Help With Wiring

TylerDFranklin · 04-14-2008, 01:57 PM

Hey guys, I just bought my first house and am finally able to set up my home theater the way I want it, but could use a little advice... well, maybe a lot of advice. Tonight I'll try to post some pictures of what my setup currently looks like, but just to give you an idea in the meantime, I have a Toshiba 56HM195 TV, and a full Klipsch sound system with a Sony Receiver. I'll post links to everything below. Well, my problem is primarily with wiring. I demand to have the surround speakers behind the couch, but that leaves wires running across the floor in the living room which drives my fiance insane! Of course it bothers me, too, but I've been trying to think of a better way to do it and the other solutions don't make me overly happy... I'd like to run them through the attic, however according to my friend, the only way to run them down the wall would be to knock holes in the wall to pull them through, otherwise I would have to drill to the outside of my house and run the wires that way. Are there any other solutions that someone can think of? I really don't want to go drilling holes in my house if I can avoid it. Is there some kind of wireless adapter? How have you guys solved this problem? Thanks for the help!

EDIT - Nevermind, won't let me post links, however I have a Toshiba 56HM195 TV, and the Synergy F-2 Series speakers from Klipsh (2 tower, 2 surround, 1 center) and the Synergy 10" sub.

Robert_J · 04-14-2008, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerDFranklin

I'd like to run them through the attic, however according to my friend, the only way to run them down the wall would be to knock holes in the wall to pull them through, otherwise I would have to drill to the outside of my house and run the wires that way. Are there any other solutions that someone can think of? I really don't want to go drilling holes in my house if I can avoid it. Is there some kind of wireless adapter? How have you guys solved this problem?

It depends on the construction of your house. I have run well over a mile of speaker, video, network and phone cable in my house and every bit of it was run through the walls and the attic. I have access to almost every top plate from the attic so it makes things easy. Wireless has been discussed in a few of the forums and it just doesn't provide the quality that most of us expect.

Just last week, I ran cable in my cousin's new house for his DirecTV install. He had a single cable run the living room and a single cable in the bedroom. Both rooms were getting DVRs that required dual runs of RG-6. Not a problem, we go up to the 2nd floor and climb up the drop-down ladder into the attic. We go to the back of his son's room and drop and extension ladder on top of the bedroom ceiling joists. I climb down with the drill. I find where the existing wires run into the wall. I start drilling a 1" hole in the top plate. I finally make it through a pair of 2x4's. I run my fish tape in and hit an obstacle - another board. I didn't see this house being built so I have to plan ahead. I add a 16" extension on my drill bit and start drilling through another pair of 2x4's. I run the fish tape in again and the 2nd hole is a little more difficult to hit but I finally do it. Then I find another board. After a lot of cussing, a break for dinner and a trip to Wal-Mart I attach a 12" extension to my existing extension which is attached to my drill bit. I end up with a 33" long drill bit and drilled through a top plate consisting of 6 2x4's. But I did it. 3.5 hours in an attic drilling. After that it only took us 15 minutes to pull four wire up the wall while talking via cell phones. The next day the DirecTV installer said he would have charged around $100 per cable and he would have had to use a more experienced installed with better tools to finish the job. I know it is a long story but it just shows that with a little determination, attic investigation and a very long drill bit you can run almost any wire through a wall.

-Robert

TylerDFranklin · 04-14-2008, 05:25 PM

Ok, well thank you. That is what I'd much prefer to do, however, you said you had to drill 3 or 4 holes in the wall, correct? That's the part I'm kind've afraid of, filling those holes to make sure that everything looks as it did before. I will definately consider it, but just out of curiosity, do they make wireless adapters for something such as this? I hate to lose the quality, but for the surround speakers, I think I could survive a slight loss in quality if the price wasn't too bad. Where could I find a wireless adapter?

Robert_J · 04-14-2008, 09:32 PM

I drilled zero holes through the wall. I drilled the holes in the top plate of the wall. Not familiar with wall construction, here's a little information - link. All of the wire was run through an existing junction box. I then used [ULR=http://www.broadbandutopia.com/levquicflusm.html]Quickport wall plates[/url] to add the new connections. These was no drywall repair needed. Again, I never drilled through the wall. I drilled from the attic into the wall cavity through the boards on top of the wall.

I've seen reviews of a few wireless surrounds and there are some built into HTiBs. But wired is the best way.

-Robert

TylerDFranklin · 04-15-2008, 09:49 AM

Ok, I see. Yea, that's exactly what I want to do. I guess my next question would be how did u get it down the wall to where you wanted it? Yea, I think I'd much prefer to run them through the walls if I can avoid having to drill holes in the wall.

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Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 04-15-2008, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerDFranklin

I'd like to run them through the attic, however according to my friend, the only way to run them down the wall would be to knock holes in the wall to pull them through...

Tyler, your friend is grossly misinformed. Check my signature for a link to a comprehensive article on how to run cables through attics.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Robert_J · 04-16-2008, 08:39 AM

Wayne,
I've read your posts here and other forums for years but the In-Wall wiring post is the most informative I have ever read. I learned a few things.

-Robert

TylerDFranklin · 04-16-2008, 09:47 AM

Wayne,

Wow, thank you so much! That is exactly what I needed! I'm still reading through the guide, but that's just such awesome information. Thank you again! I'll let you know the results!

Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 04-16-2008, 10:00 AM

Good luck with the project Tyler, keep us posted!

And thanks for the kind words, Robert - quite a compliment coming from a guy who obviously already knows what he's doing!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt