Running speaker wire through walls

Brad_See · 05-11-2004, 07:57 AM

I'm sure this has been covered before here but I couldn't find much on it with a search. I'm moving into a new house and I'm planning on running speaker wire from my receiver, up through the wall and through the attic and then down to my rear surrounds which will probably be ceiling mounted. I do have attic access (although there is quite a bit of insulation covering the attic floor up there) so it shouldn't be that hard and I'm pretty good at figuring things out but I'm sure I could benefit from your know-how. So how exactly do I get the wires up the wall to the attic? Or if I drop them down to the drilled hole in the wall from the attic then how do I get them down the wall through all the insulation and whatnot? One thread I found wasn't very detailed but it mentioned using a "fish." Is that something I'll need and if so what is it? If this has been covered extensively before then please direct me to the thread or to any good websites you know of. Thanks!

brad cook

Rob Grim · 05-11-2004, 08:48 AM

Here is a link on how I ran my wires. A little time consuming but well worth it as far as end results.

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/showca...p?userid=40818

DavidNighorn · 05-11-2004, 09:08 AM

Be sure to check your building codes. Most of them require your cables to be certified for in-wall use. There is also a code that specifies that all connections must be made in a terminal box.

If you are going to all of this trouble, then you should do it right.

One more thing....try not to compress the insulation if you can avoid it. You may want to get some scrap plywood to lay across the joists so that you are not trying to balance on them. Your feet, ankles, and knees will thank you.

David

Blaine_M · 05-11-2004, 10:17 AM

Are the walls you will be running up insulated? If they aren't insulated it would be much easier to get a fish and run the wires than it would be to cut slots in your walls like Rob suggest, Rob is that why you used that approach? I will be running wire soon for a rear center surround, I will be running up the walls, behind the drywall. When I get to the ceiling I'll have to put a notch in the drywall to run the wire through, then I'll patch over the wire and refinish the corner, that is easier than patching in a large section of drywall I would think.

williamN · 05-11-2004, 11:22 AM

there's a pretty useful description in the orange coloured Home Depot book on running wires etc in finished walls, and a cable fish is normaly a flat semi flexible steel strip which is stored on a reel and allows you to poke stuff from one hole to another. (this is useful as you can cut holes say at the baseboard and celing rather than run a channel, if insulation allows the fish to pass.

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Rob Grim · 05-11-2004, 12:50 PM

Yes, I had to use my approach 1) because my H/T is in a basement and 2) all my walls are insulated except for one which has the heat pump and duct work behind the drywall that I could not run a fish hook behind. Not only that, notice the ledge that I had to notch also, would of been impossible to fish hook around the ledge.

Brad_See · 05-11-2004, 01:55 PM

Thanks for the input so far and thanks, williamn, for telling me what a fish is.

One more thing...can anyone recommend a good kit for hanging speakers from the ceiling in a slightly tilted forward position? I believe that's going to be my best option.

brad cook

Michael__M · 05-11-2004, 03:08 PM

Brad,

Check out Omnimounts speaker mounts. I used a set to hang my bookshelves from the ceiling in the rear. OK so far. I'll let you know if they fall

.

Getting up the wall will be difficult if it is an insulated wall. If not it is not a big deal. For the rear speakers I used a long, thin metal rod. A coathanger will probably work. I poked a hole in the sheetrock and put the rod up through the ceiling into the attic. That was my marker to find where I needed to run the wires to the rear.

Hope this helps.

PM me for more info if you like.

Michael

Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 05-11-2004, 10:12 PM

Brad,

You will probably find this helpful:

Dropping Wires In-Wall from an Attic

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Brad_See · 05-11-2004, 11:38 PM

Wayne,

Thanks for the link. That gave me some good ideas and tricks. I don't have a DeWalt but I should be able to make do with my Ryobi.

I also found a very detailed 9 page article on this over at www.crutchfieldadvisor.com but their's was a little more involved than is necessary for my little venture here.

brad cook