give your tips on hiding speaker cable

[genuinebigdog]

Hey guys...

I would like some tips on hiding speaker cable. I live in a brand new house with the drywall is already up. I was considering maybe placing wire under the carpet.

Is this a good idea or not? And will it mess up my carpet if I try to pull it up?

thanks in advance.

 

[Audioholics]

Behind crown molding is my place of choice.

 

[Takeereasy]

They make crown molding with wire channels built in as well. If the crown molding is already up they sell wire channels that look like crown molding and have advesive backing on them. You run it directly over the crown molding and it blends in pretty well. Wire under carpet is not IMO a good idea most of the time. You can buy "flat" speaker wire for this purpose but the ga. is usually pretty high and so is the price. If it's a long run I wouldn't go that way. The other option is to fish the wires through the walls. That is a major PIA IMO. Finally you can but some pretty speaker wire that you aren't ashamed to have seen by the public. Waste of $ IMO but if you've got the bucks this can actually be pretty cool I think.

 

[JohnA]

Crown molding is nice, it hides a lot of wires and any "small" holes...you just need to be careful about shooting nails. Also you can run speaker wire behind bass board, same principle as the crown molding. Flat speaker wire (http://www.advancewiresolutions.com) can be painted or even wallpapered over. If you are comfortable with installing crown molding or cutting some holes then go for it, if not I would suggest that you get someone who can do it right.

 

[Methost]

Do it from below if you can. I just ran mine in my crawl space. Worked out pretty nice.

 

[brian32672]

Actually another question most should have asked, do you have a 1 story with a attic, or basement? Is the place rented, or do you own?

 

[bpape]

If you can't leave the room you're in with the wire, a variation of the crown mold is the baseboard. If you pull it, you're likely to find a 1/2" gap between the floor and the bottom of the drywall. Makes a great little place to tuck wire.

 

[claudermilk]

Finally you can but some pretty speaker wire that you aren't ashamed to have seen by the public. Waste of $ IMO but if you've got the bucks this can actually be pretty cool I think.

If that is the way you have to go, you could DIY. All they do is put Techflex over the Belden or Canare (or cheaper) wire. That's the route I took; found good prices on the raw materials & made it all myself for about 1/10 the price of the boutique cables.

 

[JF-]

it totally depends on how your room is set up. baseboard is fine but what if he has electric baseboard heaters? crown is good too but you also gotta worry about the shoot up the wall (you'll either be seeing wire or gotta fish it through the wall). in my case, i rent a town house. no basement, no attic, baseboard heat and crown mouldings are to much a pita (and to costly for a rental). so i just went along the wall. with this wire--->

i used white nailers then took a little paint to it. you never even see the cable. the only "ugly" part is where it comes up the wall and to the surround speakers (almost at ceiling level). for that i used a white plastic cable run (available at home depot) and painted that also. you never even notice the stuff.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Then there is always going through the drywall anyway. No, it's no fun to patch up, but if the home is new, and you haven't put any of your own custom paint on it yet, then cutting a few holes and patching them up and painting won't be nearly as big of a nightmare as it is with drywall that is years old and has a color of paint that is completely impossible to match.

Just always remember - if you ever build a home make sure to wire in advance and tell others the same thing.

Baseboard, crown molding, into basement, into attic, into another room, through drywall. It all depends on your room and your situation.

You can't run easily under carpets and you will see the wire unless you get some 'flat' speaker wire. Even then, you still must be careful.

 

[Rowdy S13]

I dont rember where I saw it but there is base moulding that has a channel built in the back side to hide the wire. Another good Idea Ive seen is take off the base moulding and cut the bottom of the drywall a little under where the top of the moulding is and remove it and bam instant channel. But I like the crown moulding idea as well seems like the least amount of work.

Sean

 

[westcott]

Run it under the floor

Since I have to share my home theater with the family room, hiding the wires was imperative if I was going to satisfy the wife.

The 18' ceilings made this a challenge due to their height and the two outside supporting walls with lots of studs and fire breaks complicated the issue further.

The amount of cable I needed to run would not fit in the baseboards and drilling a hole large enough through every support stud in the two outside walls was out of the question structurally.

The most cost effective and cleanest solution was to have channels cut in the concrete foundation for the wiring. I simply ran my laminate wood floors over the top of them after the wire was run in the channels.

Made for a wireless room that looks extremely clean and was very cost effective considering the few alternatives. Also did not take a lot of time to implement.

 

[mustang_steve]

If you don't mind pretty purple cables everywhere, K&B isn't bad. When I was shopping for cables, their prices was just a bit higher than making it myself, and it's good quality stuff...standard OFC 12ga zipcord in a pretty jacket, and all the conectors you will ever need.

 

[RLA]

Hello All
I am currently review a product that will solve your wire hiding issues in a retro installation. The product is available in baseboard and crown molding
configurations.It is a slick system and I should have something to report in about a week

Ray

 

[majorloser]

Tools of the Trade

If you're looking for the secret tools of the trade to make attic, in-wall, under carpet and hidden installations easy try this site:

www.lsdinc.com

 

[eaglesfanj10]

In my bedroom i have a 5.1 channel receiver with small speakers. I just recently ran the wire into the wall out the other side into my closet then i drilled a hole behind the baseboard down to the garage below and patched it all up. Then i ran the wire up into another hole which leads up to a cover on the wall behind my stereo and wired it up and it sounds great.

 

[Hide-it]

I had this same problem, made me mad so I build't my own ......www.hideitmoulding.com

 

[Alex2507]

In an apartment I used a wire molding product from home depot. $100 got my 4 surround speaker wires all covered. Easy enough to install and inconspicuous.

 

[apatel25314]

you could always cut carpet and then run it up with wire hiders from lowes

 

[Methodical]

...Just always remember - if you ever build a home make sure to wire in advance and tell others the same thing...

If the builder even lets you do this.

I for one would go thru the walls. As stated before patching drywall is easy and if the house is new with that contractor's paint crap then that would be the way I would go. If you go thru the ceiling (i.e. floor joist) you could run the wire along the joists and make minimal cuts and then snake the wire thru.