kyutaek

Speaker wiring question (cosmetic sense)

I am building my 5.1 home theater system (2main, 1center, and wooofer on the front) and got a problem to wire rear speakers. I am setting it up at my living room(hardwood floor) and my wife doesn't want to put rear speakers (because of ugly looking wires). Is there anyway I can hide the wires or install it in a cosmetically good way(as far as I can imagine, no)?
My living room has two closed wall, one open to kitchen, and one with windows and balcony doors (another obstacle).

If there is one way, but it need professional skill, I am willing to have an installer do it. Is there any professional installation service available?

If none of the options are good, how about wireless rear(surround speakers)? I have power outlets on the back.
I know this would not produce a good sound, though. But, wouldn't it still better than just 3.1 setup?

I appreciate your valuable experience and/or opinions on this matter. Thanks.

TylerZ

Do you have a basement? You could drill a hole in the floor behind the reciever and two more holes where the rears will be located. Then run the wires through the basement by using wire staples to attach them to the floor joists. Before you do this I would suggest experimenting where you want to place your rear speakers. Run the wires along the living room floor temporarily and hear/see where they sound/look the best. Give yourself plenty of wire for this because it will take more to feed it down through the basement and back up again. My sure you get the wife involved with this step. Then go to Home Depot and get some of their split flexible tubing in the electrical dept to run the wires through from the hole in the floor to the speaker. It will hide the wires and give it a more professional look.

kyutaek

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, my home didn't have a basement. Living room is located in the second floor. And there is another bedroom in the first floor with garage.

SethH

You can always yank off the baseboard and run it behind there. Lots of people network their houses this way. You might want to get someone who knows what they're doing if you're worried about damaging the baseboard.

ChrisWiggles

Baseboard is a good idea, they also make flat speakker wire that is very well hidden on the wall/painted/under wallpaper, that would be good to look into as well, as at some point even with baseboard, it has to go up the wall, and this makes it pretty tidy.

SethH

Also, Monster Cable (and I'm sure some other brands) make speaker wire with a special jacket that is made to be painted. This can obviously help to hide the wire, but for some people it still does not get a good grade on the WAF.