Wall plates for surround speaker connections?

[Orbison]

I'm going to be running some cable in the walls for surround speakers and have been looking at various mfr. wall plates with banana jacks & binding posts. I'm thinking spade lugs & binding posts on the back inside the wall & banana jacks on the front to plug the speakers into. Either a wall plate with the posts mounted on it or a Decora type insert with matching wall plate. I'll be mounting an electrical box in the wall to run the cables into and attach the wall plate to that. Due to the length of the run I'm planning on using 12 ga. wire.

I've checked out Monoprice, Parts Express, Amazon, etc. Hard to tell if they're decent from a picture on a website. Local Rat Shack, Lowe's & Home Depot don't carry these.

So - any recommendations as far as brand & quality or other options?

 

[CMonster]

I used Leviton Decora inserts when building our house but when the basement was finished I used their split wall plates instead, thus eliminating an extra connection.

:text-link:

 

[Batman]

Does the wall plate affect the way the speaker will mount in any way? If you can pull the speaker wire through a small hole, a small diameter desk grommet easily found at Lowes or Home Depot is a nice way to finish off the hole while being much smaller than even a single gang wall plate, and much more easily hidden by the speaker and eliminates the extra splice in the wire.

 

[Orbison]

Great ideas guys! Thank you.

The surround speakers are towers - not wall mounted.

 

[Batman]

Here's how I handled my surrounds...

 

[Orbison]

Sure looks better than a wall plate with banana jacks. I actually have some of those desk grommets around here somewhere. Thank you for the idea.

 

[Randy]

Ya, that's supier clean. I just came out of the wall. It is behind the speaker so you cant see it, but Batmans's way is SO MUCH cleaner.

 

[Batman]

Yeah, I can't stand wires, wall plates, etc being exposed and if I can help it, I will go outta my way to make them as hidden as possible.

Here's a theater I recently built for a friend and this is the completed install no wires or plates showing anywhere from the seats.

 

[Randy]

^^^SWEET^^^

 

[Batman]

On another note, I found these fantastic Bananas on Amazon that are knock offs of Monster's product that sells for anywhere from $12-$20/pair (which is only enough to terminate each end of ONE speaker cable) and love these instead for the $$.

 

[Randy]

I had found those when I redid my upstairs system. I was going to buy them and try them, but between my buddy and I we had enough of the Monster Q Locks. I still wanna try them.

 

[asal]

Here's how I handled my surrounds...

Where did you find those grommets? I ended up buying a couple of these, http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10425&cs_id=1042509&p_id=3997&seq=1&format=2, but I'm liking the smaller footprint of your setup.

 

[Batman]

You can find several different sizes in the hardware aisle at Lowes. Usually in a specialty item drawer...

 

[CMonster]

^I believe they're just desk grommets that you can pick up at Lowe's or Home Depot, kinda like this (image is a link):

 

[Batman]

Don't forget your holesaw.

 

[The DirtMerchant]

That's what she said.

 

[yromj]

That's what she said.

If it needs a hole saw it's probably not a "she".

John