Question about speaker wire... (1 Viewer)

[JeffLab]

Hello all,
I am currently renovating my HT room (repainting and installing new flooring), and was considering "cleaning up" the wires a bit by running my speaker wire hidden behind the new baseboard moldings along the floor. I have standard 14 guage OFC speaker wire. I know that "In-wall" speaker wire is available for running wiring and terminal plates in the walls, and was wondering if it was absolutely necessary to use the in-wall wiring in my case, or if I'll be ok with my existing wire.

Thanks for the help,
Jeff

 

[chris_everett]

Some jurisdictions require that you use "in-wall" rated cable for any in wall installation. I _think_ that the NEC doesn't care for low-voltage cable in a wall (they do care if it's in a plenum).

 

[Don.l]

If you running the wire under the baseboard, then you are not running it inside the walls. So, no you don't need any special wire.

Don

 

[JeffLab]

Hey, thanks for the replies. I pretty much figured it would be ok to run them behind the baseboards. its strictly the speaker wire thats passing there, and the insulation on the wires is pretty good. Hopefully everything will be back together over the weekend.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

The fire-resistant insulation is to prevent the wires acting like a "fuse" in case of a fire.

The Urban Myth is that a fire consumes your home. The evil insurance company discovers you ran wires that were not CL3 rated. They then deny your claim because their inspector concluded that the fire department could have saved the home, except that the incorrect wires acted like a fuse to spread the fire faster.

I have never heard of this really happening, but I do know that insurance companies are NOT in the business of paying out money and deny claims whenever possible.

The wire is cheap enough if you buy a spool from places like www.partsexpress.com.