AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => Home Theater and Video => Topic started by: JackStraw on 27 Nov 2003, 04:33 pm
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Does anybody know of a good guide on snaking speaker wires through walls? I'm looking for general tips on the installation, as well as advice on the choice of the wire itself.
I've seen some wires specifically intended for this purpose (Kimber has some at audioadvisor.com), but it seems that they're general purpose HT grade wire. I'm not sure whether they're worth comparing, but has anyone? Are there necessary UL requirements for in-wall wires?
Thanks in advance...
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There are many things to continue when running wire in the walls. Mainly the local codes for fire insulation. This means the jacket has to have a temp rating. Besides when you run 12 ga. wire through the walls at 50-100 ft you can go to home depot and get just as good wire as any of the high priced cables. You can also get CAT-5 and run it. Degredation of sound at that length will not be noticeable. Running at 250 ft. you might want to use isolation transformers or shielded wire to prevent stray leakage from occuring.
As for fishing the wire there are a couple of ways to accomplish this. At the dormer of a room in the attic you will have to find the wall you will be hanging the speakers. From there you will have to drill a hole in the joist to allow the cable to dropped down. If you are mounting a fairly heavy speaker to the wall then you will need a stud finder or rap the walls with your knuckles to determine where the bracket will hang. Next to the stud you can cut a 4'' by 6'' hole with a keyhole saw.
Now to drop the wire, you can buy a wire snake and run it from the top to the hole in the wall, or you can use fishing line with a weight attached. At the wall you can use a wire hanger with a hook to fish out the fishing line. Always run the wire from the wall up to the joist. Getting it down to the equipment can be a little trickier. Once you have fished the line down to the equipment tie the speaker wire to the fishing line with duct tape and fish it down. Remember to make the hole in the joist large enough to get the wire through and voila your are done. Remember you are running up to 4 wires for surround ex.
Now to mount the speaker, I go to medical supply houses for the brackets to mount larger surrounds. Use screw to attach them to the studs. Once you have the wire through get cable covers from your local hardware store to attach covers over the nice holes you have. Of course doing this with the house under construction is a lot easier. Happy mounting.