Hiding stero/surround system wires

[MaripositaII]

What did you guys use to hide the wires?

I'm about ready to strangle my husband for setting up the surround system with wires everywhere! Any suggestions? Looked at something that a few of the electricians around here use called wire moulding but those things are big and ugly. At least what I saw at the electrical supply store. There must be a better way, surely.

[Pok-a-tok]

ummm..wireless?

[eccentrictinker]

Google "flat speaker wire" for wire that will lay flat under carpet.


I've even attached flat wire to walls and taped (spackled) over it for a really invisible wire. There is flat video cable, too.


FlatWire TV

[Ginger]

My hubby put speaker wire under the floor before he put in the laminate. Now you just have to attach at either end of the wire that sticks out on either end of the room.

But soon the laminate is coming out and we'll have a painted concrete floor, so I don't know what we'll do then.

[mastequilapf]

Originally Posted by MaripositaII

What did you guys use to hide the wires?

I'm about ready to strangle my husband for setting up the surround system with wires everywhere! Any suggestions? Looked at something that a few of the electricians around here use called wire moulding but those things are big and ugly. At least what I saw at the electrical supply store. There must be a better way, surely.

Depending on how your house is built, you have several options. If you have a crawl space I would suggest drilling down and running the wires through there. If you have an attic above where your system resides you can cut holes in the sheetrock and at the top of the wall and run the wires up and over. Both are easy to install.

[mofi]

Originally Posted by MaripositaII

What did you guys use to hide the wires?

I'm about ready to strangle my husband for setting up the surround system with wires everywhere! Any suggestions? Looked at something that a few of the electricians around here use called wire moulding but those things are big and ugly. At least what I saw at the electrical supply store. There must be a better way, surely.

In the family room we drilled holes under the speaker and ran the wires under the floor through the crawl space. In the theatre room, some went through the wall that touches the crawl space while others went underneath the baseboard, and then to get them up to the speakers we got some kind of cover and painted them to match the speakers, so they kinda look like stands for the speakers.

[realzed]

Originally Posted by MaripositaII

What did you guys use to hide the wires?

I'm about ready to strangle my husband for setting up the surround system with wires everywhere! Any suggestions? Looked at something that a few of the electricians around here use called wire moulding but those things are big and ugly. At least what I saw at the electrical supply store. There must be a better way, surely.

I am in the process of trying to hide wires much the same and I have discovered:
If you can drop them into a floor space below and run them where you want to go and then just pop them up near to the speaker(s) it makes a nice clean installation as was suggested and what I intend to do myself.
If you have baseboards there is usually enough space behind them at the base of the wall when removed, to accomodate a speaker wire depending on the gauge of it and how carefully you renail the bases back on with wires tucked in behind...
If the mess of wires you are referring to is the jumble behind your HT system components especially with an open concept TV stand or component table and up to a wall mounted screen - then wire looms are the best bet. If you are on an inside wall where you can hide them by feeding them into that space you may have lucked out, if not and its an outside wall its pretty hard to do without disturbing insulation and such. Some wire looms or trays are obviously better looking than other types. I've seen nicely contoured plastic types in Home Depot which when painted to match the wall, blend in quite well.
You are correct though, that any in the electrical supply-type places are usually square, big ass ugly commercial types... Randy

[MaripositaII]

First off, we have no crawl space. Next problem is no attic space above this room... No carpeting either. Really sucks. We're still trying to figure out the "best" way to do this, and I will report back what we come up with. I found a site that looks promising:

The Original Adhesive Flat Wire - Taperwire

The area where we have the TV and everything set up is against an outside wall (insulation) so that's out.


I guess what we found online tonight is the same that was posted?

[penalipee]

Most of my wires were hidden under the hardwood before it went in but the ones that didn't make it under the hardwood are tucked into my baseboards. You can't even see them. Very easy to do, just push them in with a butter knife.

[Bumper]

We ran ours through the cold air return ducts in our heating system. There were grills handy near everywhere we wanted to go, so we didn't even have to drill any holes. Even if you have to run them through the hot air ducts, it doesn't get hot enough to do them any harm.

[Seakony]

In our old house, they were in the attic. We ended up cutting the wires when we moved. So...now our attic is really easy to manuver around...but just to lazy to splice the wires and put them up. Actually, the surround sound kinda bugged me. I kept thinking someone was behind me.

Speaking of speakers,,,, Slim has these really hugemongous stereo speakers. I hate them..takes up too much room.......I thought about wireless speakers...his reciever is over 20 years old....works great. There is nothing wrong with the speakers..over 35 years old...still sounds great...just so dang big. Should we go with wireless speakers.? would they even work with his reciever? (realistic)
BTW.. he really likes to crank it up. He is so cute..he even has a light show going too.

[Bumper]

Originally Posted by Seakony

Speaking of speakers,,,, Slim has these really hugemongous stereo speakers. I hate them..takes up too much room.......I thought about wireless speakers...his reciever is over 20 years old....works great. There is nothing wrong with the speakers..over 35 years old...still sounds great...just so dang big. Should we go with wireless speakers.? would they even work with his reciever? (realistic)
BTW.. he really likes to crank it up. He is so cute..he even has a light show going too.

When we re-aligned our living room - had to change things around when we got a honkin' big TV - we were faced with the same difficulty. Our old speakers, which still produce dandy sound after 20 years, just didn't fit in. Speaker technology has progressed so much in the last few years that we ended up getting some that are about 8" square and put out terrific sound. They're not wireless, by the way. They sit right up on top of our wall units and fill the space just fine. However, I will say they didn't give us very much "bottom end", so we bought a sub woofer which sits out of sight and out of the way on the floor behind the TV unit and gives us all we need.

[MartyC]

There is a product out there called "Wiremold 500". It's small and it can be painted to match your wall colours. The other really good option is, remove your baseboards, cut the drywall behind the baseboard, drill the studs and fish the wire throught the holes to your speaker locations. When you are finished, re-install the baseboard, and you are done. If you were accurate when you cut the drywall, there should be no need to repair or re-paint.

[James A.]

Originally Posted by Seakony

Speaking of speakers,,,, Slim has these really hugemongous stereo speakers. I hate them..takes up too much room.......I thought about wireless speakers...his reciever is over 20 years old....works great. There is nothing wrong with the speakers..over 35 years old...still sounds great...just so dang big. Should we go with wireless speakers.? would they even work with his reciever? (realistic)
BTW.. he really likes to crank it up. He is so cute..he even has a light show going too.

Depends on his ear. The fidelity of wireless systems vs. wired is lacking. Wireless systems send/receive signals via radio waves or infrared. Those carriers are not as efficient as direct electrical signals over wires. But again, it depends on his ear. He might not be able to tell the difference.

Keep in mind that most of the wireless systems of which I am aware, limit the wireless feature to the rear surround speakers. Also, the speakers will still need to be plugged into an outlet for power, so they are not quite wireless.

[NorthMinnesota]

Just saw this on HGTV...the electrician ran the wires behind the baseboard and also behind a small corner round that had been hollowed out a little.