Terminating in-wall speaker cable (1 Viewer)

[Bobby C]

Hi,

I've run in-wall 14 ga. speaker wire for the fronts, center, surround & rears (a 7.1 system). The surrounds & rears will be on wall, so I think I'll just drill a hole in wall and directly connect the wire to the speakers. However for the front & center, I'm thinking that I don't want the in-wall speaker wire to connect directly as the speakers will be a couple of feet from the wall & the wire is white.

So I'm thinking that for these speakers I want to terminate the in-wall wire at a plate with a binding post. Then I'll use terminated speaker wire from the post to the speaker. However I've never done this type of work before & have some questions:

1. If the in-wall is 14 ga., should I match the wall to speaker wire?

2. Is attaching the in-wall wire to a binding post require specific tools? Any on-line guides to this process?

3. For the in-wall wire that I'm going to run directly to the surrounds and rear, is it recommended that I terminate the wire with spades, banana plugs or just leave the wire bare? Again, special tools required if plugs or spades?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Brad E]

1. yes

2. You can get wall plates that have binding posts on both sides. So you attach the in-wall wire to the inside binding post and then the wire to speaker via the outside binding post.

3. I would just leave the wire bare. Besides cosmetic and convenience reasons, there is no need to use banana plugs.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

1. Not necessarily. Personally I wouldn’t do it, but a smaller-gauge cable a few feet long won’t make a difference. On the other hand, you might want to go the other way and use some beefy 12 gauge wire, to amaze and impress your friends.

2. The wall plates you get will have directions for connecting the speaker wire.

3. What Brad said. Since the rears are probably a “set it up and forget it” deal, I’d use bare wire (provided the speaker’s binding posts will accept the 14 gauge wire). The only reason to use banana plugs is if you unplug the speaker wires a lot.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bobby C]

Many thanks guys!