Whole house speaker system

[RobbieJ]

Hi,

I have a friend who just moved in to a house built circa 15 years ago. It appears to have a whole house speaker system, with single speakers mounted in the ceilings of various rooms. There are 2 wall plates, each with 3 (2 black, 1 red) RCA jack connectors.

There is no visible amplifier or control system anywhere in the property that I can find.

Has anybody got any idea how to connect a music system to these speaker? Is there an essential piece of hardware missing?

Many thanks.

 

[Lucid]

If you can post a decent picture of the control plates and a nice clear shot of one of the speakers then that might help.

 

[RobbieJ]

Thanks for the reply, I am seeking to get a couple of photos, leaving the country for a couple of days and I will post as soon as I can.

Descriptively, the speaker is just a plastic grill mounted in the ceiling. No brand name visible.

The wall plate is a standard single gang plasic wall plate with 3 RCA jacks mounted on the face in triangular format. One red, two black.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[RobbieJ]

Speaker

• RobbieJ
• 13 Jan 2014
• 1

Connections

• RobbieJ
• 13 Jan 2014
• 1

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Many Thanks.

 

[Lucid]

Thanks for the photos. But, it's still a bit of a mystery.

Those of us in the trade wouldn't normally use phonos/RCAs for speaker level signals. It's too easy to confuse with line level from a CD player or other source. Fortunately you won't blow up a speaker giving it a line level signal. But equally it won't work either so it just causes confusion all round.

What it looks like you have is some sort of homebrew/DIY system rather than something official. On that basis then the next step is to get the system investigated properly. That means someone like me or similar from the AV trade spending 1/2 a day buzzing out and testing the system to see how it's wired and what still works.

I'm based in Middlewich, Cheshire, so Chester/Wrexham is within easy reach. You could also try the retailers at Audio Excellence in Chester. If you're further in to N.Wales down on the coast then try Acton Gate Audio at Wrexham. Retailers are usually okay if they've supplied the system in the first place.

 

[RobbieJ]

Thanks Lucid. I had a feeling it wasn't a professional system.

It will be up to my friend what she wants to do next, if she needs assistance, I'll be back.

Thanks again.

 

[SimonH2]

I'd loosen the faceplates and have a look at what's behind them. It's not impossible that someone's hidden a small amplifier - and there are faceplates with an amplifier built in (though I'm assuming these plates don't look like any of those given earlier comments).

 

[GRC]

I'd loosen the speaker grilles as well, see what's behind them....