Tips on routing rear speaker cables

[admin_exported]

I'm moving into a newly built apartment and am hoping to kit it out with a Pioneer PDP428XD, Onkyo 605 receiver, PS3 and maybe a B&W 600 Series 5.1 speaker package. The screen and PS3 will probably come first, and I'll add the receiver and speakers when I can afford it.

Does anybody have any tips about how best to route speaker cables across the room to the rear speakers? Really long cables and tack them around the skirting boards? What do most people do?

As it's a new apartment, a certain amount of decorating will need to be done once we get the keys. We will be putting down a wood floor. Any chance they'd run under that?

Any help would be great!

 

[jetjohnson]

Hi

Yep the old problem ..how to connect the rear speakers in a "normal" house without the divorce papers being handed to you by her (or him) indoors due to the unsightly spaghetti that results...I tack mine along the top of the walls and since we are about to redecorate I'm thinking that some coving will cover the cables. Due to the nature of my room running them around the skirting boards isn't really an option. I would think running the cables under a wood floor would be a fine idea as long as you were sure the length was sufficient!

Which leads me to a query (within a reply if that's ok!) what would be the best quality "thin" cable to use for rear speaker connection or is that a contradiction in terms?

 

[Anonymous]

Good question.

I'd also like to know: due to the nature of routing these cables out of sight, they must need to be quite long. Does the signal suffer over these long cables? What is the average length of a rear speaker cable anyway?

 

[yiannis550]

a question I have about this:
Is it possible for the thin cables to go under laminate flooring? For me it looks like not possible since the laminate planks are sitting directly on the underlay wich is just a thin rubber layer on the concrete floor...

 

[Andrew Everard]

How thick is the rubber underlay? You could double up on it with an extra layer and cut a channel in the upper one to take QED Qontour cable, which is only 1mm thick. Wouldn't advise doing this with a single layer of underlay, as you will lose the moistureproofing the underlay is there to provide.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I ran my Van Den Hul CS-122 under the floor boards. I driller a large hole at either end of the room, lifted one board so that I could fish the cable under the floor and bingo! rear speakers with no cable in sight and A happy Mrs Krime!

 

[Anonymous]

Having just done up an older house (and replaced the skirting boards) - it's actually remarkably easy to pull out the old ones and replace with new ones - remembering to position them slightly higher. If you ensure there is a slight gap underneath (say 5 to 8mm) - you can tuck your cables underneath.

Having said that - it's easier if you have carpet as you can take up one corner and have a peek. If the "GrippaRod" is about 10-15mm away from the skirting board - you can easily peel it back and lay the cables underneath as this gap won't have underlay over it!

To put it back taughtly - a carpet fitter will happily fit this in at the end of the day and relieve you of £10 for 10 minutes work ....