Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater suggestions for concealing speaker wires

There are exceptions. My home has original hardwood flooring, but the baseboards are on top. House if about 65 years old.

Bob, I've never heard of baseboards going below the level of the hardwood flooring, this sounds ridiculous for the simple reason that hdwd flooring needs to expand and contract with the seasons. That's why you need to leave a good 3/8" or so gap between the edge of the hardwood and the wall, then instal your baseboard over top of it so the wood can move freely.

Hi Seeking,

After installing my four QS8 surround speakers I had wires running all over the room.
My theater room is in a bonus room so I could either run the wires in the attic above or in the garage below.
I also considered running behind the baseboards and I even considered running flat wire under the carpet.

I'm not really a DIY guy so I was concerned that I would make a total mess of our relatively new home.
The thought of removing baseboards or drilling holes through the walls was a major concern.
I was talking to a friend about this dreaded project and he mentioned the geek squad at Best Buy.

They installed four 30 foot runs (12 Gauge THX cert.) through the attic and inside the walls to banana plug speaker plates at each speaker and a master banana plug speaker plate behind the AV receiver.
They did a very professional job and the finished job looks extremely clean.

It took 2 installers approximately 4 hours and 2 of those hours were in the attic!
The total cost was just over $300 which was an amazing deal in my books.
Money well spent.

Zak

Hello Zak,

Your install looks very good. I appreciate the Geek Squad suggestion. I noticed that you said you did four runs for your surround speakers. How much more would it have cost to wire your front sound stage as well?

At this point I am leaning towards a professional install when the time comes. I would not be comfortable with all the dry wall and baseboard work since I have no experience with them. I am sure professional could do a way better job than I can in this case. I would not mind paying around $500 to get things wired for a dedicated listening room. More if need be.

I am sure there are tons of people who I can hire for this type of work, but more suggestions and ideas would be great. Thanks everyone for the advices.

If you're thinking of hiring, getting a general handyman will likely be quite a bit cheaper than Best Buy's people. You don't need any specialized knowledge to fish wires or patch drywall, and it's not electrical work. Furthermore, in-wall speaker wire is cheap as mud compared with what an AV shop will try and sell you.

You might consider a professional if you're doing multi-zone systems or some kind of crazy remote control setup, otherwise the work you need done should not run you $500

The local shop I patronize charges $100/hr. I would think $500 would be a reasonable budget unless you have some weird problem area.
There was a series on articles on audioholics a while back where they documented 5 different installs and what was involved.