Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - Rewiring New Construction - Why 2 RG6?? What about Ceiling speakers?

I am pulling wiring throughout the building now.

I have separate lines (RG6,Cat5e,Fiber) that I will pull to wallplates in each room, but I see the bundled cables and wonder why are most of them come with 2 RG6 cables?

Am I mising something here? If the cable/DSS is being routed from a central control, why would you want 2 RG6 cables coming into a single wallplate?

Also, I am still trying to find the best way to design in ceiling speakers in each room... Nothing fancy, but independant volume controls in the rooms would be nice. What is the best way to do this? You don't just run 2 copper speaker wires to each room contoller and then on to its speakers do you? Seems like some pretty long speaker wire runs and would probably have to be 14AWG....

Thanks for your thoughts!

2 RG6 is a good idea for a couple of reasons. The latest Tivo units have two independent tuners, thus two feeds from the dish. Or you may want local off air antenna for high def or local networks in addition to dish at each location.


As for the speakers, 16awg is the standard for most installs. For the stereo prewires, run a 16 awg / 4 conductor and a Cat5 from the equipment area to the volume location in each room. Then run a 16/2 to each speaker location from the volume control box. The Cat5 can be used for future stuff, like keypads, IR receivers etc. Make sure to use wire intended for inwall use,( it will be CL3 rated) not the zip cord stuff from Radio Shack or the like.

hope this helps :D

Thanks for the info, doesn't sound like I need to bother with 2-RG6's...

I guess I need to look up some definitions, what is 16AWG, 4 connector?
Is that 16 gauge speaker wire with 4 wires rather then just 2 (pos/neg)?

16/4 is a bundled wire with four separate conductors used for left +, left -, right +, right -. Or you can use two runs of 16/2 to the volume location if you prefer.

good luck

Gotcha, I went to the local home depot this evening and found the different wiring.... So the 4 connector would go to the volume control and then two of the 2 connector wires would run out from there... one to each speaker, right?
Where can I find some of the volume controllers, didn't have them at Home Depot...