Running speaker wire

[coachkiss]

I want to mount my surround sound speakers that I've had for the last 4 years. I've never gotten around to doing it, because I'm not sure how you run speaker wire behind a wall. I know there has to be some easy way, but I'm an idoit.

I want to run from the TV, up the wall behind it, to the side walls, down the side walls to the speakers mounted, and I want it all behind the wall. I have a skinny person who will do what I tell him to do to help me.

 

[EEE]

get a bunch of speaker cable, 14 gauge should be more than good enough. for the run from the tv to the attic, securely attach the wires to the existing coax tv cable using electrical tape, then pull into the attic. pull some more speaker wire up, re-tape the cable to it, then pull the coax back down. then when you locate the place in the attic where the speaker wires go (directly above your speakers), drill a 1/2'' hole through the wall header board. get some low-voltage outlet boxes and coverplates like you would use for cable. cut holes in the walls behind the speaker, then the skinny guy in the attic tapes the wires to a fish tape and pushes it down the drilled hole toward you, who with the aid of a flashlight hopefully sees the tape come down and can grab them. then install the boxes and covers.

when you route the wires in the attic, try not to run them parallel to power lines, as they can induce noise into your system.

the cable guys do this all the time by themselves and make it look really easy. it may be a little harder if you've never done it, especially if there is insulation in the walls, but it's much easier with an assistant. be very careful walking on the joists in the attic.

 

[wolfman]

I have a friend who installs home theatre. He helped me with my speaker cabling. We did pretty much what the last poster mentioned. One nice trick that he used was marking where to drill the holes into the wall cap in the attic. It is easy to lose track of where you are once you are in the attic.

They easy way to mark where to drill is to first figure out where you want your speakers and feeder hole from the stereo/TV. Go straight up the wall from there then out from the wall a couple of inches on the ceiling. Straighten out a few wire coat hangers, clip them at an angle on one end so they are sharp, then push them halfway into the attic though the ceiling.

Once you are in the attic, just drill into the wall cap next to the coat hangers. When you pull the hangers out later they leave a smal hole that is barely noticable. You can dab a little spackle into the hole too if you want.