' or any other wallplate where an additional connection has to be made because it would get rid of any signal loss issues (due to no break in the signal path wire).

[David]

Can you make them air tight w/ some form of gasket?

I wouldn't want to use GreatStuff on it. lol!

[Vector]

On an exterior wall I'd use an airtight box and seal where the wires come in (with poly foam), I'd never bother to try and make any plate airtight, much less the ones giddonah posted.

Those do look like they'd be effective when hidden, and if you terminated the wires with banana plugs they'd still be convenient too. Inside a cabinet, they'd be great, but I've seen more than once where they (or similar) have been used on an open wall and it's just ugly.

[giddonah]

definitely not something I'd like (rather, my wife wouldn't like) on my bare wall. If you want it air tight, I'm with Vector, seal the box inside the wall. I've seen those put behind a table and it's not that bad. Then again, I like wire.

BTW, someone makes reversable hoods, so the hood opens to the inside. Can't remember who we ordered them from.