Find solution
What exactly is a wire tuck?

Help me wire this crazy-ass layout for surround sound...

  • Help me inexpensively and at least somewhat discreetly wire my place for surround. The problem: Really challenging room layout and a tight budget. The short version of what I'm looking for is: - Recommendations of quality but affordable speaker cable (please, no Monster) - Ideas on how to find out if/how I can drill into the soffit safely (if you need pics, I can put some up) - Ballpark figures on having a room wired for surround if you've had it done - Creative ideas for semi-attractively achieving this wiring without going into the wall - Or .. point me to a magical tool that will let me go through the wall with minimal damage and easy/inexpensive repairs? - I already have the surround system, and I'm house-poor - please do not recommend I purchase wireless speakers The more detailed notes with regard to this challenge: - Floors are hardwood, I can't tuck wiring under baseboards or carpet, unfortunately - It shouldn't make a huge difference, but the system I have is 6.1 surround (3 rears), not just 5.1 - Ceilings are somewhat high (9 feet). There is a soffit running around the perimeter (from the left of the entertainment center toward right, all the way around the wall with the balcony doors, and over to the kitchen), but it is unclear if I can drill into this soffit safely. Ductwork definitely runs through it, but it seems awfully big for all of that space to be air duct. Is there a safe way to find out if/how/where I can drill in and pull cables? - Note all the doorways / hallways in the floorplan below. I was going to buy that white conduit-type tubing you can run along your trim, but it seems like it'd look awfully goofy going around so many doors or hallway openings. Please excuse my really crappy and not at all to scale MS Paint mockup of the room's floorplan: - I'm very house-poor having just spent most of my savings on this condo, so I'm afraid spending several hundred dollars having an electrician pull cables is probably out of the question, though I don't know how much that costs. I fully understand that waiting until I have the money to have a professional run cables is an option. However, I have 2 cats and leaving the wiring running all over the floor temporarily is not really an option as they like to muck with things once in a while, so right now I can't hook up the speakers at all. I'm really really missing the ability to listen to music and watch movies with decent sound.

  • Answer:

    Good gosh...I think you have every single thing possible going against you with getting this wired. If you can't go through walls and can't go along the base boards...then you really will need to either A) Save up your cash and get some wireless speakers or B) I can't think of another option.

twiggy at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

I rent, so going into the walls wasn't an option. I used some http://cableorganizer.com/surface-raceways/ from home depot which blended in well with the white moulding.

justkevin

Something like http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000278KJE/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ maybe? Fairly economical, though maybe still out of your budget. Certainly cheaper than an electrician and possibly any other option you have. Unless you want to run wires up the wall and through the ceiling. I'm testing some wireless speakers for a friend's home automation company that are fantastic, but certainly not cheap. I can attest to the general usefulness of such wireless roducts, though. Good luck!

empyrean

"However, I have 2 cats and leaving the wiring running all over the floor temporarily is not really an option as they like to muck with things once in a while, so right now I can't hook up the speakers at all. I'm really really missing the ability to listen to music and watch movies with decent sound" If you don't mind the wires then you can duct tape them to the floor as an anti-cat and anti trip measure. If you can find some gaffer tape it won't leave a residue even after months on the floor.

Mitheral

That room is not going to have very good accoustics, at least from your drawing. Does it have a light mounted somewhere that you could pull out and have a look? Look in your utility closet and see if you can follow the ducting from there. Failing that, get a thin drill-bit and poke a hole in the corner of the soffit and see if it's mostly hollow. I'd bet that it is, in which case running a wire is mostly a matter of threading the pull-tape around and yanking the wires back. How about your ceilings? Are they concrete and solid, or is there an airgap up there? You could get some wiretracks and run the wire on the outside of the soffit, but underneath the wiretrack.

madajb

Can you exchange your 6.1 system? (Doesn't sound like it...) Try to avoid spending money on things like cable runs and mounting brackets. Instead, invest in a higher quality two-channel system. With all the channels and speakers involved in a surround system, the sound quality takes a hit. Pack all the punch into two speakers and a subwoofer, powered by a simple mid-level stereo amplifier, and the improved sound quality and imaging could sound better than surround sound. Have you ever browsed http://audiogon.com? If you ignore the nutjobs looking to sell their 6-month old $20,000 museum piece systems, the classifieds section has a great deal of simple, solid components.

reeddavid

Ceilings are unfortunately untouchable, so I can only use the soffit or the walls to run wire through. I've had my 6.1 system for a few years now, but it was easy to run wires under my baseboard at my old apartment. Way too late to exchange it. I would heed your advice about ditching the rears, reeddavid, but I also like to watch movies in surround, and the effects would be missed, especially from this system. It does have a nice 2 channel mode which I often switch to when I listen to music (it's a mid-level Onkyo receiver, I don't have the model number handy). I do appreciate justkevin's suggestion, but as I said in my post - I already looked into those, the problem is, if you look at the layout, I'd be running raceways around 3 doors and it would just start to look a little ridiculous. Anyone have any idea what an electrician would charge to run these through the walls?

twiggy

i can recommend good quality wires for homecinema systems from http://www.monoprice.com. justkevin thanks for the link, I've been looking for a company like that for ages.

ouke

I am also a poor audiophile, and haven't found speaker cable that beats good old fat cooker wire in terms of bang for buck. Can't find any to link to, but I remember paying about £30 for a 50m reel.

cogat

One possibility that is similar to tucking the cables into the baseboard would be to install crown moulding and using that as the cable run. You can get relatively inexpensive crown moulding, though the soffit and / or kitchen wall cabinets may make installation location choices difficult. A raceway behind the unit and wall mounted speakers would reduce the impact of the wall runs for the wires.

Mahogne

Load more

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.