running speaker wires

[bonj87]

whats the best way to run speaker wires inside walls so you dont see them?

[Sonnie]

Hi joliet and welcome to the Shack!

What kind of walls do you have and can you access the attic above or below the walls where you want to run the speaker wire?

[bonj87]

i have a new home.. drywall walls.. no plaster.. new house built last year
yes i have access to the attic and the basement, which is un finished.. the area above the home theater issue is the 2nd floor, which i dont have access to run wires that way.

[bhorstkotte]

bonj87 wrote:

i have a new home.. drywall walls.. no plaster.. new house built last year
yes i have access to the attic and the basement, which is un finished.. the area above the home theater issue is the 2nd floor, which i dont have access to run wires that way.

The best way is the path of least resistance:

• if you have an attic above your ceiling, run them up through the wall cavities (unless the drywall is on already, and there is fire blocking, in which case that's going to be difficult unless you make more holes in the walls temporarily to drill through the fire blocking); drill through top plate, making sure its accessible from above
• if you have a crawlspace or basement below, run them down through the wall cavities (same issue with fire blocking if its there); drill through sole plate - make sure the sole plate doesn't sit right on top of the concrete foundation, if so, you'll need a different route
• if you don't have access from above or below, you can run them through the cavity behind crown molding or baseboards
• keep speaker wire runs away from AC wiring as much as possible - I had to cross over a few wires, and its not a problem, but if you run them right next to each other, you may have interference problems
• use in-wall rated speaker wire (CL2 /CL3)