Hiding Speaker Wire

[JustinGN]

So I'm (FINALLY) moving out to my own place this weekend, and my HT setup will finally get a Living Room all to itself. The problem is the room layout:

________________________
E&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&E
|&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&|
|&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&|
|&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&|
|________________________|

The TV, equipment and front speakers would go on the top wall, while the sofa would be in the middle of the room and the rears located ~ 110 degrees pointing towards the sofa in the back. I've got two 25ft lengths of cable for each speaker, enough to run from the AVR to the speakers with about 4ft of slack.

As you can see, I need to hide my wires! However, there's no way to run wires along a wall or molding to hide them, and I can't do construction to run wires through the walls.

So what it boils down to is this: I have to run the cables across the middle of the room. Any suggestions on how to do this while not only protecting the wires, but also making it look clean? The floor is unsealed hardwood, so adhesives are out of the question. There's a 5x8 Area Rug in front of the sofa, so I was thinking of running the cables under the rug, but there's still the problem of the first few feet from the AVR to the rug and protecting the wires from damage due to foot traffic.

I've seen some cord covers, but most look fairly bulbous and ugly. Are there any other alternatives, preferably inexpensive ones?

[ThomasW]

Wires running down the middle of the floor is a no go for numerous reasons. So your options are up through the ceiling or around the room near the floor trim (base-boards)

Your best bet is to use on-wall wiring covers designed to place AC in a room where there are no in-wall wires. Plug-Mold is the name of one company to look at, there are others...

[krips]

I too would do the wire-mold. I run the stuff for a living and it's easy to use, and fairly inexpensive. First option would be to run wires up through the attic and back down the wall though. So you would need wiremold (come in 10' lengths), joint covers, decora inserts for your binding posts. internal elbows, and wiremold straps. The stuff can be painted to match your room too, so it'll be basically invisible.

[JustinGN]

Due to the way the room is designed, running wires through walls is a no-go, and running wires along the wills or baseboards won't work because the left side of the room is blocked by an exterior door, and the right side of the room has a hallway without any doorway or archway. My only options would be to tear up and raise the floor an inch or so (not going to happen, since the landlord loves her hardwood floors and will kill me if I do anything to them), or to reorder the (expensive) cables in lengths reaching fifty to 75 feet long, just to reach rear speakers that are about fifteen feet from the television.

Therefore, running cables along the middle of the room is my only option. Knowing this, what are your recommendations?

[Industrial]

What about running cables meant to run in wall (fire resistant) and just putting them under a area carpet? Could be a fire hazard tho, Ive been doing this for 10 years so far and nothing bad has happened. I just have the cables nearest the outside wall under the carpet where not too many people walk.

[wettou]

What about running cables meant to run in wall (fire resistant) and just putting them under a area carpet? Could be a fire hazard tho, Ive been doing this for 10 years so far and nothing bad has happened. I just have the cables nearest the outside wall under the carpet where not too many people walk.

I run them under my rug on the edge and since I have fat padding underneath it works great for surround speakers

[Space]

I've done this too, by using pliers to tug the carpet off the tack strip, then place the wires along the baseboard, and push the carpet back down. Assuming you've got wall to wall carpet of course... which isn't the case here, so sorry if this is no help. :P

[JustinGN]

I'm thinking of running the cables in two different cord covers, one each on the far sides of the room where foot traffic is minimal, and try to run them under as much furniture as possible. The alternative is a wider cord cover and run both in the same one, then divert them off to their respective corners in the rear of the room.

I do have another question. Part of the floor chanegs from hardwood to tile at the front door for shoe removal, and there's a clean edge I can run cord against there. The problem is people stepping on it - is there a small, thin, but strong cord cover I could put there?

Only a few days until I'm all setup, and I'll have photos and videos of it all!

[Chris D]

Everything you guys talk about are options. You don't need to have in-wall rated cable unless it's actually enclosed, in a wall.

[JustinGN]

Update! Apparently the room dimensions I had were a bit off, and I was able to run the wire largely along the baseboards afterall. There's still a three foot stretch that needs to be covered, but there's no cable criss-crossing the room!

Watch the B&W Setup Photos thread for pictures of my new setup soon. I still need to tame the echo and recalibrate the AVR's SSP, but it already sounds leagues better than it did while cramped up in my old bedroom.