Running speaker cables through walls

[jsl20]

I've had a lounge rearrange and now my hifi is in a corner or the room opposite to the speakers. My options are to either buy longer lengths of speaker cable and run it around the skirting (currently using silver screen carnival to B&W 685s) or run the cables through the walls via facia plugs. Has anyone got any experience of running cables through walls? Whilst it would look much nicer I'm not sure whether it's really worth the effort/cost.

 

[bigboss]

Running cables behind walls is always the best option. Make sure they're made of good quality (not necessarily expensive). How easy is it depends on your type of wall. If plasterboard with space behind, it can be done without much (if any) damage to the wall.

 

[michael hoy]

Can you go under the floor?

 

[bigboss]

I've got wooden flooring. The subwoofer cable runs underneath the skirting board in the gap between the wall and the flooring.

 

[michael hoy]

I have a wooden suspended floor and ran all my cables in the space underneath.

 

[scene]

If your room's carpeted, you might well be able to put the cable in the gap between the carpet grippers and the skirting. I did this with my rear speakers - albeit with thinner cable than you've got - and when I had a new carpet laid, the carpet company carefully relaid the cable

Routing it into the wall is the best way - but it is messy, if you have plastered walls - I did it on the vertical run up to the rear speakers, and the dust levels, even with vacuum extraction, were pretty spectacular... If you do route cables in, always run them through conduit - theoretically gives you the chance to pull new cables through later.

 

[jsl20]

I've got bare floor boards so can't hide anything under the carpet. The mess and rework is the thing that is concerning me. Especially plastering over the holes. I've been recommended to run the cables up and above the ceiling.

To go under the floor board do you have to lift whole sections up?

 

[bigboss]

What's on top of the flooroard? Carpet? You get flat speaker cables which will be fine under the carpet.

 

[jsl20]

Nothing. My whole house is bare boards.

 

[JoelSim]

Can't you just drill a hole through the wall using a big, thick drill bit and then get some rubber bungs to fit over the holes with the cable coming out of the middle of them?

 

[andyjm]

Running cables in walls is a pain. Cutting the channel in the wall ("chasing") makes a dreadful mess. Even if you are using a fancy disc cutter with dust extraction, you should expect the room to be filled with dust, and unless you seal the doors, the rest of the house as well. The walls chased will need patch plastering and re decorating.

If you do decide to go the chased route, then counduit is a good idea as it protects the cable, and allows later changes to be made. Don't use plug/socket faceplates, use brush plates and keep the speaker cable a continuous length. It is a good idea to avoid putting extra plugs and sockets in the speaker cable chain.

Unless your heart is set on this, I would use some form of trunking along the skirting.

By the way, unless you have lots of soft furnishings, carpets and bookshelves, a bare wood floor is not an ideal environment in which to expect decent results.

 

[scene]

Running cables under bare boards can be simple or hard.

If you've got an engineered wood floor on top of a concrete/screed sub floor - it's hard without lifting the floor - but you will have a gap around the edge (hidden by the skirting) you might be able to use.

If you've got a traditional wooden floor, consisting of floorboards on joists then it might be relatively easy, depending on the direction of joists, etc. I've run cables under wooden floors by lifting two boards - one at each end of the run and then using a rod, fed the cable between the two gaps - which works if you're running parallel to the joists and depending on the sort of noggins you've got between the joists. If the cable has to cross joists, it gets more awkward - you might have to lift more boards and drill through the joists...

Another choice is to go around just below the ceiling - this can be done by taking down the coving, running the cable round and replacing the coving. The vertical runs to the coving are the tricky bit...

Have you got a layout / picture(s) of your room and where you need to run things?