Caveat.
Your question was strictly audio & speaker wire so I stand firm on my answers. However, if you are doing a HDMI run, it is a rather finicky technology. I'm not promoting the expensive HDMI cables that falsely claim better picture quality and such. However, it can be distance sensitive and requires some forethought in installation.
I have a different thread about HDMI. I know that right now the HDMI spec is 1.4a. I know from past experience that technology changes so fast that trying to futreproof yourself it impossible as you can't predict the changes that are going to take place.
I will gather that it is very unlikely that speaker connections are going to change in the future away from wire to some other midium, and even if they do, will there be enough of a reason to change from my great sounding speakers to something else. Probably NO.
In past houses, I spend hundreds on 25' SVHS cables as they were the best out there, only to be replaced by component. The I bought a 60" HD 1080i RPTV only to have it made obsolete as it doesn't support HDMI. And this has been in the course of 15 years, and I plan on living another 40-50 from today.
That is why I plan on running a conduit for those sorts of connectors, so when HDMI 2 and beyond become mandatory, I can replace the one I have easily with the new going spec.
But speakers, the only upgrades that I have seen in the past 30 years I have been into the HI-Fi market is the number of them you connect.
I was planning of buying a big 500' spool of 12AWG CL2 cable. Far more than I need in length and gauge but spending that extra $50 now means that even if I move up to serious power hungry speakers with 1000w monoblock amps to drive them, the cables in the walls should be more than enough to drive them.
My plan is for:
3 pairs Front Left
2 pairs Front Center
3 pairs Front Right
1 pair Front Left High
1 pair Front Right High
1 pair Sur Left
1 pair Sur Right
1 pair Rear Sur Left
1 pair Rear Sur Right
2 pairs Rear Center
3 pairs extra zones out
I am running 3 pairs of cables out to the fronts as I have the LR1100 right now, but figure I might as well wire in for the LFR2200 that require another channel for the top and side drivers to give that 720deg sound bubble in all directions.
