Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Cabling in new construction

My house is being built right now so I sneaked in and ran speaker cable before the drywall come up. I got the in-wall speaker cable from Home Deport. At some point I have to run the speaker cable through the same hole as electrical wiring. At other points they are parallel. Is this against the building code? Will this affect the quality of sound? Thanks.

Yikes. Parallel?

You want to run cabling for audio, video, network, etc, perpendicular (90 degree angles) to power runs, and has as FEW of cross over (where one crosses over the other) points as possible.

Don't scare the guy!

But Nick is right, you may want to make another night visit and make re-do your cabling.

What do you mean, “same hole”? If it’s the same J-box, that’s a code violation.

Parallel is OK, as long as it’s at least 16” away. Most folks recommend 24” but I’ve ran comm. cables as close as 12” for short distances where there was no other option without issue.

Sorry to be the barer of bad news, but you should probably re-route your cables.

Its pretty hard to not go parallel with electrical wiring in a house, IF you have time I would also suggest running the wires through central vacuum tubing to enable easy replacement of cabling, especially video, as it has a tendency to change these days or as you upgrade to the latest and greatest. Just try to keep the wires as far from electrical as possible. I ran mine about 14" from the electrical and there has been no issues.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I probably have to remove the wire because i don't want anymore delay in the construction. I'll probably purchase Best Buy installation service. They charge about $200 including the cable. The cable I bought at Home Depot alone is almost $70.

V, as Mike pointed out, there may be a possible code violation. However, as a practical matter speaker wire(as distinguished from line-level interconnects)is immune from interference caused by nearby power lines since it's carrying a relatively high current into a low impedance speaker load.

I've been seeing different posts on buying cables (Home Depot and other places. Axiom offers cables of course, I don't hear about buying them here....are they too expensive, not up to specs???

I will be doing my basement in January and will be putting in cables etc., I was gonna do one stop shoping here at Axiom, anything wrong with that......any comment on those cables?

Chips,

from what I hear, the cables here are very nice cables. High quality stuff, but you can find cheaper cables that are just as high quality (but not as fancy) from elsewhere.

I personally am getting some cables from bluejeancables.com at 0.38 cents per foot.

There is quite a lengthy thread around here somewhere regarding cables, I tried a quick search & couldn't find it....

Ahhhh, here it is...

on a completely unrelated note, I've been trying to find out how you create a link (like you just did) for months, how did you do that, and how did you name it "here"?

Thanks for the link I will read it.

when you post a reply, under "Instant UBB Code" click "URL" and enter your url, click ok, then enter your link name (Like "here").

OK, let's test a different test, like M80s off the truck off the truck

Holy Crap, it worked!! I am computer literate

Re: Axiom cables.

There are two types of cables that Axiom sells. The bulk cable wich is a 12 ga twin cable simular to what you would find anywhere. A great cable at a very resonable price. The second is their terminated cables, which is a totally different cable. They have two sets of wires running parellel within a rubbery protective sheath that has an abrasion resistant type braided cover over it. I don't know for certain what size the cables are, but my 18 gauge Klien stripers worked fine. I'm guesing they are 18 gauge.

Here's some shots of terminating them with bannanna jacks. I ordered terminated cables twice as long as I needed with 1/4" spades for the speakers, then I cut them in half and terminated them with the jacks and some heat shrink. They're also a great cable, resonably priced (compared to other pre-terminated cables).

'ol Mike sure is talented fer sure ... not only can he build all of those beautiful things out of wood but he is also capable of taking one handed photos while terminating speaker cables.

Just a warning that 'ol Chips here got the go-ahead for his home theater today, just has to finish the basement first.

If you think he had lots of questions BEFORE, you ain't seen nuthin' yet

I'll add in that the Axiom cable is easy to use... very flexible, stylish and comes with an Axiom branding imprint.

I bought it for the looks where it's exposed... because it's sexy. Not for any audio sweetening hoodoo.

Bren R.

Hey Mike, what banana plugs are shown in that photo? I'm shopping around for some and would like to know what you are using. They almost look like Monoprice plugs...

RCA, I think?? I don't really remember. Got them at Home Depot. They have two apposing set screws. I opted to not solder and they work well. Fit tight in the posts and all that good stuff a person wants.

Hey Rick, a little booze makes for a steady hand. A few more cuts to the fingers with the utility knife too though....

Too funny!! just for that I'll only bug you......ok, well most of the time anyway