My speakers for the Billiards Room finally arrived so I figured I would do a write up about installing them. I had previously installed in-walls in the living room for a surround sound setup so I knew what would be involved in this project.
First I already had wired jacks into the wall for the TV, CAT5 and RCA’s to run to a receiver so that portion was already good to go. The way this will run is that I am using an Xbox as a Media Center Extender and the audio out from it will run to a receiver in the closet to be amplified and sent to the speakers.
Next I had to position the templates for the holes to be cut for the speakers and draw around them.
I cut out the holes using an air saw (Highly recommended, very maneuverable and lightweight).
The next hurdle was that I wanted to build BackBoxes to improve the sound of the speakers. Without them they would have been in an infinite baffle arrangement with their rear’s to the Attic, this is not ideal for sound reproduction. I used 3/4″ MDF and some 2x2s to make end pieces that fit between the studs above and below where the speaker cutouts were, I attached these by screwing through the 2×2 in the the studs. I then cut out more 3/4′ MDF to form the rear of the box and screwed this into the end pieces and the studs.
After this I moved over to the closet where I would be installing the receiver to power the speakers. In here I needed to install a power outlet and a plate to hold the speaker terminals and the RCA’s coming from the TV in the Billiards Room.
With the receiver and RCA’s wired up and speaker wire ran it was now time to install the speakers. Before I installed them in the wall I stuffed the boxes I had made with acoustic stuffing to improve the sound.
Now all that was left to do was mount the speakers and enjoy! All and all this was a fairly easy project but one that required some time and planning.
