Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions "Hiding" the cable on the wall?

Hello,

I will be moving into the condominium, where I have no options of hiding the cables in the walls (concrete). I am just curious to know what has been working for others, or what other solutions I should try in order to hide the cables in the room?

I have seen the tape wire - did someone actually installed it? I also am familiar with conduits, is there any other option?

Thanks,

Cephas.
Toronto, ON.

AFAIK, you have several options:

1) Cable raceway (like cordmate from wiremold)
2) Flat wire (from decorp).
3) Pull up the carpet and run it underneath
4) I've seen some esoteric solutions that involve special crownmolding or baseboards made specifically for running cables. IMHO, they don't look that great.

Check out Home Depot, I believe they have white cable raceway that you can run along baseboards and up walls.

I used AR (Acoustic Research) Microflat speaker cable, which I painted to match the wall. But i think they stopped making it. I can't seem to find it anywhere.



Here is a comparable product that is available in 16 ft lengths for $18, or 100 ft. lengths for $89.50. 16 feet would be enough for two surrounds in a room with conventional ceiling height, because you only need it for the run from speaker down the wall to the baseboard where it can be connected to conventional speaker wire using connectors.



You needn't worry about it being only 18 gauge. I have it connected to 12 gauge conventional wire, and with only a 6 ft. run up the wall, it has a negligible effect on the impedance of the entire run from receiver to speaker.

Thank you very much for quick responses everybody.

This is what I have been looking for. Jack, would you have a slightly larger version of the first picture? Also how would you describe reliability of the installation? I have a sample of such cable and I installed it on cleaned wall (about 6" worth). This thing started peeling off after a couple of weeks. (it very likely that I just missed a step or something.).

Thanks,

Cephas.

Don't use the tape wire. It'll take the paint off your walls, look horrible, and it looks like it's thinner than 18 gauge. Get flat cable and the little spongy tape that they (used?) to sell with it. I got both of mine from Accessories4Less.com. Some of the best customer service I've dealt with, too.

Pulling back just a bit of the carpet has worked well for me.

Here ya go.



Installation was pretty easy, and it's been up for more than two years without a problem. I've not removed it so I can't say what effect removal will have on the wall beneath.

Thank you all who responded, Jack thank you for the larger picture.

Cephas.

For my rear surrounds, I use a white 14ga wire from Radio Shack. It hides nicely in the ceiling/wall edge...although it helps that the ceiling and walls are white!!