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How to Run Cables for your Surround Sound System
by
Andrew Dansby
Readers of this article, need to know this disclaimer. Some of the practices you encounter in this article pose some risk. Be careful when crawling in an attic or crawl space with sharp tools. Be wary of any spiders, rodents or any other creatures that may be lurking in these spaces. If there is any question of safety, then call a professional and let them do the work for you. There is always risk when working with tools especially if you are unfamiliar with their dangers.
You have your new surround sound system and have the cables ran across the floor and now have thrown bits of carpet across the wires so you do not trip over them, or perhaps you have run the cables along your baseboard and either stuffed it underneath the edge or stapled it across the baseboard. Now you wish you hadn’t and want a Professional installation. You can do the professional installation yourself with a few tips.
One of the most complicated parts and most labor intensive parts to installing a surround sound system is running cables from the speaker placements to the surround sound amplifier. With some tips presented on this article, perhaps this will become a little easier.
Know why a professional charges so much for the installation, it is hard work. It is not nice to crawl in an attic or basement or any crawl space. You will get dirty and sweaty and wish that you had paid someone at times. In the end, though it is satisfying and does save quite a bit of money.
The first thing you should do is to find where you want to place your speakers. There is no sense to running any cable without knowing exactly where you want the end point to be. Please see my article on surround sound speaker placement. Wire for the future, you may be installing wiring for a 5.1 surround sound, but what happens when you upgrade to a 6.1 or a 7.1 surround sound. Since you only want to do this chore once, make sure that you do it all and do not have to do it again down the road. Make sure and double check your speaker placement, same rule as measure twice and cut once. You want to be absolutely sure that you do this once and once only and not do double work, nothing is more frustrating.
The next step is to determine the best route for your run. For this you need to know your home, become familiar with your home and all of the crawl spaces, attic spaces. Know what types of walls you have and the insulation inside those walls, also make sure you know where your studs placed. Determine which route out of the ones you have available will be the easiest to work with. Knowing all the options that you have to run the cable will always make this task easier.
Gather your tools
Make sure that you have all of the tools that you may need to do the job. This can vary greatly from each cable run. Below is a list of commonly used tools.
Drill – I would suggest a cordless 18 volt fully charged drill. Make sure it is fully charged. Nothing is more frustrating than a drill dieing before the work is complete.
Drill Bits Quite a variety of drill bits out there to do a variety of jobs. Make sure that the bit is long enough to do the job, but not too long. Here are the most commonly used types.
Paddle A wide bit used for cutting holes in wood. The bit is flat squarish with a sharp tip tapering to a point.
Auger Bit has a screw tip followed by a wider drill cutting edge. Used for cutting through wood.
Twist drill a standard drill bit useful for drilling through wood. Not as wide as an auger bit or paddle bit, more useful for drilling smaller holes.
Extended flex bit A long twist drill bit with a variety of tips. Make sure to have one with a center hole, useful for attaching a pull string. They come in a variety of lengths from 3 to 7 feet long. Perhaps the most important bit for this type of work, everyone should have one.
Masonry bit Useful for drilling through concrete or stone.
There are many other types of drill bits, make sure to choose the ones that will do the job for you.
Pull string a variety of items can be used as a pull string, make sure that the pull string is strong enough to do the job. One of the most common types is a Polyolefin Pull Line, a strong pull string that usually comes by the bucket.
Fish Tape a steel ribbon or fiberglass enclosed in a round encasing. Fish tape is used to push up or down through a wall. They come in a variety of lengths.
Drop chain a length of chain, usually a hanging plant chain. Useful for dropping down drywall.
Drywall Saw a short saw useful for cutting drywall.
Pair of pliers Needle nose pliers for grabbing things you just can’t reach.
Electrical Tape For taping the wire to pull string or to fish tape or drip chain.
Sonic Stud Finder Since you can’t look through walls, a stud finder will help you plot out where the cable can be pulled and the potential obstacles that will get in your way.
Pencil and good eraser So you can mark the studs and where you will be drilling.
Inductive Amplifier To check to see if there will be potential interference along the way.
Flashlight I prefer the type that can strap onto your head to keep your hands free.
Hammer Used to secure various fasteners.
Screw Driver Used to secure various fasteners.
Permanent Marker – To mark you cable with it’s location.
Level For mounting your speakers
A second person I know, not a tool. However, a second person comes in very useful, you can’t be in two places at once.
Gather your supplies.
Here is a quick list of supplies you need to gather for your cable.
Proper Speaker cables please refer to my article about speaker cables. Make sure that you have enough cable. I would suggest having a reel of cable for each run you perform. This saves an incredible amount of time and effort. Be sure to have a lot more cable than you need. The last thing you want is to be a foot too short on your cable.
Fasteners Anything used to secure the wire. Staples, wire loops, hooks etc. You do not want your wire hanging down in large loops.
Drywall or wood screws For attaching fasteners and for mounting speakers.
Drywall Anchors I prefer the Threaded Drywall Anchors for their strength.
Survey the cable runs
The single most important decision you will need to make is where you will route the cable. It is always best to route your cable to an unfinished portion of the house, unfinished attic, basement, crawl space, underneath the house. Try to avoid tearing up the drywall or beams in your home, try to keep the cable as concealed as possible. If there is not a unfinished portion or any place you can crawl to, then skip to the wire raceway section.
This means that you measure the length of cable you need as well as crawl in the attic or basement or any other crawl space that you need to. Make sure to survey the entire run of the cable so that there are no surprises. Check for pipes, electrical cables, lights, you do not want to route too close to any of these items. Pipes (hot water) can damage your cable. Electrical cables, light can place a hum or buzz on the wire (since a wire acts as an antenna). Be sure to never run a speaker cable side by side with an electrical cable, keep a foot or more distance. If you have to cross across an electrical cable, that is fine, keep at least 2 foot distance from florescence lights. Keep 1 foot distance from lights. Route your cable so that is out of the way, following the cross beams. If you want to do some preliminary work then hang wire fasteners along the route you want to take. This will make the wire installation go much easier.
It is always best to route your cable to an unfinished portion of the house, unfinished attic, basement, crawl space, underneath the house. If there is not a unfinished portion or any place you can crawl to, then skip to the wire raceway section.
Make sure you have enough length of cable to do the job. Please see my article about Speaker cables to help you choose which cable will be best for you. Since most speaker cables come on reels, I would suggest get a separate reel for each cable you want to pull, this will make your experience so much easier.
An inductive amplifier is used to pick up RF signals that your cable may inadvertently pick up. Speaker cable can act as an antenna and when combined with an amplifier will play this RF (radio interference) over your speakers. In the area you want to run the cable, scan with the inductive amplifier to hear if you have any hum or noise. In an optimum area, there should be no buzz or hum.
Since you do not know what is in your walls use a sonic stud finder and scan the wall from the speaker placement to either the top of the wall or to the floor.. Mark any studs that are in the way with a light pencil mark. Given the standard spacing using to frame most houses, expect to find most studs 16 or 24 inches from center. Scan the walls with your sonic stud finder horizontally marking your studs and then vertically, marking your studs. You will find a stud near the bottom at floor level and you will find a stud at the top of the wall.
Speakers should be mounted just above ear level when sitting down. Mark this vertical position with your pencil. Speakers should also be mounted in a standard surround sound configuration. Please see my article on surround sound speaker placement for this information.
Now you are ready to start running the cable.
Wire Fishing Prep
To prepare for your cable runs take your drywall saw and cut open a section of drywall about 1 to 2 inches square.
Check visually or place your finger into your cutout to check to see if you have insulation. If it is an inside wall you may or may not have insulation in the walls, if it is an outside wall you will have insulation (if you don’t you really need to).
Take your Extended flex bit and drill and carefully guide it up or down, depending on where you are going to run your wires to. Try to target the center of the stud, this is difficult at best, but after a couple of trials, you will start to get the hang of it. Drill slowly at first until you establish a guide hole, also you want to make sure that you do not drill through anything else other than the stud. Try to catch any misguided drilling early. Once you are sure you are on center stud and not drilling back through the drywall or the other side of the wall, you can increase the speed of the drill until you are through the stud. If there are other horizontal studs, continue drilling until you have gone through them all.
Once you have drilled through all of the studs and the drill bit is sticking through the attic or basement, STOP. Do not pull the bit back out. Now it is time to get a length of pull string, be generous. If you have a 6 foot drop, do not measure off 7 feet, measure 10 or 12 feet so that you have plenty to work with.
Make sure that a second person is available now.
Make a trip to the attic, basement or crawl space. Bring along some supplies. You’ll need your flashlight, electrical tape, pull string and pliers. Navigate your way carefully in the attic, basement and crawl spaces, be especially cautious for any creatures that may live in these spaces; spiders, rodents, centipedes are just a short list of what you might encounter. Try not to disturb them and they will not disturb you. Remember that this is an exercise in running cable not an extermination exercise.
Find the tip of the drill bit, making sure that you do not stab yourself with the sharp tip. There is usually a center hole in most Extended Flex Bits, carefully thread your pull string into this center hole and make a small knot. Use your electrical tape and tape around the tip of the drill bit and over the pull string and knot.
Signal to your second person to pull the drill bit back to themselves, they may have to rotate the drill bi to do so. Make sure there is plenty of clearance between the drill bit and yourself. **If you do not, there is a risk of injury or death**. Be EXTRA cautious. I cannot stress this enough, you do NOT want a drill bit to go through your arm, leg, eye, etc. If you are now worried, then call a professional to do this work or use wire raceway.
If you do inadvertently pull the bit back out, use a Drop Chain from above or a Fish Tape from above or below and carefully fish the empty space. The rule of thumb is, if it is a non insulated wall, use a drop chain, if it is a insulated wall, use a fish tape. Fishing a wall with a Fish Tape is a bit more of an art than a science and does take considerable practice. A drop chain however is simple enough, drop one end of the chain down the hollow space and let gravity take over, don’t let go of the other end of the chain, otherwise it will be lost. If the space is insulated, then you have to use your Fish Tape. It is best to avoid this all if possible and leave the drill bit in the wall and fish with it instead of using a fish tape.
Once the second person has pulled out the drill bit and the pull string, secure the pull string into the attic onto a cross beam with a secure knot. Have the person assisting you secure the pull string on his end as well, you do not want to accidentally pull out the pull string and have to start over again.
Continue to repeat this until all of your pull strings are in place. Do not forget that you need to drop all the wires down to the surround sound unit itself.
Fishing your Cable
If all goes well, you now have all of your pull strings in place and are ready to pull the wire into the attic, basement or crawl space. Attach one reel of speaker cable to each of the pull strings. Take the speaker wire and loop it back onto itself, secure the loop with electrical tape. Mark each cable with a permanent marker as to it’s location so there is no guessing, mark it in several places. Take the pull string and tie a knot through the speaker wire loop you just made, making two loops. Secure both loops by wrapping electrical tape around both loops. Repeat this for all wire drops.
Test each loop you have made by trying to pull them apart with some pressure. If it falls apart without too much pressure, you need to try a more secure loop. If it holds then you are ready to fish.
Have your assistant stay with the wire and pull string, their job is to make sure all pulls will go smoothly and not tangle or snag. Your job will be to climb again into the crawl space, basement or attic. This should be the last time. Bring your tools and wire fasteners with you, you’ll need your Flashlight, Electrical tape, pliers, hammer (if using nail in fasteners) or screwdriver (if you are using screw in wire fasteners).
Route your cable out of the way, so if you have to access the area again, you are not dealing with a spider web of wires. I suggest routing along cross beams, attaching the wires to each beam you have. Of course this all easier said than done and it will take quite a while to route all of your cables. Pull all of the cables to where your surround sound system will be. Take all of your cables and bind them together with electrical tape, making sure that one of the cable runs is 6 inches longer than the others. The reason for this is simple, you want to double over one cable and not 6 or 7 cables, this make fishing downwards (or upwards) much easier.
Loop the long speaker wire and attach it to itself. Tape it together. Take the pull string and tie a knot through the speaker wire loop you just made, making two loops. Secure both loops by wrapping electrical tape around both loops.
Test each loop you have made by trying to pull them apart with some pressure. If it falls apart without too much pressure, you need to try a more secure loop. If it holds then you are ready to fish.
Have your assistant pull the pull string and cable down (or up) until they have the cable in their hands.
Wiring your Surround Sound
The difficult work is now done, now it’s just a matter of wiring your surround sound and mounting your speakers.
Untape your wire and route behind your surround sound system. Identify each cable (using the markings you made earlier) and separate out the wires. Identify which wire you are going to use for positive (red) and negative (black). Cut approximately inch from the end to remove the insulation so that it is bare copper. Twist the strands of copper together so that it forms a tight ribbon of cable. Install each copper wire in its correct connector.. Do the same for your speakers.
Mounting your speakers
Thankfully, most speakers these days are light weight and can hand directly from the drywall. Use Threaded drywall anchors and screws if you have drywall. If your speakers are heavier then you may have to use mollies (expansion bolt) or toggle bolts to mount your speakers. Use a level.
UnRoutable Cables Wire Raceway
Of course there are always times that you are not able to access above or below the room you want to wire. However hope is not lost. You can still have a professional looking installation, you will just have to pay a bit more.
Wire Raceway is a product sold in many hardware stores, it is often found in electrical supplies. It’s a cable management system that is easy to install, usually peel and stick. They make straight raceways and angled raceways and couplers.
Before buying wire raceway plan your route and measure the length of raceway you need. If you have to make turns on the same wall, you need a 90 connector. If you have to join 2 pieces of wire raceway, then you need a coupler. If you need to join 2 pieces on adjacent walls you need an elbow. Make a list of the types of connectors and raceway that you need before going to the hardware store. I recommend using the plastic raceway, it is considerably easier to mount.
While at the hardware store, do not forget to buy a large level, this will help you with the installation.
Installation of wire raceway installation is very easy so I will only give a couple of tip to its installation.
1)Always use a level to install raceway.
2)Never place the raceway to the edge of a wall, allow at least inch so that you may snap on the front cover.
3)Plan your route before sticking the wire raceway
4)To secure raceway with more than the double stick adhesive on the back, drill a screw through the raceway.
5)Raceway is paintable, conceal it after installation
6)Raceway is easily cut using a hacksaw, make sure the cut is level.
Good luck and enjoy your newly wired surround sound system.
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How to Run Cables for your Surround Sound System}
