new house speaker run

[moreira85]

In the process of building a new house. the room will be 24feet long but 16 feet wide. Now somehow i have to get the surround sound wires over from the right to the left side of the room. If i wait till the house is built i cant get above the room because it is cathedral ceiling and cant get below it because the garage is below it and will be dry walled. My other option is to have the electrician run the two wires before the house is built and they charge 95$ per wire!!!!!! (does that come with speakers lol!!!!!! )I have the Axiom
QS8 and i am hesitant to hang them on the wall only because i dont want to dig into my new wall. I think i am going to buy the stands for the speakers. ONce i have the electrician run the wires for the surround sound how should i have them coming out of the wall. Should I put one speaker wire plate at the base of the wall behind the couch and just run each wire along the carpet to the speaker stand???
In summary one plate in the middle of the wall placed at the bottom of the wall? with two wires that will then run along the carpet (the wire along the carpet will be hidden because couch will be there.

speaker stands anyone know where i can get these cheaper?
http://axiomaudio.com/fmsqs.html

Wall plate at base of wall
http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=592


THOUGHTS????

 

[unreal.freak]

In the process of building a new house. the room will be 24feet long but 16 feet wide. Now somehow i have to get the surround sound wires over from the right to the left side of the room. If i wait till the house is built i cant get above the room because it is cathedral ceiling and cant get below it because the garage is below it and will be dry walled. My other option is to have the electrician run the two wires before the house is built and they charge 95$ per wire!!!!!! (does that come with speakers lol!!!!!! )I have the Axiom
QS8 and i am hesitant to hang them on the wall only because i dont want to dig into my new wall. I think i am going to buy the stands for the speakers. ONce i have the electrician run the wires for the surround sound how should i have them coming out of the wall. Should I put one speaker wire plate at the base of the wall behind the couch and just run each wire along the carpet to the speaker stand???
In summary one plate in the middle of the wall placed at the bottom of the wall? with two wires that will then run along the carpet (the wire along the carpet will be hidden because couch will be there.

speaker stands anyone know where i can get these cheaper?
http://axiomaudio.com/fmsqs.html

Wall plate at base of wall
http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=592


THOUGHTS????

Its your house, you can get in there and run the wires when the electricians are doing the rough in wiring. I would suggest running 12/2 speaker wire along the rafters, from the point were your rack will be, to each point were the speakers will be placed. So all you need to do is drill a hole in the wall top plate and let the wire hang down to the floor at the point where the speaker will be placed. try and install all of your cables at that time. after the drywall goes up it will make things 100% more difficult to do.

 

[moreira85]

Its your house, you can get in there and run the wires when the electricians are doing the rough in wiring. I would suggest running 12/2 speaker wire along the rafters, from the point were your rack will be, to each point were the speakers will be placed. So all you need to do is drill a hole in the wall top plate and let the wire hang down to the floor at the point where the speaker will be placed. try and install all of your cables at that time. after the drywall goes up it will make things 100% more difficult to do.

This is true but technically i wont be able to get in and do the wiring because it wont be mine till i close on it!!! i am going to try and get in and do it myself but i think they have to do it and i have to pay them 100$ per wire run, what a rip off!

 

[unreal.freak]

This is true but technically i wont be able to get in and do the wiring because it wont be mine till i close on it!!! i am going to try and get in and do it myself but i think they have to do it and i have to pay them 100$ per wire run, what a rip off!

I wouldnt pay someone else to do it, you have every right to do this yourself. You hired the contractor to build this house? If so you can do anything to it you want, im building a new home also. I did my own electrical wiring and A/V wiring. All you need to do is buY a 12/2 speker cable rated for in wall use and it will all be fine, if you do it yourself. Dont let a contractor bully you around, hes working for you! If you dont know how to do the things you want/need done with the wiring, its no big deal. Watch the video that was posted on the forums. The installation is in a pre-existing home , but what you will be doing will be the done the same way just without the drywall being hung. It will even be easier. Click HERE for the video. I hope this helps

Peace,
Tommy

 

[moreira85]

wires

I may hang the axioms QS8s on the rear wall at the top of the wall about 1 foot below the ceiling. If I have the wires run through the ceiling then they stick out through the drywall what kind of wall plate can i use to make the wire look neat as it comes through the wall. If I am running the surrounds that high on the wall I dont want to have something that looks big like a big wall plate. any suggestions or links?

 

[MDS]

I may hang the axioms QS8s on the rear wall at the top of the wall about 1 foot below the ceiling. If I have the wires run through the ceiling then they stick out through the drywall what kind of wall plate can i use to make the wire look neat as it comes through the wall. If I am running the surrounds that high on the wall I dont want to have something that looks big like a big wall plate. any suggestions or links?

For the surrounds or rear surrounds I wouldn't use a wall plate at all. As far as aesthetics go it won't look good if the wall plate is above/below/beside the speakers and if you mount it with the intention of mounting the speaker over top of it to cover it, the speaker may jut out further than you'd like, not to mention that you won't really have a good point to mount the speaker to.

That's a long winded way of saying just drill a small hole and fill it with a rubber grommett. You can buy grommets of all sizes at Home Depot or Lowes. That's what I did for the surrounds as well as the patio speaker location.

 

[unreal.freak]

THESE are the ones i am using, but they will be hidden behind my speakers. Im not sure of anything else that would look better. try googling speaker wallplates it may turn up something better.

Peace,
Tommy

 

[MDS]

THESE are the ones i am using, but they will be hidden behind my speakers. Im not sure of anything else that would look better. try googling speaker wallplates it may turn up something better.

Peace,
Tommy

Those are great wall plates because they have binding posts on both sides. I have the same ones except I bought them at PartsExpress and PE sells them for a buck or two more (I didn't realize monoprice had the same ones when I bought them). However, I still maintain that that is not a good solution for the surround speakers. Opinions may vary of course, but I chose the super simple grommet approach and it is much easier and cost effective too - a grommet costs about 25c. Definitely use those wall plates for behind the system for connections from the receiver though.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I wouldnt pay someone else to do it, you have every right to do this yourself.

Rarely is this the case, and contractors will rarely let people work on the homes that are being built. This is because you don't actually own the home until you truly pay for it, and until then, the builder is responsible for anything that breaks - including wiring that is in violation of building codes installed by the future homeowner.

Yes, it sucks!

My response is that you are still spending several hundred thousand dollars to build a home in the first place, and if you have to rip down drywall, and repaint, then it will cost a good deal more than $100 per wiring run to have it done for you. Many home builders also offer 5.1 or 7.1 wiring packages for theaters and there are some price breaks.

But, I personally dropped over three grand when my home was built to enusre all the wiring I wanted was run - they put in a fair bit of wiring, as well as conduit runs where I wanted them.

But - after they were done with what I paid for, I then came in and added about twice as many cables and some additional conduit feeds.

I would suggest that you get a bit of cash involved considering this is a real once in a lifetime opportunity for most people and you have a lot of wiring potential in front of you, but you may want to push and negotiate on the wiring that you want done if you feel the pricing is unfair - or go ahead and sneak in the DAY BEFORE DRYWALL goes up and see if you can get away with it.

 

[MDS]

Just for perspective, I paid an AV installer $150/hour ($75/hr x 2 guys) to run additional CAT5 and speaker wire for me. $100 per wire does sound a bit toppy but realistically all the runs would be done in one hour. Looking at it that way you are paying about 33% more than I paid but it's over and done with in an hour - all of my work took 6 hours.

I agree with BMXTRIX here. An extra $200 is really nothing. If you break it down to $100 per wire sure it sounds outrageous, but in the grand scheme of things it really isn't much. Also consider your own time, material cost, and most importantly frustration level were you to do it yourself. Sometimes it is well worth it to pay someone else to deal with the headaches especially when it is now their responsibility to come back and make it right on the off chance that it isn't done totally right.

 

[moreira85]

For the surrounds or rear surrounds I wouldn't use a wall plate at all. As far as aesthetics go it won't look good if the wall plate is above/below/beside the speakers and if you mount it with the intention of mounting the speaker over top of it to cover it, the speaker may jut out further than you'd like, not to mention that you won't really have a good point to mount the speaker to.

That's a long winded way of saying just drill a small hole and fill it with a rubber grommett. You can buy grommets of all sizes at Home Depot or Lowes. That's what I did for the surrounds as well as the patio speaker location.

THANKS, I LOVE THE RUBBER GROMMET'S.http://www.moddersmart.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29835 I am going to use the rubber grommet's on the wall for the surrounds as it looks very neat to have the wire pushed through it.
I will use the wall Plate with banana plugs behind my AV rack.
I know i cant get in to do it myself. I can get in to see how things are coming along but I am not allowed to do my own work as you are correct they have to go through regulations and inspections.

 

[unreal.freak]

Rarely is this the case, and contractors will rarely let people work on the homes that are being built. This is because you don't actually own the home until you truly pay for it, and until then, the builder is responsible for anything that breaks - including wiring that is in violation of building codes installed by the future homeowner.

This is the first home i have had built, it is being built on my property that i already own, so my case may be different than many others. I can see your point about not being allowed to do it if you dont own the land. I took out a construction loan to build this home so i do own the home already im just using the contractor to build it for me. The contractor will not likely even know you did anything. The electrician is the one who will see what you have done. He might complain some.

I wouldnt suggest that you do it yourself, if you dont feel comfortable doing it.

Anything done after the home is built should also meet or excede the codes, so either way you go the local codes play into it. The only difference is after the home is built you wont have an inspector in there checking your work out to see if you used a certian type wire or if you have the wire run properly. keep in mind if you do work on your home after the home is built you do need to competent to perform the work. If you do something that later on causes the home to burn down. The insurance company could deny your claim if they can prove it was your work, and it was installed poorly.

 

[moreira85]

This is the first home i have had built, it is being built on my property that i already own, so my case may be different than many others. I can see your point about not being allowed to do it if you dont own the land. I took out a construction loan to build this home so i do own the home already im just using the contractor to build it for me. The contractor will not likely even know you did anything. The electrician is the one who will see what you have done. He might complain some.

I wouldnt suggest that you do it yourself, if you dont feel comfortable doing it.

Anything done after the home is built should also meet or excede the codes, so either way you go the local codes play into it. The only difference is after the home is built you wont have an inspector in there checking your work out to see if you used a certian type wire or if you have the wire run properly. keep in mind if you do work on your home after the home is built you do need to competent to perform the work. If you do something that later on causes the home to burn down. The insurance company could deny your claim if they can prove it was your work, and it was installed poorly.

thanks for the input. i dont have to take out a construction loan on the house. I am going to have them do it. I do my whole system myself. If the great room had an attic above it i would have a problem running the wires. since it has no attic i will have them run the surround wires and then I am golden from there. unless i ever want to upgrade to 7.1 then i may need 2 more wires installed, DOH!!!

 

[jcPanny]

HT Wring

Wire is cheap, so run extra wires for 7.1 before the drywall is up. Also be very specific about where the speakers will be located because electricians and contractors don't know anything about HT.

 

[darien87]

Take a flashlight and go out there at night and do it yourself, after the contractors have gone home.

"How did all this wiring get here?"

"I don't know sir. Wire fairy?"

 

[unreal.freak]

Take a flashlight and go out there at night and do it yourself, after the contractors have gone home.

"How did all this wiring get here?"

"I don't know sir. Wire fairy?"

LOL!..... The wire fairy