How to Wire a Home Audio System
A home audio system uses a stereo receiver and speaker wire to connect the speakers. Purchase a roll of speaker wire and a wire stripper from your local electronic supply retailer. Use this to wire the system yourself which will save money and time waiting for an installation technician.
Materials
- Speaker wire
- Stereo Receiver
- Wire stripper
Method
- Categorize each speaker based on where it belongs in the room. The majority of surround sound speakers popular today consist of two front speakers, two rear speakers, one center speaker, and a subwoofer.
- Cut the speaker wire using a wire stripper. Cut the wire length longer than you think you may need because you can always cut more off later, or bind excess wire with zip clips. This allows you to position the wire out of the way of traffic in your living room.
- Split the indented wire down the middle so the wires can be identified then hooked up to the stereo receiver and the speakers. Split down about two inches from the middle of the two indented strands. This gives you room to separate the positive from the neutral wire.
- Strip off about an inch of the wire plastic insulation from both ends of the wire on both the positive and neutral wires. The brown insulated side is positive and the clear side is negative wire.
- Hook up the speaker wire to the back of each speaker. Place the positive wire into the red speaker snap by pulling the snap back and threading the wire through the hole. Place the neutral wire into the black snap. Then gently let go of the terminal and the spring will hold the speaker wire in place. Repeat this for all of the speakers. Some speakers have screw on styles and others are spring loaded.
- Plug in the speaker wires to the correct locations at the back of the receiver.
- Configure the receiver settings and test each speaker.