In-Wall wiring

[cornelius]

Hey everyone - I'm designing an in-wall system for my components, and I was wondering what to look out for when wiring in the walls. I'm not going to run power cables, just interconnects and speaker cable.

Thanks for any info!

 

[superstar]

If wiring is less than 100 feet you can go with 14 gauge wire, the lower you go (12, 10 gauge) the thicker and more insulation the cables will be.

Check http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm
and www.monoprice.com for good affordable buy.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hey everyone - I'm designing an in-wall system for my components, and I was wondering what to look out for when wiring in the walls. I'm not going to run power cables, just interconnects and speaker cable.

Thanks for any info!

Another thing to remember is to keep the audio and even video cables away from the 120V power cables at least 12" or on the other side of a wall cavity, not on the other side of the stud.
You can use RG type cable for interconnects as well and to your sub also.

 

[cornelius]

ok, thanks guys.

 

[apatel25314]

you need to make sure you have cl2 rated cables for in wall istallation

 

[Aburtch]

Building Code

Not sure if this matters to you at all...but I do know that if you want to keep the installation within building codes (if you are going to sell the house someday and want to advertise the built-in speaker system as a feature for example) you need to purchase insulated speaker wire. It has an extra sheath surrounding and protecting both the left and right cable.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There are many considerations and some questions.

1. Is it a retrofit or new construction? If it is retro and you are doing the work, then you have far less to worry about with everything. A building inspector won't likely come in and remove wall plates to see if you used CL2 cabling.

If it is new construction, and will be inspected by a building inspector then you have to be careful of everything. CL2 cable MUST be used. Studs should be drilled through at a center point. You must maintain, by law, a certain distance between 120v lines (power) and low voltage lines (I think it's 3 or 4 inches). If high and low voltage lines cross, it must be at a 90 degree angle.

2. Now we get into actual setup/usage considerations. If you are thinking you may want to bi-amp or go really high end and it is into a theater, then I would go with 12 gauge 4 conductor wiring to allow for a future upgrade path. A bit more spent on wire now saves a lot of hard work down the road and contributes nicely to a really high-end setup.

3. If you are thinking whole house audio, 14 gauge is what I would use and you can pretty much hit anything in your home with good success.

4. Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan! Make sure your cables are all properly identified on both ends and put in wall plates so that connection/disconnection is easy. If running directly to speakers/receiver, still use cover plates that clean the look up.

5. Run the right wires once! Okay, all you need is component and s-video. But, wait, someone brings over something that only has composite video out... and you are missing that (less than) $10 cable! Or worse, you upgrade to a HD Disc player and find out that you can't achieve true 1080p without HDMI... and it isn't there! Don't forget things like CAT-5 cabling (ethernet) and things that may not seem obvious right away as more and more product uses Ethernet connectivity or may need an IR blaster/repeater/trigger. My recommended minimum run: 1 HDMI cable, 1 component, 1 composite, 1 piece of CAT-5. A more robust run: 1 HDMI, 1 component, 1 s-video, 1 composite, 2 CAT-5, and power run back to a power conditioner.

There are many other things that you may want to consider, but you were kind of brief on your description of exactly what you are doing.

 

[JKL1960]

Some really good advice in the previous post.

To expand a little on video signal wiring. I like to say you should wire to the video display device as if the wire you need isn't invented yet.

Still with me?

What I mean is, you should run conduit or plan your video in such a way as to allow for easy changes. Speakers will likely use the same wire for some time to come but who knows what they'll be using next for video.

So plan in a way to make it easy (relatively) to upgrade video signal wiring. I also like the idea of running a wire for every input on the video device. Even if you woun't use it right away. You'll probably be glad you did which is a much better feeling than wishing you did.

 

[Bryce_H]

This is cut and pasted from a previous post of mine

Here is what I did just for my HT. I have 2" conduit running to all the 7 speaker locations. I also have an insane amount of low-watt wiring terminating in my component closet. Here is the breakdown

- 4 coax in from the main structured wiring panel
- 4 Cat 5e in from the main structured wiring panel
- 4 coax out to potential sub locations (L/R main, right wall 1/3 way back, left wall 2/3 way back)
- 2 coax out to the front screen wall
- 2 Cat 5e out to the front screen wall
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire out to front screen wall for IR and other future control needs (drop down screen)
- 2 coax out to front of second row riser
- 2 cat 5e out to front of second row riser
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire to front of second row riser
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire to main light switch box

The coax can be used for sub, cable, or sat systems. Cat5e is for networking or control needs. The 22ga shielded is strickly for control needs.

also don't forget to run some wires to a potential front projector location (electrical and video).

When we had the house built we had structured wiring put in every room (but no audio). Every room has a 4 jack plate with 2 RG6 F-connectors and 2 Cat5e jacks. The office actually has 2 of these. I also got the living room pre-wired for a 5.1 in-ceiling to set up as a second system for casual viewing in the future. Just some ideas of what I have done.

Good luck and keep asking questions.