Home surround sound

[JJEH]

Home surround sound and lots of

When we bought the house it came with a built in surround sound system. It's got four speakers on the ceiling and outlets, or rather inlets, in the wall. It appears to me they fit either banana plugs and/or spade connectors.

This is what it looks like.

Our TV has an ARC- as well as a SPDIF outlet. So, as a non stereo system guy.... how the hell do I go from a one plug on my TV to eight plugs in the wall? There's no center speaker nor subwoofer.

As always, I appreciate any pointers in any direction

 

[dmn57]

My guess is this set up would require a home theater receiver with speaker cables running to your wall jacks, and your TV would provide audio input to the receiver.

 

[walkin jack]

Meh...With my level of hearing impairment Surround sound is totally wasted. I wish it would have been around when I could enjoy it. OP, I hope you get it figured out.

 

[timjake]

That's a 5.1 system. My last house had a 7.1. You need a receiver/amplifier that has those outputs and speakers on each of the points. If set up properly, it sounds really good and you can take advantage of the sound channeling on DVDs, BluRay, whatever comes next.

 

[S42N8]

Any reasonable AVR will work. The unknown is the speaker cables behind the patch bay. If they're intact, you should be able to make the 5.1 work. Beyond that, budget and need will likely dictate your approach... but even a basic 5.1 will sound better than your TV. Good luck!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Since you'd need a new receiver to power those speakers anyway, before I'd commit to using the existing speakers, I'd pull the grills and see if they are good models worth using. Otherwise, you might be better off with a new properly matched complete set of 5.1 audio equipment.

Be nice if you could test the four built-in speakers with an impedance matched stereo amp you already have access to, before investing in a new Home Theater receiver, and adding a separate center channel, and sub-woofer.

Good luck.

 

[chief38]

Quick story....

When we moved into our current home I installed a big screen TV an 11 speaker Bose Surround Sound system and made my Den into a home theatre. I won't even say what I spent as it turned out to be a complete waste of money.

My wife has the most incredible hearing I have ever seen and is extremely sound sensitive - she can hear a fly fart at 20 paces! She constantly asks me to speak in a lower voice - I guess my friends and I tend to talk a bit loud - gee I wonder why!? When ever I'd use it she would piss & moan about the noise and couldn't take it - so I haven't used it and it was a total waste of money!

The bottom line is I never use the damned thing any longer and eventually I'll sell it. The only reason I still haven't taken the speakers off the wall is because I don't feel like spakling and painting the walls right now. LOL.

 

[Marine Corps Air]

Home Surround Sound

Jorge,

I always start by calling Crutchfield and speaking with one of their reps. We also have a home theatre with surround sound etc. As has been pointed out, your music source will be connected to the amplifier which performs several functions. It will allow you to connect multiple inputs in to your system (Bluetooth, television, Apple T V, Roku, etc.) and then the output from the amplifier is sent to all of your sound devices (speakers).

Technology is so far advanced today that it almost requires an engineer to identify all of the components, ensure that there is compatibility, and provide for future growth and expansion.

I have a "Tim The Tool Man Taylor" mindset, always thinking that it's all about "power", but it's not.

Bill

 

[chief38]

My wife and I constantly play the higher/lower volume buttons game on the remote. I'd say just to get through a Jeopardy episode runs about 8 higher and lowers......

 

[Onomea]

Jorge,

I always start by calling Crutchfield and speaking with one of their reps....
Bill

This is very good advice. The Crutchfield reps are well informed and have infinite patience. (For those who don't know, Crutchfield is a big, online consumer electronics biz that got their start back in the '70s when their owner tried to figure out how to install a car stereo and realized it was hard to get advice. They have a very good rep.)

 

[swsig]

This is what it looks like.

There's no center speaker nor subwoofer.

Since there is no built-in center speaker or woofer, are there outlet plugs for those near where the TV would be placed? Usually the woofer would go behind the TV, and the center speaker would go directly below the TV.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Jorge, you are correct. Those are banana plug/fork terminal inputs.

If you want to do a cheap/ simple test to see if the speakers are still operational, touch a 9 volt battery to the terminals and listen to them "jump".

 

[JJEH]

Thank y'all, the amount of responses is awesome. I knew y'all know more about this than I do.

We didn't care much for it but I just had to look and see if it would connect directly to the TV. I wasn't aware that I'd need an amplifier.

Not sure if I want to "invest" in amp, center speaker and woofer. I'm sure there's stuff on ebay. Well, maybe I'll have a look...

Here's the ceiling speakers.

 

[Marine Corps Air]

Jorge,

I'd like to add my own "Crutchfield Story" to perhaps save you money and problems. I could not find the info that I wanted for "banana plugs", but my experience has always been with RCA plugs, and mini plugs.

Your television, and if you have them, your Blue Ray device, Apple TV, Roku etc. are all "Inputs" to your sound system. The amplifier connects all of these inputs, and perhaps amplifies the signal strength to allow you to hear it, and then distributes whatever "Input" you have selected to your "Outputs" (the speakers). There is an electrical requirement that needs to be addressed called "impedance". When I was doing this work in my home it was Four Ohm or Eight Ohm. Unless it has changed, all of your system devices (input & output) have to have the same impedance - "impedance matching".

I noticed that the impedance on the back of the ceiling speaker is Three Ohms. IMHO, that speaker will not function correctly in either an Eight Ohm or Four Ohm system. It will in a Three Ohm system.

We updated our home theatre systems a few years ago. The previous home owner used a Bose system, which I have always thought to be among THE best. I called Crutchfield to discuss my plans. If I remember correctly, he said that among other things, Bose systems are 3.5 Ohms which keeps one continuously using their hardware, and limits your choices for growth and expansion. As Johnny Carson always said, "I did not know that!!"

Technology is advancing rapidly in all product areas, including sound and entertainment. Prices are also declining and are reasonably competitive. I believe that this is your retirement home. I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you to have a great entertainment and sound system to enjoy in your new home.

Cheers!

Bill