Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater In-Wall Speaker wiring question

Hi

I'm building a home theater in my basement. The basement is unfinished so lucky for me I can run all the wires in the walls. I have a few questions I would hope some of you experts out there could answer:)

1) I want a clean looking install...is there any drawbacks to using terminating wall plates with banana plugs for all the speakers? Or is it better to just run the wire directly from the reciever to the speaker?

2) Same question but for the sub. Can I usa a terminating RCA wall plate or should I go direct from the reciever through the wall to the speaker without any breaks?

3) Anyone know where to find good banana plug wall plates? Would I need recessed wall plates for the surrounds (QS8s and QS4s)

4) Can I easily get 12 AWG wire into the M60ti speakers or is it better/easier to use banana plugs?

5) For those of you that have done in wall wiring for your theater or entertainment room what recommendations woudl you give me? I just don't want to forget anything.

6) Can I run two runs of wire side by side or will I get interference? I've heard you're not supposed to run two lines of speaker wire together? If this is true then it be a pain and me hopes that it aint true...arghhh

I can't believe how much cable is necessariy for a home theater install. Its giving me a headache

Scott

1) No drawbacks. It looks MUCH cleaner. Do it for sure.

2) Yes. You can use RG6 cable to run the length. Terminate with snap and seal "f" connectors which screws onto the back of the wall plate with an RCA on the other side. (at least thats how I did it)

3) http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=43&ObjectGroup_ID=278 Dont need reccesed wall plates. Dont even know if they exist.

4) Yes, however Bannana plugs are easier. But its always more money. Personally id get bannana's or Spades.

5) Depends if your putting in a front projector etc. I wired mine with 7.1, Componet video in the ceiling and in the front of the room, along with composite for things like Playstation and VHS. Also consider an Infared repeater so that you can shoot your remotes at the front or wherever and have it shot back to your gear which could be hidden away. Also, if you can run a dedicated AC line to where your gear will be located.

6)I dont think so. Dont run them next to any AC lines. I ran all my speaker wires together. until they needed to split up. Theres just no room to have ideal wiring layout. And yes it will give you a headache. I found that wiring for front projection was especially stressfull because i had not decided on a projector and therefore no set in stone place to put the plugs.

Scott, Brandon covered everything pretty thoroughly. The only problem you will run into is with the surrounds. Even if you do find recessed plates, the banana plugs will protrude too far, and force the speaker out from the wall. Since the surrounds will be permanently mounted and tight to the wall, there is really no need to intstall plates there.

If I ever get around to it, I'll post pictures of my QS8's with the wires burried in the wall.

Take a look at RapidRun stuff. Cleanest stuff I've seen.

I just finished roughing in my HT room speaker wiring. Having an electrical background, I have learned the value of running conductors in conduit and do it wherever practical. With speaker wires and the constant urge that we all seam to have to upgrade, I figured I’d better run them in conduit.

There is a really cool, NEC approved and simple way to do this. I call it ‘smurf tube’ because it's blue, but its real name is ENT (electrical non-metallic tubing). It’s cheap and VERY easy to install. You can probably get away with running ½”, but I prefer ¾” so that I can get away with more 90 deg bends and also pull in big wire, including sub cables. An advantouge of ½” is you can bend tighter 90's.

I just routed it to all the speaker locations into ENT J-boxes and home ran the runs back to a central location where the AV equipment will reside.

I will most likely use termination points and banana plugs, but one could also buy blank outlet covers, drill a 1/2'” hole in the middle of them and install rubber grommets in the hole, and then run the speaker wire direct from the amps to the speakers. Some folks think you need equal length wires to each pair of speaker and the second option would accommodate that.

If you do decide to use ENT, make sure to strap the hell out of it so the LFE’s don’t cause it to rattle and tap. You’ll know how much is enough by simply tapping on it. If it moves, put a strap on it. I also put fiberglass insulation between it and some studs, other runs of tubing and areas that I just couldn’t use a strap where I thought it could get to moving and irritate me by tapping/vibrating against something.

Home Depot sells this stuff by the foot, or in 100’ roles. It cuts with a utility knife and the J-box termination adaptors come in either snap-in or threaded configurations. I’d just use the snap type because they hold extremely well and you do not need to use a bushing with them like you do with the threaded adaptors.

When you route any type of communication/audio/video cable or wire, the rule of thumb is to keep parallel runs 24” apart. It’s OK to run them perpendicular, just keep them a couple inches apart wher they cross one another.

I can send you some pics if you wish. Just PM me your email. I’d post, but I just can’t be bothered with that right now……..