Any advice on running wires under carpet to rear surrounds? (1 Viewer)

[Ron Jason]

Short of removing all the furniture and peeling back the carpet from the walls, is there a less destructive and easier way to run speaker wire under the carpet to the rear surround speakers? Unfortunately, dropping wires from the attic is not an option. Thanks!

 

[DonRoeber]

Sure, go to home depot, and in their electrical section, look for a wire snake. It'll look like a thin piece of metal with a hook on the end, coiled on a spool. Better ones have handles for winding the coil, get one of those. I also picked up some flat speaker wire while there. Just pull up the edge of the carpet, starting at your destination. Run the wire snake to where you want the speaker wire to go. Then attach the wire to the hook (I used some electrical tape), and wind the coil back up. Helps to have someone guide the speaker wire, so that it doesn't twist.

 

[John_VI]

Ron - I'll second the wire snake from Home Depot. I picked one up on Friday to snake the wires for my rears thru the walls. I drilled up thru the bottom plate (from my basement) into the wall cavity and put a PVC electrical box into the wall behind each speaker. It was a snap.

The procedure for snaking under the carpet is just how Don describes above. But like he says, it's LOTS easier if you have another person to help.

Another option is to run the wires along the edge of your baseboard. Since your floor is carpeted you should be able to poke the wires under the baseboard, between the baseboard and the carpet. When you encounter a doorway, just snake the wire under the carpet, or if there is a threshold, just remove the threshold, lay the wire and replace the threshold.

Good luck!

 

[Ron Jason]

Just the advice I was looking for! The wire snake sounds like what I need. Thank you.