Tomorrow morning, my wife and I are closing on our new house.

One of the upgrades I got to choose, beyond the sprinkler system (yes!), was a pre-wired surround sound setup.

Problem? I am an electronics/audio/video moron.

There are five wallplates where the speakers can be mounted, but there are no connections, just blank plates. I assume I can replace those with plates that have wire connectors?
(I have a JVC 5.1 system that uses bare wire that clips into the backs of the speakers, no proprietary plugs there . . . )

I need to buy speaker mounts, I assume.

Is there anything else I should be considering (BESIDES hardware upgrades -- the budget doesn't allow for that right now).

Basically, I have a bunch of blank wall plates in my living room (with lots 'n lots of wire behind 'em), and I have a bunch of speakers.

I need the two sets to match up and fill the room with sound.

Any advice is appreciated.

You may check this Company Link out. They might have what you need, but shop around.

I guess to know exactly what you need, you'll need to know what kind of wires were run, Ie. Cat5, RCA, two wire speaker wire, etc.

fist things first, get a toner and tone out where the wires go. With the 5 plates there should be a bigger 'master' input plate where all the ends come from... like behind where the tv goes. Hopefully the wire is color coded and whatnot but toning out is easy. Then its easy as pie, run the left front from the back of the receiver to the left front in the input plate etc etc. Thats awesome you got it prewired. The bad part of it may be the input plate may not be where you want your TV and receiver to go

Forgot to mention that yes, there is an input plate.

And it is exactly where we want the TV and component stand to go . . .

We made sure of it. Argued with the builder for a week because they were putting the cable outlet in the wrong place in the master bedroom ("Geez, let me come in with a drill for twenty minutes before you guys sheetrock, and I'll reroute the coax through the studs myself!").

So, I have now found, using Conundrum's link (thanks much, by the way) a "snap-link" wall plate that I can use for speaker connection.

Now I am having serious thoughts about flush-mounted in-ceiling speakers . . . hmmm . . .

Oh and then the bug bites.

Glad you're figuring out what you need.

I've been thinking about hard wiring my system in for some time. I hate the wires on the floor. Causes problems with the Roomba, dog, kiddo, etc. Not to mention looks like crap.

Post up if you find flush speakers you love and I'll check them out.

I've got to wire before I finish my basement. It would be ridiculously easy to do so now. I have the cable, just need to get the wall connectors...