Question for those with surround sound systems

[Wingspan]

i am about to move into a new house next week. and since i am not going to be a renter anymore, i kinda would like to not destroy the walls with a surround system (the rear speakers). i also, would like to not have wires seen across the baseboards, or along the ceiling.

what is the best way of "hiding" speaker wire for the rear channels? without drilling through the walls themselves?

[mussa]

what kind of ceiling do u have? if its a drop ceiling then its easy. 

you could also run wire under the carpet, if u have carpet.  then run speakerwire up the corner of a room with tracking for the corner to help hide the wire.  are the speakers on stands or solo?  my buddy just moved into a place this summer and hes a genious at that stuff.  he ran his wires under the carpet to the corner of the room, ran in up the corner(tracks) and then made a nice shelf to hold the three rear speakers in the back of the room.

you can find stuff like tracks to hide the wire at like Lowes or Home Depot.  Really though, its your house now, so why worry about makeing holes for the wires?  You can always fix drywall if thats the case. 

[Wingspan]

it's not a drop ceiling. so theres the issue.

the speakers arent on stands, and i was going to do the shelf thing for the 3 of them (6.1 surround). and i am not so much worried about drilling a hole as i am running it across the room. the ceiling makes it difficult, and the basement is finished with a drop ceiling, so i cant drill through the floor and run it that way.

i saw a one side primered/one side adhesive speaker wire (18guage) that is 1mm thick, thats supposedly invisible once you put it up, and paint it over. and my dad suggested putting up some hallow crown molding and just drill small holes in that.

[Tomahawk]

Get wireless surround speakers. Or destroy the walls - it's not like you have a security deposit to worry about.

[Diomedes]

The best way to hide wires is to put them in the wall.  It's more work patching them up and all, but it's the only way to make it look clean. 

Or go wireless, as Tomahawk says.

[Susquehanna Birder]

I've actually seen a flat-foil wire made for just this purpose. It's thin enough that you can actually put it on the wall, put a little joint compound (and paint, of course) over it, and it's invisible. I'm seriously considering it when it comes time to repaint my family room.

Otherwise, your choices are limited to using thin wire and trying to jam it under baseboards, etc...or using wireless. Actually, for surrounds that don't require a huge frequency response range, a fairly cheap wireless setup should work fine.

[Cerevant]

The best way to hide wires is to put them in the wall.  It's more work patching them up and all, but it's the only way to make it look clean. 

Or go wireless, as Tomahawk says.

You don't even have to patch - just get some of these wall plates and stick in a couple of these connectors - no patching required.  You can get what you need at Home Depot.

C

[Wingspan]

the flat wire is right here

this is the way i am considering.

wireless isnt an option, i have all of the equipment, thats already a moderate-high end quality, so i have no interest in the wireless for the family room.

here is a wire that has no adhesive

[T_Section224]

and the basement is finished with a drop ceiling, so i cant drill through the floor and run it that way.

why can't you go through the floor, remove the tiles that are in the way, run the wire to the area you need it, back up through the floor, put tiles back up, and be done with it?

[General_Failure]

Drop ceilings are good for hiding wires. You can be lazy and do very little drilling.

[Wingspan]

and the basement is finished with a drop ceiling, so i cant drill through the floor and run it that way.

why can't you go through the floor, remove the tiles that are in the way, run the wire to the area you need it, back up through the floor, put tiles back up, and be done with it?

insulation. and air/heating ducts are in the way.

[Susquehanna Birder]

the flat wire is right here

this is the way i am considering.

wireless isnt an option, i have all of the equipment, thats already a moderate-high end quality, so i have no interest in the wireless for the family room.

here is a wire that has no adhesive

That's the stuff. Right now, I have wires running along the baseboard, and they occasionally want to jump out and grab people's feet. That flat cable will make things much easier, especially when I go to add the mid surrounds.