tips for running speaker wire in the ceiling

[craisondigital]

I've run plenty of networking cable and know it's best to stay away from main electrical wires and not run parallel to them.

Is it the same for speaker wires? Should they be in conduit? Any other tips/advice/articles so as to avoid noise/feedback?

thanks

 

[everettT]

Always use conduit. Aside from interference there plenty of pesky critters that love to play havoc on wiring.

 

[Soundcrack]

If you run your wires properly, dressing them up higher by using cable hooks and or Zip ties you will be fine, of course, if you see lots of Rat Crap then you may want to use conduit. Every attic is different, analyze the environment. You can also use a heavier jacketed plenum or Direct Burial with gel speaker cable meant for if your really particular or don't want to deal with conduit.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Not like people run electrical wire in conduit and it being a huge issue for the typical home these days.

Speaker wires should have at least a foot of separation from high voltage wiring (120v+) in the home and to code they should cross at a 90 degree angle when they must. This is low voltage general code and should be followed to help avoid picking up hum and noise in the system. Be aware that large appliances can still created some noise into any system and being aware of appliances which may live above/near your speakers is something to consider.

Conduit for speaker wires is not something I ever consider. Just use in-wall rated speaker cabling and you should be fine. If you are concerned and have critter issues then it's up to you, but I never have had such an issue and it is not common practice for speaker locations.

Conduit is incredibly important for cable runs to devices which are likely to see the technology change and don't have good access after the fact. This is things like TVs in one location and your equipment in another location. TV over the fireplace, gear in the corner. You need a good way to add/remove HDMI cabling as the tech changes. But, speaker wiring hasn't changed in ... forever? So, just pull a decent quality cable for your speakers and you will be good to go and follow best practices as described above.

 

[Montucky]

Conduit for speaker wires is not something I ever consider. Just use in-wall rated speaker cabling and you should be fine. If you are concerned and have critter issues then it's up to you, but I never have had such an issue and it is not common practice for speaker locations.

Conduit is incredibly important for cable runs to devices which are likely to see the technology change and don't have good access after the fact. This is things like TVs in one location and your equipment in another location. TV over the fireplace, gear in the corner. You need a good way to add/remove HDMI cabling as the tech changes. But, speaker wiring hasn't changed in ... forever? So, just pull a decent quality cable for your speakers and you will be good to go and follow best practices as described above.

Agreed! I'm a huge fan of conduit, but not for speaker runs. ALWAYS good quality, in-wall rated cabling, but never conduit. Looking at jobs I've done previously, I could not imagine the nightmare that would be to run a 12 zone whole-home audio system with conduit spanning a large, multi-story home. Yikes! Not to mention, no builder would ever pay for that. Haha. Now equipment to display runs like HDMI? Non-negotiable. Those get conduit no matter what.