Hiding speaker wire for surrounds (1 Viewer)

[Sean_B]

Ok. I'm in an apartment. What is the best way to hide the speaker wire going to your surrounds? I could run them underneath the carpet but eventually the wire has to come out and meet the speaker. The problem is that the wire will be coming out by the sliding glass door so I can see the gf or me tripping over it all the time and knocking the speaker on the floor. Could run wire straight to the surrounds covering the wire with a big carpet perhaps.
Need some suggestions although I got the feeling there is no solution. They are going to be in the way and look ugly going to the speakers.

 

[KevinW]

Monster makes some off-white flat speaker wire that I've used before. It blends in with the walls pretty well and is 16 gauge, which will be sufficient for the fairly short run you will need. Also, you could carefully pry out the base boards and run regular wire behind those.
Not much to go on, but it's the only suggestions I have...

 

[Chad Isaacs]

Well,I am doing the apartment thing also.What I did is run the wire under the baseboard,right under the carpet.Currently I am using an old pair of floor standing speakers as my rear stands however,I am working on getting some hangers for them(I like my rears high and they are in the way)
So,I have explored my options.
1.Self adhesive flat speaker wire.Not a bad option but very expensive for no more than you get.
2.Stapling the wire up the wall.UGLY!
3.I found some wire hiders at lowes.Basically it is just a very small tube with a slit down one side.The back has tape so it just sticks to the wall,you run the wire in the slit and viola.This is probably what I will do.Howver,I have toyed with the idea of thin book shelves,this will take care of dvd storage,put the speaker on top and hiding the wire..all in one.
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Chad's DVDs

 

[Han]

www.accessories4less.com
has AR 12 gauge flat speaker cables that are sorta creamy offwhite in color, if you want to go better than 16 gauge.
I run the surround wires underneath the baseboard at the bottom of the walls. It's a bee-otch to push the wires in at some spots, but the look ends up being pretty clean.
Another solution, for where the wires have to show is to use velcro that matches the wall color. Wrap one side around strategic spots in the run and stick the other side of the velcro on the wall. I find this keeps wires in place better than two sided tape, and isn't as messy when removing (though it still is slightly).

 

[Charles M]

Sean,
If you have a Costco where you live at, check them out. Not to long ago I found some thin tubing to put speaker wire in, it's cream in color and t has double sided tape. it comes with three 4ft tubing (total of 12ft, but could be more). It really blends in well with the any light wall paint. I should say it's flat on the side of the double sided tape but it doesn't look a round tube. Just enough to for 16 gauge wire threw it. Also I picked up the cord and wire management tubing they have there. Everything was by each other. Go and check it out you'll see what I'm talking about, I really can't describe it that good, but they really have nice stuff for person to touch up their home theater. I'm going to pick up some wall mount next to place my satelites on, they even have a small can of paint to match what ever colored walls you have.
Charles
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The only dumb question is the one you never ask....

 

[Mike Sheahan]

I also live in an apartment. I went to Home Depot and got a 100ft roll of Woods white 16 gage lamp cord. It blends in with the walls perfectly, and unless your looking for them you cant see them.
I am lucky to have accent mouldings running around the top of the wall, so I ran them up there. Then I just hung a couple of pictures over the surrounds, and they cover the wire most of the way down to the speaker.
When I move back into a home that I can really set up a home theater, I will go with better cables.
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My HT Page
My DVD's
[Edited last by Mike Sheahan on October 24, 2001 at 12:01 PM]

 

[Ron Reda]

Go with the Wire Hiders from Lowe's or HD. I've got them and you can't see any of the wires running from my entertainment center to the surrounds (14ft away).

 

[Frank_S]

"Wiremold" is the name of the company that makes the plastic conduit with double sided tape on it. You can also purchase it at Home Depot. They make a small tubular shaped conduit that will hold up to 18 gauge speaker wire and a larger rectangular conduit that will hold 12 gauge.
I have used both. One word of caution, if and when you remove the conduit, be careful not to pull the outer layer of sheetrock along with it. Use a hair dryer to heat up the adhesive a little, this usually always prevents this from happening.
Along with the plastic conduit they also sell elbows, etc.
to make the install look totally professional. Good luck!

 

[John_E]

You can buy 100ft. of Acoustic Research's Superflat clear speaker wire for $14.77 + S&H at www.accessories4less.com
It's 16gauge...but for runs less than 25ft, it should be OK.