Hi. I just pre-wired the first floor of my house for ceiling speakers. When the drywallers went through they of course pulled the wire down through holes in the drywall. However, I'm not going to get the speakers until after I move in. So I'd like to plug the drywall holes with some sort of snap-in hole plug--where can I get something like that?
How about just screwing a blank switchbox faceplate over the hole? Eventually you will cut out a larger hole for the speaker, and in the mean time the faceplate should make it look fairly inconspicuous.
Kurt
You know, that gives me an idea. I still have leftover nail plates (the kind you put on studs to protect wire passing through); I can use those.
Other than in the room where the amplifiers will be located, you don't really need to leave anything showing when prewiring for speakers. You can locate cables hidden behind sheetrock with a common tool called a "Tone Set".
Alarm installers and telephone service folks use tone sets all the time. The tool consists of a tone generator and pickup (induction coil with a tiny amp and speaker attached). Turn the music on with no speakers attached to the amp. Walk around the remote rooms with the pickup tool. The tool can detect music in speaker wires several feet away behind the drywall. As you move the tool closer to the sound gets louder. You can find every speaker wire in the house this way in a matter of minutes.
BTW, the same tool does a wonderful job of locating electrical wires -- they make a loud, 60Hz buzz when the tool gets close to them.
Happy hunting. :^)
Regards, Robert L Bass
Not if the speaker wires are shorted as they sometimes are if a sharp tool was not used to cut the wire. Shorted speaker wires can destroy an amplifier in short order.
Connecting one lead from a tone generator to one speaker wire and a the other lead to a ground will create a much stronger and recognizable signal than music. If the signal is too strong disconnect the ground connection.
Using the tone generator is much easier for you and safer for your amp.
11 years ago, when we built this new house, they wired all the low-voltage wiring and dry-walled on the same day, while I was out of town :-(
My original intent was to photograph each installation.
Though there was a drawing, I was reluctant to go arbitrarily punching holes.
So I bought a Progressive Electronics Model 701K "Tone and Probe Kit".
Works like a champ for following speaker wires. Also has a telephone adapter.
...Jim Thompson
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