I just moved to a house that has speakercraft speakers in the ceiling and I know it was previously hooked up to sonos. The seller left me one of the amps and it is used to power the kitchen and living room speaker (2 speakers). I am very very new to sonos and AV. I attempted to do research and believe i wired it correctly, but I am getting poor sound quality. I know for a fact that just a few weeks ago, these speakers sounded amazing. This is what i did.
For one speaker to put the green and black wire to the black connector on the amp and then the red and white wire to the red connector. For the other i did the same. Sound right? This sounds like a basic question but like i said, I am very new to this. Any help is appreciated. Photos attached
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You can't really tell how the wires are connected on the speaker ends so trying to guess and hook them to the Amp is a bit iffy.
What you can do is pull all the wires off the Amp and identify which one goes to which speaker. A 1.5 volt battery usually works well, just hold one wire on the bottom of the battery and touch the other wires in turn to the top. When you hear a click you have identified one speaker's wires, mark them. Switch to another wire on the bottom of the battery and confirm the other pair is going to the other speaker. Do the same for the other wire just to be safe.
What you can do is pull all the wires off the Amp and identify which one goes to which speaker. A 1.5 volt battery usually works well, just hold one wire on the bottom of the battery and touch the other wires in turn to the top. When you hear a click you have identified one speaker's wires, mark them. Switch to another wire on the bottom of the battery and confirm the other pair is going to the other speaker. Do the same for the other wire just to be safe.
Ok thanks i will try this. i am a bit confused. are you saying that red and white may not go together? it may be red and green? or hooking that specific entire wire to say the left speaker is just guessing and could result in poor quality coming from that speaker? could some conductors on one wire mix with conductors on another? Thanks again
umpqua87,
See this link... it shows what many installers tend to use. I suspect it has been 'professionally' installed.
http://wiki.gohts.com/tiki-index.php?page=Speaker+Wire+Color+Codes
See this link... it shows what many installers tend to use. I suspect it has been 'professionally' installed.
http://wiki.gohts.com/tiki-index.php?page=Speaker+Wire+Color+Codes
My guess is the two speakers are each bi-wired/amped to reduce magnetic interaction in the cables and/or to improve the sound quality/output and so the connections on the back of the Amp (from left to right), as you look at them are possibly....
Right Negative ... Green Wires
Right Positive ... White wires
Left Negative ... Black Wires
Left Positive ... Red Wires
Obviously I can only guess at these things without seeing the actual wiring. You could always ask the previous owner, perhaps ?
Right Negative ... Green Wires
Right Positive ... White wires
Left Negative ... Black Wires
Left Positive ... Red Wires
Obviously I can only guess at these things without seeing the actual wiring. You could always ask the previous owner, perhaps ?
yes it was done professionally. i have reached out to the owner. still waiting back. If i try a few configurations and do some trial and error... could it damage the equipment?
I’m not sure if things can get damaged, but I would wait to speak to the previous owner, just in case... do you know if there were two Connect:Amps there initially, or just the one?
Do you know the actual model of the speakers ?
I suspect the wiring sequence that I have mentioned above is correct for a professional installation, but it’s still a guess at this stage (obviously), and it’s whether you need both sets of wires to the one amp, or whether the cables each once went to two separate amps. I’m curious myself now to know the answer to this one.
You would think there would be a professional installer hanging around this forum somewhere who might have an opinion on these things... eh?
Do you know the actual model of the speakers ?
I suspect the wiring sequence that I have mentioned above is correct for a professional installation, but it’s still a guess at this stage (obviously), and it’s whether you need both sets of wires to the one amp, or whether the cables each once went to two separate amps. I’m curious myself now to know the answer to this one.
You would think there would be a professional installer hanging around this forum somewhere who might have an opinion on these things... eh?
There is no telling what wires go together, all is a guess until you identify them. Even asking a pro only tells you what they would have done, not what actually was done on your setup.
My method above is probably the easiest, checking the back of each speaker to see what wire color goes where and then matching up which wire at the amp goes to which speaker is also an option.
I don't know about damage on a Sonos Amp but if you cross wires between the right and left channels on a number of other amps you can be unpleasantly surprised.
My method above is probably the easiest, checking the back of each speaker to see what wire color goes where and then matching up which wire at the amp goes to which speaker is also an option.
I don't know about damage on a Sonos Amp but if you cross wires between the right and left channels on a number of other amps you can be unpleasantly surprised.
thank you for the replies. I am going to do some tinkering tonight. Also there was 3 amps in the home for 3 sets for speakers. I am guessing these two were to one.
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