You aren't using your home's built-in phone lines, are you? Well, neither is most of America. But since it transports audio throughout the house in the form of your voice, could it do the same with music?
Can You Wire Speakers Through In-Wall Phone Lines?
Well it turns out, you can. But it's not anywhere near as easy as it sounds.
Lifehacker reader Tom O'Brien (who must at least be a serious hobby electrician) has figured out a way:
Using existing telephone wire and powered speakers, it's fairly simple to connect speakers throughout the house via existing phone lines. This will work only if the lines have 3 extra wires, such as when no land line is in use, or if the house has 6 (very common) or 8 strand telephone wire. Cat 3 wire is 8 strand.
Yeah, we didn't understand it either. But basically, his plan uses the existing connections to wire up a source, his computer, to speakers throughout the house—without tearing down walls or running lose wires. It's "just a big complicated extension cable."
If you want to check out Tom's detailed plan, check it out here.
Comments (4)
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As much as I like reading unpluggd, it's pretty disappointing when you guys don't understand a really simple project like this
view pyneapple's profile
I like to think of Unplggd as a moderator that provides a wide variety of topics. It is then up to the audience to add or subtract knowledge on that topic. I am guessing that Unplggd has read the full article in order to decide to link it.
This project has its plusses and minuses. In that particular house, at that particular time, it seems that project is an excellent solution. Remember that "necessity is the mother of invention".
view JohnCanon's profile
And that's why I'm still subscribed! There are articles I would otherwise not read and ideas I would not discover were it not for Unplggd. Sometimes I learn new things, and other times I am filling in the blanks. Just putting my .02 out there (:
view pyneapple's profile
I use Mister Sparky for all of my electrical needs. Their staff provides great service and they take pride in their work. I was pleased with the results and will continue to use them in the future. Check out their website Houston Heights Electrician
view Sandy_S's profile