Polk Audio 255c-RT DIY In-Ceiling and In-Wall Installation Guide - Page 4

Section 2: Polk Audio In-Wall and In-Ceiling Speaker Installation Guide Materials and Preparation Before cutting into your walls to install your new Polk Audio speakers, gather up all the tools and materials needed to complete the project. Speaker cable: the audio signals are going to run on the cables you install. Here are some things to know and options to think through: 1. Cable vs. wire: A cable utilizes more than one conductor, a wire uses just one conductor-even if the wire is "stranded" or has several bare wires together-in all basic speaker applications you will need a minimum of 2 conductors, thus the term cable is used here instead of "wire". 2) Be certain that you have enough speaker cable-it is always a good idea to cut each run of cable 3' to 6' longer than needed. The length of your cable run will determine the gauge of wire needed. The term "gauge" refers to the size of the cross section of the wire, (the lower the gauge number, the larger the wire is in diameter). The following is a good general guide for wire sizing: a. Runs under 100' (33m) use 14 or 16 gauge cable. b. Runs over 100' use 12 gauge cable. Planning Where to Run the Cable The planning process starts with some basic layout decisions and the type of application chosen. Here are three basic types of systems: Scenario 1 Home Theater: In this example the three front speakers (front left, front center, and front right) are traditional free-standing speakers while the rear surround speakers are in-wall (or in-ceiling) speakers. This situation will require running cables to the rear locations from the surround receiver. Floor plan view: Television Display and component entertainment cabinet 16 gauge speaker cable Surround speakers Scenario 2 Wall-mounted flat-screen TV with in-wall speakers in the front: 12 gauge speaker cable 3) Your audio retailer can recommend the brand and type of cable that will work best for your application. Some things your retailer will need to know to make an appropriate recommendation: a. Overall length of the cable run b. The room application (is this for your home theater or for background music in your bathroom?) c. The local building codes 4) We recommend utilizing a stranded cable that is manufactured specifically for speakers which wraps the conductors in one jacket and are commonly called 16/2: 16/2 = meaning that the conductor size is 16 gauge with 2 conductors. 5) Plan where you plan to run the cable. If you want to run cable under a carpet or on a wall then we recommend "flat" style cable. If you are going to run the cable entirely inside of walls or through attics or crawl spaces, "round" cable will do and will save you some money. Any of your choices will work and but final leg of you cable route will need to be run in the wall. In this case the cabling would be run from the surround receiver to the speakers. DIY CI Tutorial 4