Topic: In Wall Speaker Wiring

[jpschust]

What are people using for higher end in wall wire?  I'm close to buying a condo and will have the ability to do a fair amount of electrical work (ok have an electrician do it for me- I wont screw with that stuff).  One thing I want is to have ports put in my walls for speaker wiring so I don't have cables all over the place.  What are people using for this sort of installation work?

[krebsy]

I don't know if this really qualifies as high end, but I just helped my brother run some Canare 4s8 in his new house. It was fairly easy to work with, and is decent cable. There are also some nice options out there for wall plates with binding posts. I was impressed with how clean it all looked when it was done. Good luck!!

[jpschust]

I don't know if this really qualifies as high end, but I just helped my brother run some Canare 4s8 in his new house. It was fairly easy to work with, and is decent cable. There are also some nice options out there for wall plates with binding posts. I was impressed with how clean it all looked when it was done. Good luck!!

i've got a couple options out there for plates and posts, though i may see if i can get some directly from b&w for their home installation setup- try and use the same materials as are on my speakers.

[scervin]

I don't know if this really qualifies as high end, but I just helped my brother run some Canare 4s8 in his new house. It was fairly easy to work with, and is decent cable. There are also some nice options out there for wall plates with binding posts. I was impressed with how clean it all looked when it was done. Good luck!!

Is this Canare product CL3 rated wire?  If you are having someone do the work they wil probably want to run the NEC CL3 rated stuff.  Link below to some decent wire as I've never seen "high end" in-wall wire.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/speaker-cable.html#b-pl

The above is what I've used before (Liberty)

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

If you have the room to make the required large bends, the best thing you can do is plumb the entire path with that tube/channel they use for laying fiber.  That will let you swap cable on a whim.  I know someone who did this.  Installing his surround wiring was a breeze and swapping in new cable is no trouble at all because you can just pull it though with the existing wire or a service run of nylon line.  His installation was all Signal Cable.  It sounds pretty good, if you like Sunfire>B&KW.

[plucks]

good question...i have been thinking of the same thing!
 i am going to finish the basement in my place & obviously it will be the home theater type room.  once the 2x4s are in place i am thinking of drilling holes & running some pvc piping through the frames for easy wiring once the room is finished.

[pjdavep]

I ran Kimber Kable's in-wall speaker cable for my rear surrounds and I'm happy with it.  You can get a roll of it from Audio Advisor and it's not that expensive (compared to other Kimber products).  It has 4 separate conductors, and thus can support biwired speakers.
http://www.kimber.com/Products/LoudSpeakerCables/KWIK/KWIK.aspx

I can't tell you how it compares with other in wall speaker cables, since I have done no comparisions.  I just wanted to start with something that I wasn't wanting to switch out...ever!   

There is plenty of in-wall Monster cable on eBay, if you wanted to go for something cheaper.

Also, JPS Labs makes some in-wall cables....not sure of their prices.
http://www.jpslabs.com/superblue.shtml
..and if you are really looking to go crazy, you can drop $18/foot on their in-wall power cabling 
http://www.jpslabs.com/powercord.shtml#paciw

Later,
    pjdavep

[plucks]

is there a diff b/w in wall speaker cable & standard cable?

[jpschust]

is there a diff b/w in wall speaker cable & standard cable?

it's generally not coated with all the extra purty stuff that other cables are, but it should still be shielded i believe.

[John R]

speaker cable doesn't carry a shield, line level does(2 pair individually shielded, for signal between systems, etc) 

conduit is generally run up to attic and or down to crawl/basement for future use.  in a condo/apt, run it back to that floor's distribution area if you can.  also, if you are able to get to your floor's distribution closet, run rendundant feeder of cat5e and rg6 quad to your distro panel in your unit.

if you run spk wire to for future use, mark it on your plans and take pics.  of course, run it through volume control locations.

whatever speaker cable you run, run it or buy it with cat5e for future IP use.

i wouldn't use the electrician, unless they have a dedicated low voltage dept.  hire an audio company.

jonny, i'll be up there this weekend to do this exact thing on a friend's apt on conn ave nw.  i could come by your place and check it out for you.  lmk

jr

[jpschust]

John, I might be able to get into the place tomorrow if you want to see it.  I found 2 audio places that could do it as well, though I'd be happy to have you come up and do it instead.

[plucks]

you think i can use reg speaker wire when finishing the basement if:
i have access to the 2x4 frames > drill holes > run pvc piping?

[pjdavep]

you think i can use reg speaker wire when finishing the basement if:
i have access to the 2x4 frames > drill holes > run pvc piping?

Sure you can, but whether it's up to your local building codes is a question for the code office (I think each county could differ?).  You may not even care about that, but it could bite you in the butt when you go to sell the home and the buyer's inspector says you need to get it to code before the sale is final.

Later,
   pjdavep

[jpschust]

im going to have an installer do it and we will talk about cable when the time comes. 

[John R]

you think i can use reg speaker wire when finishing the basement if:
i have access to the 2x4 frames > drill holes > run pvc piping?

phil, if you're going to commit to the speaker locations, then there's no reason to run conduit, imo.  i'd run conduit to the main system and/or outside for future use, and from the equipment area to the display device.  for your basement system, 16-14g cl3 wire should be sufficient.  stay at least 1ft away from paralell AC runs and cross them at 90° when possible.  leave enough length for service loops and mark all cables.  if you know where you want to put the speakers, get pre-construction brackets, then the speakers can go right up later, with no hunting arounf and drywall dust to deal with.

[plucks]

you think i can use reg speaker wire when finishing the basement if:
i have access to the 2x4 frames > drill holes > run pvc piping?

phil, if you're going to commit to the speaker locations, then there's no reason to run conduit, imo.  i'd run conduit to the main system and/or outside for future use, and from the equipment area to the display device.  for your basement system, 16-14g cl3 wire should be sufficient.  stay at least 1ft away from paralell AC runs and cross them at 90° when possible.  leave enough length for service loops and mark all cables.  if you know where you want to put the speakers, get pre-construction brackets, then the speakers can go right up later, with no hunting arounf and drywall dust to deal with.

thanks john-
my g/f got a great quote from the builders her company uses of $130 to install all the cable including tv/internet into the basement.  i figure that may cost almost as much as the pvc/conduit.
i'll have to see if that includes material tho. 
i can't decide yet if i want to mount the rear speakers or put them on stands.  the front speakers will def be on stands...

[John R]

wow, cheap!  a good way to deal with the rears if you're still undecided is to wire them through the top position on the way to the box for stands.  at the potential top position, staple the wire from stub to stub a couple of times in a continuos 'Z' then terminate down below for potential stand placement.  now you know which studbay they're in and you can always find them with a tone generator later.

[plucks]

here's what my $130 got me for a surround setup....this is super easy to do no doubt about it, but for $130 it seemed like a great deal.

The wall plate to connect everything to is very cool.