Tips on hiding speaker cables (needed)

[admin_exported]

Just swapped round the furniture in my lounge to accommodate my new telly arriving tommorrow (pioneer kuro).

Its great as its given me the option to put the speakers in exactly the right places.  One thing I never liked was that my rear surrounds had the cables dangling down the walls (before they go under the carpet and out the other side where they connect to the amp).

Despite moving them so they now sit directly behind the main settee, I still have the cables trailing down the walls (and i want to hide them).  

I tried drilling a big hole in the wall, dropping the cable down and ripped up a floorboard but a) the cable just isn't accessible from the floor and b) I've totally smashed a floorboard and have to replace it.

So option B is to dig a channel in the wall, drop the cable in it and fill it in and smooth it over.  This will work but means if i ever change speaker cables (or speakers) ....well you can guess.

Before my house gets totally wrecked does anybody know if there is anything out there (some kind of cable tidy) that will house the cable and not look stupid, with minimal wall destruction?

By the way ...I'm redecorating as well, so some mess isnt a problem.

Dave

 

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

get some box tracking |] is the sort of section, a bit like ] which you put into the wall, then a cover which clips on the front. then you plaster the whole thing into the wall and if the cable is flexible enough you can extract it when you move.

At the bottom run the cable behind the skirting and then along floorboard / carpet edge. Not done this myself, but have read up on it previously.

You can rent tracking tools, kind of a fancy drill / chisel from HSS.

then if you move you can just put a bit of plaster over the small opening at the top of the track.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm assuming you have brick walls, but rereading I think you might have stud, which makes it easier I think.

Try asking on the screwfix message board, another helpful crowd

 

[Gerrardasnails]

barnsleydave:
Just swapped round the furniture in my lounge to accommodate my new telly arriving tommorrow (pioneer kuro).

Its great as its given me the option to put the speakers in exactly the right places. ÿOne thing I never liked was that my rear surrounds had the cables dangling down the walls (before they go under the carpet and out the other side where they connect to the amp).

Despite moving them so they now sit directly behind the main settee, I still have the cables trailing down the walls (and i want to hide them). ÿ

I tried drilling a big hole in the wall, dropping the cable down and ripped up a floorboard but a) the cable just isn't accessible from the floor and b) I've totally smashed a floorboard and have to replace it.

So option B is to dig a channel in the wall, drop the cable in it and fill it in and smooth it over. ÿThis will work but means if i ever change speaker cables (or speakers) ....well you can guess.

Before my house gets totally wrecked does anybody know if there is anything out there (some kind of cable tidy) that will house the cable and not look stupid, with minimal wall destruction?

By the way ...I'm redecorating as well, so some mess isnt a problem.

Dave

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Surely, upgrading rear speaker cable won't be an issue? I don't think you need to spend more than QED Micro cable for your rears unless you have very expensive speakers. I have mine chased in the wall and plastered over. When we re-decorate and move things around I might change cables but that's it.

 

[Stokesy]

Hi, did something similar myself using trunking in the stud wall - if you do this it's worth leaving a couple of pieces of string in there with the speaker cable as it allows you to add additional cables in the future - pretty obvious I know but it might save a lot of time if you upgrade the cables or add additional surround speakers. Possible reason why you can't get the cable from beneath the floorboard is likely due to there being a horizontal beam running the length of the wall, but if you drill from beneath through this you might get away with it.

Stokesy

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I ran the cable for my rears under the floorboards. I lifted a few boards, driller a hole to pass the cable through (big hole as use Van Den Hul Cs122) then fished the cable through under the floor then drilled a hole at other side of the room to pass cable back through. Now no messy cable run and a happy Wife

 

[Sorreltiger]

Be careful that your surround speakers are in the right place before you do the deed. If this is a 5.1 set-up "behind the sofa" may not be quite right - to the side and a little behind is the recommendation from Dolby et al.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I discover maplins (among others) do "cable trunking". ÿSo I'll pay them a visit 2mora and see if it will do the job.

Some hi-fi shops do it as well but they seem to charge double the price for what appears to be the same stuff.ÿ

I was just going to get enough for the rear speakers but I may get enough to hide the front speaker cables too.

Oh and as regards the rear speakers being behind the sofa. ÿSorry Soreltiger I wasn't explicit enough. ÿThey are behind but to the side about a foot above ear height.ÿ

 

[d4v3pum4]

D-Line

 

[Anonymous]

Brilliant. ÿThanks very much.

I have just ordered enough d-line 16 x 8 conduit and associated elbows etc to go all the way round my room from TLC direct.

Thank you WHFSV members.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Dave

I'm doing exactly the same at the moment and have found some wall plates to terminate my speaker cable (QED Silver Anniversary) from a company called AV4Home (http://www.av4home.co.uk/acatalog/Cable_Management.html). They are quite pricey but finish the cable really well and mean you could change/upgrade the cable run in conduit really easily in future.

Carl