Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Thanks

Take a look here....this will give you some ideas of what you can do in
your own particular install. There are many different methods.....

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-...it.html?page=1

Probably the cheapest method is to make channels in your existing
baseboard for the speaker wire and install behind the
baseboard........then up your wall to desired location.

In article . com, "AlexJDB" wrote:
Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes, but you'll need some specialized tools and it *really*
helps if you have some experience and know the tricks. It's
called "fishing" and you'll need a "fish tape" as a minimum
(available at Home Depot et al).

The pro's who install home security systems are typically
*very* good at this. Maybe you can find one who will do
the job on-the-side for a modest amount of cash.

Electricians, telephone installers and others are often
able to handle jobs like this. But the home security
guys are far better at it in my experience.


--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

avid_hiker wrote:
Take a look here....this will give you some ideas of what you can do in
your own particular install. There are many different methods.....

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-...it.html?page=1

Probably the cheapest method is to make channels in your existing
baseboard for the speaker wire and install behind the
baseboard........then up your wall to desired location.

Thanks for this great site. It'll be very helpful ;-)

On 2 Jan 2007 08:42:41 -0800, AlexJDB wrote:

Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Thanks
You can get something like this to get the wire underneath the speaker
location, then fish from the speaker to the baseboard:

http://cableorganizer.com/wire-tracks/

Something similar is available at hardware stores including Home Depot.

If I had a new house built, I would include a system for routing low
voltage wires.

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article . com, "AlexJDB" wrote:
Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes, but you'll need some specialized tools and it *really*
helps if you have some experience and know the tricks. It's
called "fishing" and you'll need a "fish tape" as a minimum
(available at Home Depot et al).


It's really not all the difficult in most cases unless you have very
unusual construction. I helped a friend install a whole house audio
setup in his new house and after we did a few pulls together one evening
he was able to do several more the next evening without me. The biggest
trick is in mapping and measuring properly to insure you are working the
correct wall cavity.

Pete C.

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article . com,
"AlexJDB" wrote:
Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes, but you'll need some specialized tools and it *really*
helps if you have some experience and know the tricks. It's
called "fishing" and you'll need a "fish tape" as a minimum
(available at Home Depot et al).


It's really not all the difficult in most cases unless you have very
unusual construction. I helped a friend install a whole house audio
setup in his new house and after we did a few pulls together one evening
he was able to do several more the next evening without me. The biggest
trick is in mapping and measuring properly to insure you are working the
correct wall cavity.

Pete C.
If there is room to crawl around, one way is to go down from the attic
through the wall header, into the desired wall cavity and out where you want
it. Usual clues as to wall location is the electrical wiring from attic to
an outlet.
MLD

MLD wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article . com,
"AlexJDB" wrote:
Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes, but you'll need some specialized tools and it *really*
helps if you have some experience and know the tricks. It's
called "fishing" and you'll need a "fish tape" as a minimum
(available at Home Depot et al).


It's really not all the difficult in most cases unless you have very
unusual construction. I helped a friend install a whole house audio
setup in his new house and after we did a few pulls together one evening
he was able to do several more the next evening without me. The biggest
trick is in mapping and measuring properly to insure you are working the
correct wall cavity.

Pete C.
If there is room to crawl around, one way is to go down from the attic
through the wall header, into the desired wall cavity and out where you want
it. Usual clues as to wall location is the electrical wiring from attic to
an outlet.
MLD

Attic down or basement up are certainly the easiest. Entirely possible
to do with finished space above and below though.

Pete C.

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
MLD wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
Malcolm Hoar wrote:

In article . com,
"AlexJDB" wrote:
Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire
it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap
way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes, but you'll need some specialized tools and it *really*
helps if you have some experience and know the tricks. It's
called "fishing" and you'll need a "fish tape" as a minimum
(available at Home Depot et al).


It's really not all the difficult in most cases unless you have very
unusual construction. I helped a friend install a whole house audio
setup in his new house and after we did a few pulls together one
evening
he was able to do several more the next evening without me. The
biggest
trick is in mapping and measuring properly to insure you are working
the
correct wall cavity.

Pete C.
If there is room to crawl around, one way is to go down from the attic
through the wall header, into the desired wall cavity and out where you
want
it. Usual clues as to wall location is the electrical wiring from attic
to
an outlet.
MLD

Attic down or basement up are certainly the easiest. Entirely possible
to do with finished space above and below though.

Pete C.
In my opinion, the experts at running wires are the guys who put in home
alarm systems. I just couldn't believe the way they fished wires through
out the house--basement, attic, finished ceilings/walls, door and window
sensors etc.
Our TV company will only run the cable from the pole to the house. All
interior wiring is up to you. I ran everything from the attic, down the
interior walls and fished the cable out at the desired cable jack locations.
Thinking about it turned out to be more of a headache than doing it.
MLD

On 2 Jan 2007 08:42:41 -0800, "AlexJDB" wrote:

Hi,

I just purchased a home theater speaker set and would like to wire it
through my walls, even though they are all closed. Is there a cheap way
to do this without destructing everything ?

Yes. A lot depends on whether one is doing this on the top floor of
one's house, or the floor above an unfinished basement. And to a
small extent on whether the speakers go on the floor or closer to the
ceiling.

In houses like mine, it's easier to go from the attic down, because
the walls below are totally obvious from the attic. One sees the wood
2x4 that is the top plate of the wall framing. The rest is the back
side of the ceiling sheetrock.

From the basement, one only sees the plywood floor above, and the
walls are on top of that. But like someone said, you can determine
where the walls are by looking for electric cables that go up into the
wall. Or you can make a hole in the wall above, and use a long
flexible drill bit to drill down into the basement (being careful not
to drill through anything (which might mean wrapping the drill shaft
with tape so that when the taped part reaches the wall, you know the
tip of the drill is just coming out the bottom of the wall.

But from the attic you can just drill a hole and drop the wire down,
then use your fingers or a bent coat hanger to fish it out where the
speakers are.

I'm not sure how many interior walls have fire stops in them.
(horizontal pieces of 2x4 half way up the wall or so.) My upstairs
interior walls don't. But my speakers are near the ceiling so it
didn't matter.

With a partly finished basement, one can use two snakes, one vertical
and then hooking it with a horizontal one. I did my rear door switch
for the burglar alarm myself this way, and I was lucky, but it will
likely be a lot quicker with a helper.

Thanks