home entertiainment, 4-strand flat speaker cable, diy, flat speaker cable, home theater, speakers...

How to Hook Up Your Surround Sound With Flat Speaker Cable

Earlier this month we were horrified to learn that as many as 50% of home theater buyers are not hooking up their rear surround speakers. For the vast majority of these DIYers, the main culprits were aesthetic issues and/or a lack of knowledge about how to install the speakers properly. One of the easiest ways to get the job done involves using 4-strand flat speaker cable because it doesn't involve tearing holes in the wall, and one strip will drive both surround speakers. But where do you get it and how do you install it?

Fortunately, an online tutorial exists that gives detailed step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish true surround sound with as little difficulty as possible. It also discusses what to buy and where to get it. The final product looks great and it seems to work well—plus it costs under $60. Hit the link for the complete instructions. [HTIFSC]

6:50 PM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By Sean Fallon
15,882 views
12 comments

Comments

ninjagin at 07:00 PM on 03/27/08
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Nifty.
scarbrtj at 07:04 PM on 03/27/08
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Got the Flatwire stuff ([www.flatwiretv.com]) a year-and-a-half ago and couldn't be happier. Flat wire in general is a great solution in many situations. There is flat HDMI cable now, but it's not near as flat as this speaker cable. But it worked in a pinch... I'm using flat Atlona 23ft HDMI in my study from PC to monitor, under a rug. The floor is hardwood. There is a little stretch of 1.5 ft where the cable runs from PC to under-rug. I put some "wood grain" duct tape over that very neatly... what can I say... I love duct tape.
suckacheese at 07:23 PM on 03/27/08
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I've used flat wire in a home theater installation as well. We put it on drywall, mudded over it and painted over that, and it's next to invisible. However, it is really expensive -- with the connectors, which are required, we paid over a hundred bucks for a single 30 foot run. For the rest of the wires, we pried off the baseboards, cut a big channel in the drywall, and ran everything else back there. it looks awesome, was way less work than mudding over the wire, and you can run everything like that if you want to (power, phone cables, HDMI, and 4 sets of speaker cables in our case).

By far the hardest part at either installation is fishing the wires to the wall. I strongly, strongly recommend picking up one of these:

[www.firefold.com]

It's pricey, but so worth it.
Lizard_King at 07:44 PM on 03/27/08
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If you are in a temporary apartment, I can imagine this being useful, but if you don't cover it, and just leave it on the wall for all to see, it is tacky as hell.

I have a 100 year old house with a room that has it's rear wall composed of plasterboard over an old brick hearth. I've seen the other side of this hearth and it is nothing to show off, so I'm glad it's covered, but you can't run wires up brick. I just cut a channel in the drywall with a razor blade, and tucked 12ga. lamp cord in there and covered over with drywall patch. Not much more work than mudding over these things, and a hell of a lot cheaper.

If you have the ability, running wires of whatever kind (even these) is worth it. Wireless is overused and abused.
ripfire4 at 07:58 PM on 03/27/08
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What's wrong with using cable raceways? It doesn't look too bad.
MINI Driver at 08:45 PM on 03/27/08
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I just put mine behind the baseboards - easy and seemless
koftun at 08:51 PM on 03/27/08
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Ditto above. I put flatwire down under my hardwood floors and it works beautifully.
Cordfucious at 10:29 PM on 03/27/08
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So what about in an apartment with carpet...is there a way to snake them under the carpet....if anyone can post a link of a wiki I will no longer be a part of the miserable 50% who are no using their rear speakers.... I would love to use them.. Please help I am in fear of losing my geek/techno card. My family worships the geek ground I walk own... can seem human ya know...
Cordfucious at 10:31 PM on 03/27/08
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@One2ManyCords: and whats up with the link.... or is it just me
npa190 at 01:05 AM on 03/28/08
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i got one of Panasonic's systems with wireless rear speakers, there mediocre, but the rest of the system is fantastic!
dman0586 at 10:41 AM on 03/28/08
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For me, appearance is not more important over my sound or video quality!
renditionman at 01:27 PM on 03/28/08
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We took the high ground on this and put everything, phones, cable, speaker wires all behind crown molding that runs the perimeter of the room. Most people don't scope out what's over their head and if they did they wouldn't see them at all. Where they drop down to the actual electronics they go inside the wall between studs and snake out the bottom. The baseboard molding was not big enough and I didn't feel like pulling it all out. This was a viable option.