Home Theater Tip of the Day: How to Hide Speaker Wires So, - TopicsExpress

Home Theater Tip of the Day: How to Hide Speaker Wires So, you’ve bought a new speaker system and it is everything you’ve always wanted and more. You hooked it up, placed the speakers, and everything sounds exactly the way it should. Congratulations, this is a big step towards the perfect home theater system. If you haven’t reached this step yet, you’re probably considering your options, which brought you to this article. Unfortunately, speakers are typically paired with unsightly cables. Luckily, there are a few ways to hide these unsightly cables from view. Wireless Speakers First, you need to consider your options. If you really haven’t already made a decision on a speaker system, you might consider going for wireless speakers. These speaker systems carry the signal that would normally be transmitted through a cable and send it wirelessly to one or more speakers by way of a central base station. While some models may be more prone than others to interference from various other signals that exist within your home, not all of them are. Keep your eyes out for a quality set. In the realm of wireless speakers, you truly get what you pay for. Baseboard Method You can hide speaker wires (which are often relatively thin) in the space between your baseboards along the bottom of the walls. When carpet is put in, baseboards are generally set to terminate right at or just below the top of the carpet. This gives you a plenty of room to tuck speaker wires, if you do it properly. Be careful not to pinch or twist cables as you work them in that space. You might want to use something blunt and thin, like a pencil eraser or the handle-end of an eating utensil to help it along. This will allow you to restrict exposed wires or cables to just the space between the baseboard and the speaker, preferably in close proximity. This is an especially good option for folks who live in an apartment that don’t have the ability to drill holes or move the carpet. Ceiling Method If you plan on hanging the speaker from the ceiling, routing the cable through the ceiling is another great way to keep them out of sight. This may require you to take a trip or two into the attic or crawlspace above your ceiling, but it could be well worth it to have just a tiny bit of cable running from the ceiling to your speaker, mounted near the ceiling and wall. You can further secure these wires by securing them to the wall using zip ties or other other appropriate materials. Carpet Method If you plan on keeping your speakers down near ground level, you can choose to run them under the carpet itself. While this might not be a great option for thicker speaker cables, a thin cable can generally be run under the carpet without causing any noticeable lumps or bumps along its path. Alternatively, you can choose to run it along the edges of the walls (like with the baseboard option) and have it come up where you need it, and not before. No matter how you choose to hide your cables, remember that they should never be pinched or twisted. In order to operate properly for years to come, they need to be as secure as possible in their place of hiding.