# Surround Sound



## ToddS

I would love to have surround sound in my house but the wife doesn't want the wires laying on the floor. Is there anyways to run the wires in the wall without ripping everything appart?


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## Floorwizard

What flooring do you have in that room?


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## ToddS

Carpet over a wood subfloor. Are you suggesting I pull the carpet? not sure I could get it back down.


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## Floorwizard

Carpet can be relayed by a pro, any good pro would not charge an arm and a leg to reinstall 1 room.
Might be an option.


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## ToddS

How much do you think they would charge?


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## Floorwizard

RogerB said:


> How much do you think they would charge?



to relay carpet in 1 room should be a minimum charge, it varies depending on where you live.
get 3 estimates and pick the one in the middle.


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## Guest

RogerB said:


> I would love to have surround sound in my house but the wife doesn't want the wires laying on the floor. Is there anyways to run the wires in the wall without ripping everything appart?


Relaying carpet is probably a bad idea. The best way would honestly be to run it throught the attic if that is what's immediately above the room you'd like to put it in. Then all you have to do is buy a drywall saw some face plates and fish tape. Besides this keep the chords out of view a whole lot better than running it under carpet and it's an entire diy project.


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## Teetorbilt

There are many ways to do this. The easiest is to hire someone who installs alarm systems, those guys can run a wire anywhere! Less expensive, my way, is to come up with alternatives. If you have carpet there will be a space between the baseboard/carpet/floor where you can run a few wires. Corner mouldings will conceal vertical wiring, add a shelf just large enough for the speaker and continue the moulding to the ceiling. In one corner I secured a CD rack to the wall, a piece of moulding supports the weight and covers the wire. In another run I pulled the baseboard, the drywall was an easy 1/2" off of the floor leaving a nice gap for wires. Best of luck! Be original.


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## Kentech

I agree Tucked under the Base board works very nicely


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## Hammertime

I know it's probably too late, but what about cordless speakers? 

What I would do, if I wasn't that knowledgable around the home is if I had access to the floor from underneath like a basement I would pull the carpet back a little bit and drill a hole(this would be mostly easier from a corner). I don't like running wires under the carpet. But, these guys are right you could also tuck the wires away. All depends on what access you have to hide the wires.

If I, myself was doing it. I would go buy some old work boxes, cut the holes to install them. Use the hole i just cut. Drill a hole in the floor plate and run the wire underneath the floor. If I had attic access I would do the same with the old work boxes but I would drill the hole from the attic because You can usually see the top plate from the attic if you can find it with all the insulation. Then snake the wire down. You'll be able to grab it with the hole you previously cut. Then run the wire through the box and the box is held up by the sheet rock after being tightened down. When you're done it will look like it's always been there.


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## Neil_K

I know this thread's been around awhile, but I asked my builder to prewire for speakers. He said to save my money, the den is on a crawl and I'd be using speaker stands. I took his advice and drilled straight thru the carpet and subfloor and pushed the wire through. Then I drilled below the location for my speaker stands and pushed another section of wire from my speakers. There's a splice under the house. Be extra careful to spread the carpet piling with a nail so that you don't get it wrapped and shredded around the drill bit.


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## Teetorbilt

Years ago I rented a townhouse and what I did in that place you don't want to know but it was all well hidden so that I could get my deposit back. Funny that you should include the part about the carpet underlay.
If you want it bad enough, it can be done.


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## Jasondt2001

*reply to an old thread*

I was lucky enough to run my speaker wire right underneath my baseboards and i couldnt be happier. I was told that if i couldnt fit it UNDER the baseboard that a woodworker, or handyman with the right tools could notch the back of the baseboard (after you unattached it from the wall  ) and put a slot in the back of it, then run the cable inside the notch until it's right underneath the speaker then take a screwdriver and make your own notch going up to the speakers.


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## Dustin07

I'll add to this almost 2 year old journal of ideas...

1. If you speakers are on exterior walls, you could drill all the way through, and depending on your siding, run the speaker wire under the edge, to the trim, down the side of your house (or up) and either under the crawl, or through the attic. This was what i was going to do until I decided to do an add-on or move soon.

2. Wireless.

3. fish tape, as mentioned. through the wall, fish it either up or down. hardest, but cleanest way to go.

4. Crown Molding. oh la la. If you put your surround speakers all the way up into the corners, they now make a crown molding designed to run speaker/multimedia wire right through it. the corner peices actually have holes cut out. 

I would not....repeat...would not... run it directly under carpet. you'll end up with a bump. If you are using a small enough speaker wire that doesn't result in a bump, then you are not using your speakers to their full potential  

My next 'movie room' will either have wire run into the walls with faceplates designed for speaker wire, OR the crown molding idea.


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## Teetorbilt

Now that more people are into 'home theater', I'm re-furring walls or removing the drywall completely. Now you can run all wiring and install the insulation at the same time.


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## HomeAV

You can always mount speakers in the ceiling. I have done one install that way and it came out sounding good.


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