Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners speaker wire runs in a new house

We are moving to new construction, and want to get the speaker wire installed before the drywall goes up. I'm not sure if the builder will do this for us or not. If not, I could use some advice. I want to do two runs for the QS8's, one for each side. I also want a subwoofer cable run back to the corner. I plan on using the QS8 wall mount T brackets to put the speakers on the wall.

Should I get a wall plate and have the speakers runs terminate there, and ask them to add it in the wall? What should it termiate with so I can plug it in? I know the QS8's sit pretty flush against the wall, so that could limit the options.

Same for the sub, how should that terminate? Would it terminate in the wall and then I would hook up a short sub cable from the wall to the sub?

As far as the main area where the TV is, should I also get wall outlets that wires go into, and label them Rear Left, Rear, Right, Sub, and then just hook up the fronts directly?

Anyone done this before?

I need to get it done by 10/17, as drywall is going up on 10/18.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

I'll do my best to help you out with all your questions.

First things first, you should run wiring for 7.1 just in case you want to do that in the future (you mid as well, or you may regret it later).

I would use this wall plate to terminate behind your TV to goto your surrounds (assuming you run for 4 surrounds):


Cheap at monoprice.

For your wire I would recommend bluejeanscable.com belden greyjacket in-wall 12g wire. Make sure you order about 20% more than you think you'll need after measuring all your runs...its always better to have some left over, than too short.

Bluejeanscable.com

for your sub cable, I would use this for your in-wall installation:


Cheap at monoprice

and you can terminate the with wall plates behind your TV and where you want your sub to go with normal RCA wall plates.

as for the QS8s, I just had the bare wire sticking out of the wall, and I mounted the QS8's over the hole in the wall, you don't see anything but the speaker, I used bare wire to connect to the QS8s binding posts.

You're going to need to know where you will be putting your couch and such so you can place your surrounds effectively.

here is how I layed out my room:



I actually have not ordered my 7.1 speakers, I only have 5.1 right now, but I am thankful I ran enough for 7.1.

Thanks for the quick reply. So for your two rear jacks for the 7.1, you just have an empty all plate in the wall?

This is the main family room in the house, so I don't know that WAF will accept 7.1....5.1 was enough. I think I am more likely to get a dedicated theater room in the basement (she likes that idea actually) than 7.1 in the family room. Good suggestion though, I'll think about it.

Did you just leave the bare wire tied up somewhere in the walls, so when they drywall I know where it will be, and I put a hole in the wall to get it out again? Are there any wall plates that would be flush enough to fit the QS8?

The wallplates just fit into a standard electrical outlet box. You just mount the boxes on the studs where you want them and run the speaker wires to the boxes. The drywallers will just drywall around them the same as if they were a standard electrical outlet box. If you want to save some time Home depot usually has some decent in wall 12 gauge speaker wire for pretty cheap. As long as the wire is run you can get the speaker terminals from monoprice and install them later.

Whatever cable you put in the walls, make sure it is CUL-approved. You may not be able to get your installation approved by the inspector if you don't do so.

Also, make sure you run the cables as far away from house wiring as possible. And if you need to cross any house-wiring, make sure they cross orthogonally.

I second what Robb said about running 7.1 for the future. Forget WAF when running cables. Also, you may want to run sub cables to a few different areas of your room as it's probably not clear to you right now where exactly the sub should be placed.

And Home Depot does indeed have good 12 gauge wire for less than a buck a foot.

I did not think about the time contraints...I am not sure if you can order anything online...you may need to get a coaxial sub line at retail (a 50 footer may cost quite a bit).

I have 12ga home depot speaker wire now, so that is fine, I can just get more of it. I have a 25ft sub cable, but I'll probably just get a new one. The 25ft barely reaches, the new house is bigger, and most importantly, I'd have no sub for the next two months if I use my current cable!

I'm also trying to make a list of what I need to do this, so I don't have home depot runs during it.

Stepladder
Speaker cable
sub cable
electric boxes to run cables to
wall plates (althought it was mentioned that I may be able to do that later)
scissors (to cut cables lengths from the big spool I get)
camera (need pics throughout the process)

Anything else? I thought about a drill, but I should not need that. I don't want to put holes in, and if they have ways to run other cables I should be fine. Runs will go through the ceiling and then down the walls.

I will probably buy everything I need tomorrow and head out to do the install this weekend.

Anyone know a good place to get a 50 foot sub cable from a store that would carry it, so I don't have to wait for it to ship?

Might I suggest side cutter pliers also known as Diagnal cutters or wire cutters instead of scissors to cut your wiring.

Radio Shack has some reasonable sub cables.

I looked at the web sites for Best Buy, Circuit City, and Radio shack but don't see anything that is carried in store that is larger than 25'.