ian-w

Hidden wiring suggestions

I just bought a new home which was unfortunately not prewired for home theater . I need to get my surround wiring from one side of the living room to the other, and at the same to minimize the wire exposure.

Here are the problems :
1. I have no basement whatsoever.
2. The living room has no "corners" on either side of the home theater system - each corner has a doorway with fitted carpetting, which I can't seem to lift easily.

Ideally I would prefer to do this in-wall, but can't figure out how I am going to thread the wiring through a wall, then a ceiling (no, not an attic), and then down the other wall. I'm new to this so I have limited capabilities and would appreciate any advice.

Thanks
Ian
PS. Where would be the best place to buy speaker wiring with 6 wires (3 surround speakers) housed in a single casing? Is there even such a thing?

ifor

looks like you will have to go under the carpet using flat speaker wire.
you can lift the carpet by taking the baseboard off under by lifting it up using pliers (my choice are needle nose).
there are (to my knowledge) no such cable as 3 sets of speaker wire in one casing.
good luck.

MikeWh

So, your house is on a cement slab? No crawlspace. Is that correct??

I'm not sure I understand #2 totally... but I think you're saying that there's no edge to the carpet, where you could pull it up, because there is a doorway. Is that right?

Normally, people prefer to run wires along (under) the baseboards, if they can't fish it through the walls. If you need to run a wire where there is no baseboard (like across a doorway), you can run it under the carpet by using steel "fish tape" or a coat hanger, etc.... Simply tape the speaker wire to the end of the fish tape (or hanger), and "fish it" under the carpet to the other side. It requires some patience.

I have never used flat wire, but if it can be successfully pulled with a fish tape, then I'd recommend using it, so you won't get ridges in the carpet along the doorway. "Successfully" means as long as it will remain flat (not bend over on itself, potentially crimping itself) and will not pull itself apart while being fished.

I'm not sure what ifor meant by: You don't normally need to take off the baseboard, at least if the carpet was installed using tackstrips (aka tackless strips). Normally you can grab the carpet nap with pliers and pull up and towards the wall at the same time. This will release the carpet from the nails in the tackstrip. Unfortunately, if you do this in several places in the room, you'll need to restretch the carpet.... this can be a real pain (literally)-- requires special tools (like a knee kicker, which you can rent), and it can really do a number on your knees.

ian-w

Thanks for all the advice.

I went for the most obtrusive option, which was running the cabling under some pretty neat cable runners I found at Home Depot - it hides the wiring and blends in well, and costs $4.70/5 ft. The only place I had a problem was the doorway because I had to put the runners along the ceiling, which is that bubbly, crappy stuff where they mix paint with polystyrene balls (don't recall the name now). Anyway, with a little glue (well, a lot actually) that went across well and the rest was easy

Thanks again.
Ian