Ive confused myself

[ktm250rider]

I bought 2 and 4 wire speaker cable to wire for whole house audio. After looking at installation pages, it seems that I dont need the 2 wire. 4 wire goes from unit(havent picked out but could be from russoun, niles etc) to speakers and Cat 5 goes from unit to control pads. I could have sworn i was going to run 4 wire to the control pads and then 2 wire to the speakers. Have I completely lost it?

 

[Spanky]

Be future safe and run Cat 5e at least to the control pads.

 

[bfisher]

It depends on what you are using...

- If you are using keypads, odds are you will need Cat5 for them. You then will run 2 wire from the amps to the speakers. You could run 4 wire from amps to first speaker, use 2 of the 4 wires at the first speaker and then run 2 wire from the open 2 wires to the other speaker.
- If you are using volume knobs, odds are you will run 4 wire from the amp to the volume knob, and 2 wire from the knob to the speakers.

However, there are some systems out now that will allow you to run Cat5 from source to control boxes in each room. The amp is located there and you run 2 wire from control box/amp to speakers.

Finally, there are some that have the amp built into the speaker, and you run Cat5 everywhere.

You should decide which type of setup you want. Personally, I like have all my amps in my control closet, run Cat5 for keypads, and then use real speaker wire from amps to the speakers.

Make sure if you are running speaker wire that it's CL3 (certified for inwall usage).

 

[Stinger]

Spanky is definitely correct.. I've over wired just about everywhere in my house, but I didn't run Cat5 to all speaker control boxes. I'm kicking myself now.