In-Ceiling Speakers - Ideas?

[kid320]

I put a bid in on a house the other day. As I was taking a tour through the place, I noticed there were speakers mounted in the ceiling of almost every room. There were two speakers in the dining room, kitchen and each of the three bedrooms (10 speakers in total). All of the speakers seem to be home-run into the basement, where they sit... bundled underneath the basement stairs... waiting... just DYING for something to be hooked up to them so they can fill the house with glorious, glorious sound.

I haven't gotten the house yet, and even if my offer is accepted, it will be a few months until I move in and even more time until I have the money to do something with those wires. All I am doing is dreaming, and possibly planning right now. What I want to know is, what are my options with those wires? If you woke up tomorrow morning with speakers mounted in the ceiling of every one of your rooms, what would you use them for?

I have a 7.2 channel receiver that has 2 zones on it. So, the most obvious option would be to hook them up to those zones. That way, I could pump music throughout my entire house. If I wanted a snack or had to get changed while I was listening to the ballgame, I could go into the other room (or even upstairs), and still hear the game.

Since there are 10 speakers, my 2 zone receiver doesn't do me much good alone. So, what options do I have as far as hooking the speakers up? What other things can I do with these ceiling mounted speakers that I haven't even thought of?

[Chris D]

Could be great. I'd look at what gauge/quality the speaker wire is, and maybe even do continuity tests on them to make sure they haven't been accidentally cut or punctured over the years. You could install an all-home audio system of any varying levels of quality and features, depending on cost.

Yes, you could drive them with your 2nd zone out, if you had a separate amplification and selection system set up. Many companies make these--i.e. I know Parasound has many components in their ZCustom series that would work great.

[kid320]

Thanks for the tip on the ZCustom series, I will look into this further.

[Kevin D]

If it looks like the speakers were never hooked up, there's a good chance you just have grills installed. It's a good way for companies that pre-wire houses cheap to help ensure a sale.

Kevin D.

[kid320]

Hmm... I'll have to check into that. It would have been interesting if they just had installed the grills and pre-wired, but that may be the case. I never checked under the grills.

I am still in negotiations for the house, but I would have been surprised if I was expecting speakers and found nothing but open attic space. I probably would have accused the guy of taking the speakers before settlement or something. I'll have to look into what exists under the grills.

Thanks!