Home Depot wire? Conduit for future wiring? (1 Viewer)

[Vike]

I'm about to wire (inwall) my basement for a 5.1 system. From the reading that I've done through the various threads, it sounds like I can just go to Home Depot and get their 12 gauge speaker wire. Is this a decent purchase or should I look at purchasing a brand name??

I've also read some about putting a conduit in the wall before putting up the sheetrock..for possible future wiring needs. Any ideas on what type and size of conduit I should run??

Thanks in advance.

 

[Phil A]

The Home Depot wire is fine. I tan some conduit in my basement before finishing it. Depends on what your future needs might be. I have a 64 inch rear proj. down there now and ran two 2 inch. conduits to a specific spot in case down the road I end up getting a front. proj.

 

[Brian Osborne]

Better safe that sorry. 2 reasons not to use Home Depot speaker wire. 1. it is not of quality that I would want hidden if something bad happened. 2. it likely is not rated for inwall use. Look at some quality shielded CL3/UL rated wire (this for electrical code). buying in a 250' spool will be a reasonable purchase.
I ran 2 extra runs to the far speaker so that if something did happen I have extra wires run by every speaker for an easy fix.
Space was an issue in my install so I didn't run conduit. but I did run very high quality wire and ran HDMI, Component, Composite and S-Video to my projector.

 

[Marc L]

if the home depot wire is ran in conduit, it wouldn't need to be electrical code rated. and if you ran spare wire through the conduit as well, the "what if" factor is virtually none.

I would use at least one inch pvcfor speaker wires...and 2 inch pvc for video runs to a future projector location. and you will want to put in pull string in it to make future wiring easier.

 

[Vike]

Man.. it gets even more confusing. The HD wires are in wall and up to code. I think for the system that I'll have down there.. not sure about the receiver yet.. w/Infinity ERSHV250's.. they will probably be fine. My ears or system probably won't be able to tell the difference..

I'll have to figure out what my future needs may be and figure out where the heck to place the conduits before the sheetrock dudes come in.

Thanks

 

[TonyD]

i havent checked home depot but i have bought in wall speaker wire at lowes for $25 a 100 ft roll.

 

[Phil A]

There's plenty of stuff at Parts Express too like (among others):

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=100-814

 

[Bo-Cephus]

Just went to Home Depot and their "bulk" 12ga wire is from Carol Cable, and they have both in-wall and "non" in-wall wire. Not sure if their prices are better compared to other retail, but I believe Carol Cable has a fairly good reputation.