Wiring surround speakers in a new build

[Sgp]

How can I get the speaker cables through the walls from the AVR to the back of the room?

I'm not sure how to fish a cable all the way around the room, around two corners, or through the ceiling. (especially if we get atmos speakers in the ceiling)

I have Dot & Dab walls, and the room above is the master bedroom (no carpet laid yet)

Is this possible, and whats the best technique?

 

[sparkymarka]

Floor boards or chipboard floor above ?

 

[Sgp]

It's chipboard flooring above

I'm hoping to do this

 

[ericmark]

I remember with old house threading the cables, and having a speaker system where you could program the delay, seem to remember 6 speakers in all, and today well have two Nest Mini's linked so stereo, and we have piles of records and CD's but non are used, we were talking the other day we have at least three record players, goodness knows how many CD players, and some lovely radios, but simply not used, so want to keep one, but rest need to go.

Nest Mini's are clearly bottom of the scale as audio systems, but we have realised be it for TV, Telephone, Computers, or audio systems the wireless world has taken over, I am sure in all cases the wired is better, but is it worth all the effort?

However I have seen in one house where he used T2 trunking, he removed his skirting boards, fitted T2 trunking and then fitted skirting boards back on above it, all white and I did not realise what he had done, you can get special skirting trunking but rather expensive, but his method was cheap.

I have found through the years we end up reorganising the rooms, so being able to reorganise the wiring as well helps.

 

[foxhole]

Rear speakers are usually wireless these days? Mine are and unit is 10 years old.

 

[Lucid]

Rear speakers are usually wireless these days? Mine are and unit is 10 years old.

That might be true of the sort of surround systems based around a DVD/Blu-ray playing amp, but it's far less common where a component system is used. These have an AV Receiver or AV Amplifier at their heart, and then a separate disc player. They tend not to use the same sort of wireless rears as your surround system because it involves compressing the audio.

The situation has changed a little with the increasing popularity of multi-room music (Sonos, Yamaha Musicast, Denon/Marantz Heos, Bluesound, Bose SoundTouch and others) which use Wi-Fi to connect all the devices together. This is different from the proprietary or Bluetooth-type local links. BT and similiar doesn't have a lot of bandwidth and so the compression is pretty heavy-handed. Wi-Fi isn't anywhere near as restrictive, just so long as the devices are in range.

The acceptance of connecting to Wi-Fi, and the tech that goes with it, has made it possible to create full frequency wireless speakers. The other trend is the move to soundbars replacing the sort of all-in-one system that you bought 10 years ago. Sonos lead the way with this and their £700 sound bar plus £400/pair wireless rears. Pricey, but it showed consumers what was possible and proved to other manufacturers that it would sell despite the price.

 

[Lucid]

How can I get the speaker cables through the walls from the AVR to the back of the room?

I'm not sure how to fish a cable all the way around the room, around two corners, or through the ceiling. (especially if we get atmos speakers in the ceiling)

I have Dot & Dab walls, and the room above is the master bedroom (no carpet laid yet)

Is this possible, and whats the best technique?

Honestly, you're not going to make it round the corners of a room that has a dot-n-dab (drylining) wall finish.

Have a look at the image below. Here's a chap applying the adhesive to the wall before pressing the board in place. Have a look at the internal wall corner. The board is hard up against the adjacent wall. There's no gap to get round.

Second, have a think about what's going to happen to those splodges of adhesive once the board gets pushed and jiggled into place.

They're going to spread. When they do, some will spread far enough that they join up with the splodges nearest, and then you'll end up with a solid wall of adhesive at some or other part of the board gap. You won't get a wire past that unless you either detour a lot or cut the board where the blockage is and create a channel.

I have a special kit for pulling wires behind plasterboard walls. In essence, it's a big magnet in a roller, and that attracts a metal slug to which the wire is attached. Sometimes I'm lucky and can get wires up a wall. Other times the gap between the board and wall is too small, or there are adhesive dams, or there's something else in the way. Inevitably then I end up cutting in to a wall at some point during a job. That's just how it is.

Lift parts of the floor above. Run the cable in the board space if it will go. Cut for any blockages, then make good after.

Make sure you use good speaker cable. It doesn't have to be fancy, just decent thickness and all copper. Don't waste your money on the stuff that's made from aluminium and then coloured with a copper coating. It's a false economy.

If this and other replies were helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button on all those the posts. This isn't a big thing to ask of you. It takes a couple of seconds to do, and it costs you nothing.

You'll find that the Thanks button appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons.

This is the proper way to show your thanks and respect for the time, experience and help someone gave to you when you were in need. Be a good forum user and say thank you in the proper way. It will help to ensure that you continue to receive advice.