Polk Audio MC Series MC65, MC Series MC80, SC60, TC620i, TC625i Install Manual

Installing Your In-Wall
or In-Ceiling Speakers

Section 1: Introduction To Installing In-Wall or

In-Ceiling Polk Audio Speakers

Installing your new Polk Audio in-ceiling or in-wall speakers is relatively
easy to accomplish for even the most hesitant do-it-yourselfer. This
Guide will take you through the process step by step. Installing your new

olk speakers can be very rewarding, and they look and sound great too.

P
At first, many are intimidated thinking about attempting this on their

own. Thinking about cutting into your drywall should not be a barrier
to doing this yourself. Sheet rock or dry wall is by design a very forgiving
building material. We suggest that you choose walls or ceilings that are
not covered with wallpaper or have a faux finish. Since, in some cases
the need to cut into a wall to install the cabling is necessary, and that
hole will need to be patched and painted, matching the patterns on
some wall papers, and harmonizing a faux finish can be difficult.
But if you consider yourself to be a wiz at wallpaper and/or paint
repair, go for it!

Here is a quick “personal test” to see if you’re up for doing this yourself:

e you familiar the following tools:

Ar

• Stud finder

• Tape measure

• Utility Knife

• Power drill and driver

• Sheet rock saw

• Putty knife

• Wire fish tape

• Wire stripers

• Full frequency 50 nanosecond vector scope and are confident about
troubleshooting any frequency scatter between 5 and 2.35 gig?

afety and Code Review

S

• Use material and speaker cabling that conforms to your community
and state building codes–your retailer or home center service
personal will know if these are unique and which material to use.

• Use caution when standing on a ladder.

• Always use eye protection.
When in a crawl space, attic or unfinished basement be sure

•

o light the space safely.

t
Take your time.

•

• When drilling into walls or ceilings shut of power to that area
of the house.

• When drilling through a fire block or any fire barrier, after installing
the wire, be sure to fill the hole with a comparable fire retardant
material (available in small quantities at any home improvement
center in a convenient aerosol can).

• When cutting or stripping wires, or using sharp blades–slow down,
make sure you have enough light, and always cut or slice in a motion
away from your body.

If you at least have a working knowledge of these basic tools
then see below to gain confidence.

Have you ever run cabling for any of the following:

• Telephones

• Computer network

• Printer cable

• Track lighting

• Automatic sprinklers
Outdoor or indoor lighting

•
Cable or satellite television

•

• A security system

And do you feel comfortable with any of the following:

• Repairing a hole in sheetrock or drywall

• Installing “on wall” shelving

own molding

Installing baseboar

•

ds or cr

If you answered yes to any of these and are familiar with the tools
listed, we’re confident that you are capable of installing Polk speakers.

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hotos and description of the Tools

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Sheet rock saw

Fish tape to help install wire into existing walls

Stiff Putty blade

Tape measure, utility knife and wire stripper

y powered hand held drill and driver

Batter
(shown with magnetic driver extension)

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Section 2: Polk Audio In-Wall and In-Ceiling
Speaker Installation Guide

Materials and Preparation

Before cutting into your walls to install your new Polk Audio speakers,
gather up all the tools and materials needed to complete the project.

Speaker cable: the audio signals are going to run on the cables you
install. Here are some things to know and options to think through:

1. Cable vs. wire: A cable utilizes more than one conductor, a wire uses
just one conductor-even if the wire is “stranded” or has several bare
wires together-in all basic speaker applications you will need a
minimum of 2 conductors, thus the term cable is used here instead
of “wire”.

Planning Where to Run the Cable

The planning process starts with some basic layout decisions and the

ype of application chosen. Here are three basic types of systems:

t

Scenario 1

Home Theater: In this example the three front speakers (front left,
front center, and front right) are traditional free-standing speakers

hile the rear surround speakers are in-wall (or in-ceiling) speakers.

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This situation will require running cables to the rear locations from
the surround receiver.

Floor plan view:

2) Be certain that you have enough speaker cable–it is always a good
idea to cut each run of cable 3' to 6' longer than needed. The length
of your cable run will determine the gauge of wire needed. The term
“gauge” refers to the size of the cross section of the wire, (the lower
the gauge number, the larger the wire is in diameter).

The following is a good general guide for wire sizing:

a. Runs under 100' (33m) use 14 or 16 gauge cable.
b. Runs over 100' use 12 gauge cable.

16 gauge speaker cable

12 gauge speaker cable

3) Your audio retailer can recommend the brand and type of cable that
will work best for your application. Some things your retailer will
need to know to make an appr

opriate recommendation:

Television Display

and component

entertainment cabinet

Surround speakers

Scenario 2

Wall-mounted flat-screen TV with in-wall speakers in the front:

a. Overall length of the cable run
b. The room application (is this for your home theater

or for background music in your bathroom?)

c. The local building codes

ecommend utilizing a stranded cable that is manufactur

e r

W

4)
specifically for speakers which wraps the conductors in one jacket
and are commonly called 16/2:

16/2 = meaning that the conductor size is 16 gauge with 2 conductors.

5) Plan where you plan to run the cable. If you want to run cable under
a carpet or on a wall then we recommend “flat” style cable. If you are
going to run the cable entirely inside of walls or through attics or
crawl spaces, “round” cable will do and will save you some money.
Any of your choices will work and but final leg of you cable route
will need to be run in the wall.

ed

In this case the cabling would be run from the surround

eceiver to the speakers.

r

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cenario 3

S

The speakers will be installed in the ceiling for music in the kitchen uti­lizing a volume control on the wall to adjust the volume to the speakers.

From amplifier to

Volume control

Volume

control

Speakers

In this room there are three cable runs, the first is two sets of speaker
cables that run from the amplifier or receiver to the volume control on
the wall, then another run of speaker cables to each speaker.

lanning Your Cable Routes

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NOTE: In a stereo installation the cable length to each speaker within

a room should be about the same to avoid volume or time shifts from
channel to channel. In home theater installations the cable lengths for
Front Left, Center and Right channels should be about the same. The
cable lengths to the rear speakers will in most cases be longer than
those to the front three speakers and that’s OK.

Whenever possible take advantage of attic and crawl spaces as it
is much easier to run cables through them than walls.

Section 3:Checking For Obstacles Before Installation

Speaker placement research: Once you have a good idea about

where you want to install your new Polk speakers, we suggest you
check out the space just to make sure there is enough room for the
speakers. When your home was built the contractors ran gas piping,
air ducts, drain and water pipes, electrical, phone and data cables.
Also check that the placement of the speakers will be symmetrical
once you have established where the joists and studs are:

Note the location of all studs using your stud sensor.

Volume control with face plate:

Rear view of a typical volume control:

Use a stud finder to locate structural members inside
the walls and ceiling.

input fr

om amplifier

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