Ask Engadget HD: How do I hook up surround sound without cables running everywhere?
By Richard Lawler 
posted October 1st 2009 12:35PM
posted October 1st 2009 12:35PM
Ok, here is my dilemma. I used to have carpet in my main area where my TV is and surround sound is. Speaker wire would run under carpet. I just got hard wood floors installed so now there will be wires all over the place for my sound. What creative options do I have to set back up my surround sound but perhaps eliminate the wires or use wireless.connection to connect my speakers. I need help because I can't have speaker wire all over my pretty new floors! Thanks
So is the best route to drill right into the walls, some kind of invisible speaker cable, or is there a good wireless speaker setup that doesn't involve falling back to a HTIB? Let us know how you solved this kind of problem and save Amani some heartache and time.
I chose probably the least expensive route. I bought white speaker wire and ran it against the wall. It blends in well with the base boards. You only notice the wires if you're looking for them. I know it's not the coolest way to do it, but it got the job done.
Stick with running wires in the walls. Cutting into and repairing drywall is not as scary as some people make it seem. Once you have wires in place you aren't limited to proprietary gear and selection. Wireless speakers are good for a small room and easy solution but if you are going to be there long term go with standalone speakers powered by a dedicated A/V receiver so your soundfield will be more accurate. I have concrete floors and we managed to run wires without it being seen. Granted it is a lot of work but the results are very satisfying. It also adds a little value to your home when you prewire and is done correctly.
Agreed. Also, since I assume you'll have the subfloor exposed, you may be able to fish it through under the subfloor, depending on the direction of the floor joists. With some fish tape and patience, you'll have no patching to do. If you have access to the floor joists from the basement, even better.
Takes more time, but it's a cleaner install, and using decent cables, one that will last you a long time.
The Rocketfish wireless kit works fine for a pair of rears, it's like $100. Doubt it has the power to drive towers at full range or anything, but it shouldn't have a problem with bookshelves or an 80Hz crossover. Not sure if the fronts are an issue, but I would just use those little plastic floorboard runners/hiders
The specs on Rocketfish's website: "no more than 10% THD". That's horrendous! A decent A/V receiver is around 0.05% Total Harmonic Distortion with 8 ohm speakers. These wireless kits don't come close to the sound quality of a proper A/V receiver.
There's simply no reason to go wireless. You still need power to each of the speakers, so you're going to be running some kind of cable regardless. Just buy some cheap monoprice cable and either go through the wall or use one of the many options to hide the stuff.
You could buy a rug....
If you don't want the hassle of running in-wall, run along the walls. The big-box hardware stores sell plastic "external conduit" that makes it easy. The good stuff has two parts, a base piece that attaches to the wall and a paintable cover that snaps over it. Once it's up, it looks pretty decent, especially if you can run it along corners. It's not cheap, though, so it could get a little pricey for a larger room.
If you have baseboard, you could either replace it or pull it off and re-attach it. While it is off the wall, use a router (woodworking tool, not network component) and make a channel on the inside of the baseboard near the floor edge. Place the wires in the groove and re-nail the baseboard in place. You can drill holes through where you need the wire to come out. Very clean and if you change your setup, it isn't that bad to fill one hole with wood putty and drill another.
My wireless solution = Rocketfish. I investigated all options for months. Despite few complaints I read about, I've had for 2 years with absolutely no problem. You do not need more than 100 total watts for the rear speakers, period. The amount of audio/power that emits from the rear speakers are tiny compared to your other spearkers. Center channel and front carry 75% of the audio.
Rocketfish, unfortunately, is only sold through best buy. But at $109, it's the easiest and cheapest solution you will find.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8275528&st=rocketfish&type=product&id=1171058476489
I've set up a few dozen of these as an installer, and sound quality, especially for rear speakers is almost negligible from wired. The crown molding is one of the easiest for concealing if you live in an apartment/condo without access to attics, basements or crawl spaces, however expect to have to buy new crown molding if you've just pulled off the original. Unless done very carefully you can ruin it rather significantly. Make sure you use cl2 rated speaker wire in wall otherwise your insurance won't cover ANY fire damages should a fire break out in ANY part of your home.
As for your fireplace issue, you won't be able to conceal without drilling into the floor so wire track molding is your best option. It covers the wires and also is paintable so it will blend in with your floor etc.
Drill, baby, drill. Never go wireless. If you can't drill, and you really want it invisible, the flat speaker wire works great, especially if your walls have a bit of texture - find the corresponding spray-on texture at the hardware store (yes, it comes in cans now), and it's completely invisible.
I stuffed my wires beneath the baseboard, so they're completely invisible.
You could also do something with crown molding and place the speakers at a higher level, works for me.
My wife and I wired and installed ceiling speakers at our house over an afternoon. They were the ones from monoprice and have worked out great for us. As others have mentioned, running wires in walls is not as daunting as it may seem. Running wires in the baseboard is probably the second best option. I have also used external conduit and after you paint it to match the color of your wall, they are barely visible.
Hello guys
I see a lot of people saying that running wires in walls/ceilings is not that hard, but I have no clue where to start... anybody has some links that would give me an idea?
Well i will start with thinking how you want your surround to look, meaning, deciding if u want stands for the speakers, or use brackets that u need to hang from the ceiling or directly hanging the speakers from a wall, also all this depends of what kind of configuration ur living room and the position of the tv and couches, and you need to see whats possible and whats not. This is a 2 person job to make it easier.
Zerokul, what I would like to do is run wires up to my ceiling and use in celing speakers. Any opinion on what is the best way to do that or where I can find a good walkthru?
I've been looking into this as well, and I rent an apt while im at school, and I'll prolly be here for 2 more years..
I think I might go with a soundbar like the Sony HT CT100.. since my living room isnt that big anyways.. missed it when it was 150$ at the Sony outlet store.. :(
Im always been afraid of wireless speakers,thinking the blackberries, iphones, cell phones and any other electric gadget in the house will interfere with the signal.
So I just moved to a new home, and I upgraded my home theater, 52" aquos hanged on the wall, 5.1 speakers with pioneer receiver, everything i did it thru the walls, drilling holes is the best way and it looks super clean and it looks and sounds amazing!!!!
2 back surround speakers with brackets hanging from the ceiling (cables run thru the attic), 3 front speakers on stands, network cable running from dsl(back of room) to the blu-ray (cable runs under the house).
From the homeowner's perspective, if you're going to go in-wall you need to do it clean and neat, that way it's an added feature in your house, and not an eyesore. I terminated all of mine in speaker post plates that make disconnecting a breeze, and look nice. If in-wall is too much trouble, you can remove the baseboard and cut away the bottom of the drywall to make a "pocket" in which to run it, but that will involve cutting holes in baseboards where the cables emerge.
If you have money to burn, lookup "WireTracks" to see a custom molding solution expressly made for running wires where in-wall isn't an option. I hear they're nicely made.
Thanks for all the suggestion guys. The baseboard could be a solution but on the left side (facing the TV), the baseboard is interrupted by the fireplace. Can't have wire hanging by the fireplace can I? The back right side is open meaning now baseboard and it has access to two different rooms with no doors.
With this information, what other advice do you have for me. I am thinking either something on the ground to hide the wires is better than drilling holes in my new wood floors.
I have the Rocketfish wireless kit and it works great, except it causes interference with my 802.11n router.
Then I would say that it doesn't work great.
Your situation sounds nearly identical to mine. We have a TV "cubby" with a fireplace directly to the left at a 45* angle and it is open on the right to the room beyond. I agonized over how to tackle the problem myself.
In the end I decided to go with ceiling mounted speakers for my surround. On the left wall of the "cubby" (shared with fireplace) I cut a 3 gang hole and used an 7.1 surround sound wall plate with binding posts and RCAs for the sub. Then I used in-wall speaker wire up to the location of the surround speakers. I also ran in-wall rated coax for the sub through the walls/ceiling as well. I did not connect the left right or center speakers this way, as they are located within the cubby space.
It was quite intimidating when I started, but once I had cut the first hole in the wall (single gang for the RCA plate at the subwoofer location) I wasn't intimidated at all any more. When all was said and done I had a great sounding system and even better, it was wife approved. To look at the installation now, you wouldn't be able to tell it was not done professionally. This is definitely something that added value to our new home, rather than detract from it.
I can understand your reluctance, but, well - I drilled holes in to my hardwood floors. Behind my TV stand, there's a 1" hole that goes right down to my basement (unfinished, so very easy to get at the speaker wires). Behind my couch, there's another 1" hole in the floor. Being behind furniture, the holes are never seen, and (for me) it was easier than fishing through walls.
sweet
Its only a tiny bit harder to put those wires in the wall and it will look 10 times better.
You can also run superflat speaker wire just above your baseboards and around fireplace molding - adhere them to the wall and paint the wall color, and you're done.
Wireless speakers are only a solution if "anemic" is a word you want used to describe your system.
Zerokul, what I would like to do is run wires up to my ceiling and use in celing speakers. Any opinion on what is the best way to do that or where I can find a good walkthru?
http://www.polkaudio.com/downloads/DIYTutorial.pdf
I dealt with this setting up my new theater just about a month ago. I bought 350ft of cable from monoprice, took off all my trim, ran it behind/below it, drilled a 1" hole in the drywall behind the trim and another 1" hole about 6" up, fished the cable through the wall, bought the wallplates from monoprice to make the installation look clean, reinstalled the baseboards. Overall it was a very positive experience, I didnt know I was capable of it but it was quiet easy.
Check out TaperWire at http://www.taperwire.com/speakerwire.htm. I will have the same problem when I move to my new house and I plan on running these wires along the baseboard and corners to the rear speakers. You can paint them over to make them fade into the wall.
You didn't say anything about what kind of style your theatre room is in. So I'd suggest creating a spider web made of wire - the kind used for suspended ceilings - about a foot or so down from the ceiling across the room. You'll be able to run speaker cables anywhere, and even hang the speakers from it! And it'll all blend in, be an original work of art, and raise the value of your house when you move!
If you don't want to drill into floor/ceiling, there is a company that makes baseboards and crown moulding designed to run wires behind. You still have to fish the wires up from behind the baseboard to your wall mount for your surrounds, but you don't have to fish wires through attics/under house, etc. Wiretracks.com has the product I used and some pretty detailed instructions, so you can see if it will work for you. Result was very clean and much cheaper than replacing existing surrounds with "wireless" surrounds.
The room I use for media has a large walk through opening to the left of the TV (into the next room) and a open staircase at the rear of the room. My solution for my surrounds was to run up the corners at each side of the TV and then along the ceiling/wall joint to the rears. I used the cheap white plastic wire conduit (Panduit type stuff but from Home Depot) up the corners and back to the surrounds. It's hardly noticeable unless you look as since the only way to run wires at floor level would involve cutting carpet and running under it this was the best solution I could devise. Running through walls or behind baseboards was only an option to one side. HTH.
Try the Audioengine AW1. I think it's $150 shipped with 30 day money back guarentee. VERY nice. Comes pretty close to the sound of good interconnects. Now, you will need selfpowered speakers or an amp on the receiving end. I use M-Audio AV40's for the rears (also around $150 shipped). I have also had success with Audioengine A5 self powered speakers (around $350 shipped). I'm a little less fond of Audioengine A2's but they do fly off the shelves from what I understand.
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