Running Speaker Wire In Between 1st And 2nd Floors

First you have to identify and locate your 12 volt power sources.

Running speaker wire in between 1st and 2nd floors. Cut a 1 inch square at the ceiling at the location for the first surround speaker. Plan to have extra spools of speaker wire available go with 16 gauge for connections up to 20 ft 14 gauge for anything longer than that because some methods will require the extra length. Make sure you use ul rated in wall wiring that meets local building and fire codes including cm cmr or cmp for computer networking and cl2 or cl3 for speakers. A ruler or paint stir.

Route both pairs of speaker wire around the room securing it to the top of the furring strips. He wants to wall mount the surround speakers in the living room which is on the first floor of his two story house. Useful tools to have on hand are wire strippers tape measure or ruler pliers utility knife. Running the wire near the flue red wire in above example and running the wire in a second floor hvac return blue wire in above example.

This guide will cover two different methods. Most of it will naturally be a breeze but the surround speaker wiring has me stumped. Always turn off the breakers in your electrical box before you begin to reduce the chance of an electrical shock should you accidently cut or drill into existing wiring. If there s a doorway between the power source and the speaker run the wire all the way around the other side of the room to avoid it.

That way you get to learn about running wire in your rv and get some extra 12 volt power information. For standard 120 volt branch circuits 12 gauge wire is used for 20 amp circuits and 14. From the floor and you ll be able to drill down into the basement with a spade bit and extension. My prime suggestion open the walls run conduit never have to do this again if you run the conduit right so that you can pull these wires out when you need to install whatever everything is using in 10 years in large part you may be able to minimize opening first floor walls if you can distribute across the basement and have short runs up.

Select proper wire or cable. Center the holes 8 to 10 in. Turn off the power. Before you start make sure that everything is disconnected and positioned where you want it.

Also make sure the wire gauge is appropriate to the amperage of the circuit. For the purposes of this article we ll discuss running and hooking up 12 volt power wire. Stop when you get to the first surround speaker. I personally wired the wall mounted surround speakers in my house but it is a one story so no real issues other than.

A friend of mine has asked for my assistance hooking up his new ht stuff. First cut holes in the wall to accept junction boxes. Use a fish tape to get two pairs of speaker wire run from the low voltage box up the wall and out the 1 inch access hole.