Running Speaker Wire Under Floor Board

For in wall or ceiling speakers you ll need ul rated speaker wire labeled cl2 or cl3.

Running speaker wire under floor board. 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. Plan out the path for the cable. If the subfloor is concrete pass wires behind the baseboard on the perimeter of the floor. You can buy speaker wire with connectors or without.

Turn off the power. Decide whether to run the cable directly across the room from wall to wall around the edge for longer cables or in a pattern that will help avoid major foot traffic. It s a good idea to make a careful decision about where you want to run your cable to avoid creating a trip hazard. To run wire underground to a set of outdoor speakers buy wire rated for direct burial.

Speakers placed around a room sound great but all that wire can be an eyesore an annoyance when you vacuum even a tripping hazard. Select proper wire or cable. 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. Speaker wires under baseboards.

I have no attic and no basement or crawlspace to run wires. Useful tools to have on hand are wire strippers tape measure or ruler pliers utility knife. Before you start make sure that everything is disconnected and positioned where you want it. Special flat speaker wire made from insulated copper ribbons are one solution.

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. The resultant floor floats over the subfloor and is held in place by the baseboards. Most speaker wires are too thick for under carpet installation as they will be visible and felt under the rug. Read our in wall wiring guide for more information.

Because it is not attached to the subfloor you can run speaker wires or telephone cables under a laminate floor by cutting a notch in the subfloor with a circular saw.