TurboGen Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Hey guys, wife and I are building a house and the basement will be completely finished. This is going to be the home for the dedicated media space. I want to run wires in the walls before the drywall goes up and I want some advice for what to use, where to buy, perhaps some guidence from those who experienced this already. What should I use for the speaker wires? I would like to have some wire plates on the walls so I just plug the speakers right into them. I plan to put the surrounds on the wall. Also, I plan to install projector in the near future so I would need to pre-wire HMDI cable for that as well as power outlet for projector? Any advice for keeping this cost effective, I want to keep this on a tight budget but I want this to be a one time deal. Thanks for any advice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechnut Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Use monoprice.com for wires. Great prices and great quality. For long runs to your surrounds, 12ga wire would be optimal but 14ga can be a compromise. Use in-wall speaker wire. Different insulation and designed to meet coding requirements. General guide for side surrounds is bottom of the speaker at ear height when sitting in your primary listening position. Also a rough 2ft behind your LP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted May 1, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2012 Good advice Beechnut. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted May 1, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2012 Right on the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Use in-wall speaker wire. Different insulation and designed to meet coding requirements.CL2 is what you are looking for. I found the monoprice stuff on amazon as well, might be a little quicker shipping maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboGen Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 Excellent! I will get some of this CL2 in bulk. I'll check my local electric contract store first see if a buddy can get me a roll of this for cheap. If not I did find some online at 12guage at a price of $30 for 100ft. I'm trying to figure out if I should use wall speaker plates and if I should position them closer to the ground or ceiling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboGen Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 I'm going to work out measurements to see how much footage I will need to do the job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Gavin Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I'm trying to figure out if I should use wall speaker plates and if I should position them closer to the ground or ceiling. I would place them close to wherever you are going to place your speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted May 2, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hey Pat. glad to see you finally joined the forum. welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I would recommend the wall plates. I just got some put in and they make the installation look clean. If you are going to mount the speakers directly to the wall they probably won't be necessary tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelin Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 From personal experience remodeling my man cave. 0. Plan, plan, and plan.... 1. Decide surround mode; eg, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 Whether you need it now, I'd go 7.1 now; eg, 2 main, 1 center, 2 side surrounds, 2 back surround, and 1 sub 2. Determine listening mode; eg, TrueHD or THX This will help determine your speaker placements. 3. Identify speaker cables to use. I used Monster Cable CL2 all around. 4. Create a diagram of your room in 2D and identify speaker locations based on step 1 above. Here, you will setup your speaker wall plates based on step 2 above. 5. Identify your power outlet locations. I have power outlet in all corners. 6. Be sure to label your cables on all ends; eg, Left Front, Right Front, etc. Also keep polarity in mind otherwise, you'll have speakers out-of-phase, etc. 7. Test all connections before drywalling. I've attached a picture of my setup showing plates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Install at least twice as much wire as you need. In the future you will wish you installed four times as much. Or make accessable wireways in the walls. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I used almost 200 ft of wire in my little space. I'm lucky I guessed right when I ordered the stuff. I would also go with 12 awg, so you should be able to go pretty much any length with that and still be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Gavin Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thanks Michael..and thanks again for all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboGen Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 Excellent feedback!! Thank you guys so much!! I'll start figuring out how much wire I will need and add a good excess amount on top of that. I'll go with the 12 gauge that way it's sufficient for anything in the future. I just have to plan where the seating will be and where the speakers will go according to that. Should I be aware of anything else when going about this construction? btw, I figured about 150ft would be plenty for my space. I'm only running 4 surrounds in the wall, the fronts I'll run outside of the walls. I'll prolly order 200ft total. Just so I have extra. I might run some secondary zone speakers, I have not decided yet. But the 200ft is going to run me about $60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 My living room is about 17x14 with 12 foot high ceiling and I probably used around 180ft. I never measured what was left, but there really wasn't much, so I might have even used a little bit more. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Next time I do it I will install blank wall plates (color of wall) at both wall hanger height and floor stander height at both the sides and rears for speaker wire.Then when I get those all in I can have the option to use my wall hangers or floor standers. I will also do the same for front heights and wides. Same goes for several places of RG-6 for the sub. Speaker wire and quad shield RG-6 is cheap! Wall plates can get up there but you can switch the plates and blank offs between spots. 2nd the Monoprice and shipping is quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I'm trying to figure out if I should use wall speaker plates and if I should position them closer to the ground or ceiling. I would place them close to wherever you are going to place your speakers. belly laugh... sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanhurd Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Wall plates can get up there but you can switch the plates and blank offs between spots.I paid less than $20 for all my wall plates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 If there is a chance you might bi-amp certain speakers, you should run 4 wire CL2 or double 2 wire CL2 to those units. The last system I put in, I saved a few bucks by running a 4 wire CL2 to the rear, and splitting it into two 2 wire cables in the back wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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