Are my home theater speakers a fire hazard?
A friend of my husband installed our home theater system cheap as a favor. He has the cables for the speakers (mounted around the room) coming up out of the vents in the floor. Of course, the vents are in good room for speaker placement. But is this a fire hazard?
Under most cases the risk of fire due to a short in wiring speaker is virtually nonexistent. If the speaker cables use PVC insulation typical in most low-cost or generic A / V cabling, then you are at a slightly higher risk of developing a problem. Prolonged or repeated exposure to high temperatures and air flow rates, over time, lead to degradation PVC insulation in large part due to migration of plasticizer and volatility. This can lead to greater fragility and exposed cracks in the insulation, eventually could result in failure of the insulation. In these circumstances, the most likely outcome is that the protection circuit that protects the output stage amplifier Throw-in audio, or worse, the output amplifier stage could self-destruct, depending on how well the unit was designed and constructed. There are very few (well designed) audio amplifiers that could pose a fire hazard when the speaker outputs are shorted. You have a couple of fairly simple options to mitigate effectively the threat of possible problems: (1) replace the speaker wire with either a shirt speaker wiring or use polyolefin (eg polypropylene) insulated wire, or (2) install 1 / 2 "to 1" diameter nominal or full lift with halogen-free status (also known as low smoke zero halogen or LSZH) corrugated nonmetallic flexible conduit (also known as "innerduct") through the speaker () wiring where wiring passes through ducts air. Electricity and data communications and telecommunications providers, the better the hardware and A / V dealers and installers should have innerduct in stock. A final item – you can reduce the amount of self-heating that occurs with higher resistance cable choice speaker cables have a wire gauge larger. speaker wiring is usually available in stock sizes of wire diameter ranging from 4 AWG to 16 AWG and above and below the largest number wire size. As a general rule you should always use the lowest wire you can afford and never less than a single run of 14 AWG cable. Although rarely a problem important, self-heating varies in direct proportion to the strength of the cable (which increases with decreasing wire size, ie smaller overall conductor cross-sectional area and / or increases in cable length,) the impedance of the speaker and the output power audio amplifier. Carlon Product Brochures Hal-Free Index http://www.carlon.com/Brochures.html vertical-Gard ® No corrugated metal flexible conduit 20Catalog/Flexible_Raceway_Brochure.pdf http://www.carlon.com/Master% Low Smoke Zero Halogen Belden speaker cable and speaker cable + http://www.belden.com/search/index.cfm?q=halogen+ And Understanding on the wall of speakers, video cable http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/inwallrating.htm Ratings and audio wiring What you do not know can kill http://www.wireville.com/news/Cabling%%% 20Can 20Kill 20You.html Security cabling in multi-storey structures http://www.wireville.com/news/Cabling%% 20in% 20Safety 20Multi-Story% 20Structures.pdf Wire Management and Life Safety Articles http://www.hhrobertson.com/ls_docs.cfm guide low voltage and power-limited systems http://www.mikeholt.com/documents/lowvoltage/pdf/LowVoltBook.pdf
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Creative Pure Wireless Bluetooth Speaker System (T12) $59.99 Creative T12 Bluetooth Wireless Speakers also feature our award-winning Bluetooth solution, which lets you stream your favourite tunes wirelessly and seamlessly from any compatible stereo Bluetooth device such as a desktop PC, notebook or mobile phone. Also, indulge in fuller and richer music playback, Creative T12 Bluetooth Wireless Speakers have built-in BassFlex technology that extends the lowe… |
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Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3010, Full HD 1080p, 2D and 3D Home Theater Projector with Integrated Speakers (V11H421020) $1,495.00 This 3LCD projector delivers 3D ready images with outstanding vividness. With 2200 ANSI Lumens color and white light output, you’d experience full HD 1080p images with amazing quality. It also comes with two built-in 10 W stereo speakers that complement the incredible visuals with high-impact audio output. In addition to supporting 2D performance, the 3LCD also provides realistic 3D adventures wit… |
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Bose (40390) SL2 wireless surround link $239.94 Eliminate running wires from the front of the room to rear speakers. This transmitter/receiver produces rear speaker audio equivalent to a Bose® wired home entertainment system-with no wires running through walls or around the room…. |
Tutorial – Speaker Positioning for Home Cinema
