I have a bit of a problem I'm hoping to address before my speakers come in. I've been trying to figure out a way to run speaker wire from the front of my room through the wall, up to the ceiling and back to the side walls in the rear of the room where the surrounds will go.

The issue: I have a two story home and the setup will be on the first floor. I've already invested in Monoprice's 12 gauge in-wall wire. If at all possible, I'd like to not take the 'hiding' approach (under the base boards and up; not the prettiest I'm guessing when dealing with 12 gauge wire). But if that's the only alternative, I guess I'll have to make due. Although, this will be a Living Room/HT, and my WAF will definately go down by doing this.

My questions:

Does anyone have any miraculous way that I will be able to run the wire in-wall for the surrounds?

If there is no other way, what are my best methods for hiding the 12 gauge wire I've already bought from being seen at the point from the baseboard to the surrounds?

Do I need to get realistic, and get lower gauge cable to accomplish this?

Thoughts? Opinions? Life Objectives?

It might be difficult being that the walls/ceiling are finished and you have 2x4's and rafters that are not predrilled. One option might be to use Axiom's new flat 12 gauge wire, which is paintable, but a little pricey.

I have no miracle solutions.

But, depending on the room, wires can be reasonably hidden by running them unobtrusively along the baseboard and then painting them. Then, if you have a few carpentry skills, you can cut a couple of holes in your drywall and run a fishing line up through the hole so that there are no wires on the wall. A quick patch job and you'll be in business.

In a pinch, I also recommend the flat wire. I used it in an apartment where I had four surrounds in the back of the room. Once installed, the flat wire is virtually undetectable. Axiom flat wire is exceptional, but also a bit expensive. I would never intentionally undercut Axiom, but other companies also sell flat wire for a bit cheaper, but I can't vouch for the quality of those products.

If you have a basement below you you can drill a hole in the floor and run it underneath the room. I did this with my surrounds. But then you see the wire running up the wall. My surrounds were right next to a window on one side and a door on the other, so I ran the wire along the window frame and door frame. I'm just waiting for my wife to paint the wires the same color as the walls and then you will barely even notice them.

- Nick

Do you have carpet? If so, you can do what I did in another room.

Get some flat speaker wire, Monster has some decent ones rated at 16 ga (IIRC) and so does Radioshack. They're actually similar in price, surprising for Monster. This is flat speaker wire, not flat wire (decorp.com). Pull up your carpet and run this underneath, probably near the walls so you don't have to pull the rug all the way up. Then put the carpet back down. The wires will be visible coming in/out of the carpet but at least it's not on the floor.

I was able to run 2 12 gauge wires under the carpet along the base board. Their was room to wedge 1 wire on each side of the carpet tack strip. The space between the tack strip and the baseboard was perfect for one wire. I had to trim the carpet pad on a few places on the other side of the tack strip to make room for the wire.

As always, you guys are fast and helpful with your replies.



Man I wish Texas had basements. That would be an instant media/game room.





This sounds like it would work the best with wire I currently have. Running along the baseboards should be no issue (plus the wire is white already). And ultimately, there would be no wire going up the wall. I think I'll go that route. Thanks Capn.

So after doing that, you weren't able to see the wires at all? If so, I think I may have to do that as well, since only one side wall will be accessible for running both wires across the baseboard. The other wire will then have to be ran behind the listening position to the left side wall.

That is exactly what i did (ran both wires the same wall).

I can not see the wires at all, but I was somewhat fortunate in that the previous tennant of my home (yes I am renting) had lifted up the carpet before and made it easy to pull the carpet back.

The down side is that the carpet tacks strip has lost some of its "bite" from previous people constantly lifting and putting back down the edge of the carpet....

If you do this I would reccomend testing to see how easy the carpet comes up and goes back down in an inconspicuous spot... and the key would be to lift it back, put it back down, and never touch it again. If you keep lifting and replacing the carpet it may eventually weaken the 'bond' between the tack strip and the carpet.

Pee Wee Herman wished that, too. Would have made the movie a lot shorter, though.

LOL! Good point Peter.

I feel your pain. I had the same problem. I drilled a 1 inch hole in the bottom of the wall and used a "fish tape" to push the wire to the corner of the room. (Use a drill bit that cut holes...do not use small drill bits to "make a hole" and keep the plugs of drywall, you will need them) I then drilled another 1 inch hole in the adjoining wall so that I could pull the wires around the corner. I used the fish tape to run both pair of of wires to the back of the room and did the same thing again to get past the corner. When I got to the location on the wall where I wanted the first speaker, I drilled hole in the proposed speaker location and pulled the wire through. I then used the fish tape to move the other speaker wire to the desired location. Here's the catch: you need to have a wall that is continuous i.e. without a doorway and it requires a significant amount of speker wire to do it that way. You will have to precut the wire and I would recommend making sure that the lengths are prettly close to being the same for both pair.

After you are done...you will have holes in your wall...take each of the drywall plugs and drill a small hole in the middle..stick a nail through the back side that is is about an inch or so longer than the drywall is thick...put a plug in a hole so that the head of the nail is in the wall and the point is facing you, hold onto the nail and spackle the area around the plug...it..after the spackle is dry..just push the nail into the plug and paint.

It is worth the work if you don't want to see wires.

wow, nice solution

How did you get the wires through studs?

I was wondering the same thing.

Posts like these make me grateful that I was able to lay out my system while construction was going on. Pre-wired for 7.1 (even ran coax to a couple of different locations for subs) and 2000' of cat5. Weeks of planning and one incredibly long weekend of drilling and labeling.

The walls that I had to fish the wires through were outside walls which meant that the back of the studs were not attached to drywall.