Need Opinions - In-Wall Speaker Wire (1 Viewer)

[Mike-Gr]

Hello all.....

I am placing some in-ceiling speakers in my living room and am using 14 guage CL2 speaker wire.

I will be terminating all the speaker wires into a 7.1 wall plate.

The wall is your standard 2x4 studs but I will be crossing some electrical wire in the wall at a 90 degree angle (which I have read is the way to do it). My question is the speaker wire will basically be laying up against the electrical wire, should I do anything to it where it crosses to minimize any interference from the electrical wire?

Thanks...

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Try to keep the wires from rubbing against the AC wires would be nice, but it's not a disaster if they touch.

I'd avoid the 7.1 wall plate if possible Break it up into 4 and 4. Running 8 wires to a small space is a very tight fit and hard to work with.

To start - pull enough wire to create a un-broken run between the speakers and electronics. You can always cut the wires off and install the plate later. Just buy a blank wall-plate and drill holes. Cheap and it looks great and leaves you options for later.

I'm not a fanatic about "un-broken" wires, but I do agree that every break in the wire is:

- A source of oxidization
- A source of loose connections

You can also zig-zag the wires between the studs near the outlet box's using insulated staples - but only pound in the staples half-way. A few years from now the wires will turn dull-brown, oxidize. Give a tug to pop the first staple and you now have some slack to cut off the ends, strip and expose fresh copper.

I'd prefer you used 12 ga for the longer runs if possible. The labor to install everything swamps the cost of the thicker wire.

Oh, for the ".1" - this will be a subwoofer cable right? You DONT want to use speaker wire. Subwoofer signals are un-amplified so you need coax.

Just use ordinary RG6 or RG59 CATV coax for this. Just put a "F-F" barrel connector into a wall-plate (or pull enough cable to go from reciever to subwoofer. At radio shack you can get 'F-to-RCA-Male' adaptors to convert the coax into a long RCA cable.

Because the subwoofer signals are un-amplified - run the coax away from the speaker wires. Run them too-much together and the speaker signals will inject themselves into the coax.

If it was me, I would do it this way behind the equipment:

A- Electrical outlet box with 3 speaker wires (or 6 binding posts) to go to 3 rear speakers.

B - Electrical outlet box with 3 speaker wires to go to 3 front speakers

C - Electrical outlet box with a "F" connector for the ".1" subwoofer connection.

(hope this make sense - I'm fighting a cold).

 

[Mike-Gr]

Yes... It all makes sense.

Thanks....