# Running speaker wire under my house....



## mastrauckas

I'm running speaker wire under my house and I was wondering if you could run normal speaker wire or do you need outside speaker wire? I call up my insurance company but they couldn't answer my question. I was thinking maybe there is a building code I had to use but I'm unable to find one for speaker wire. 

Each speaker wire i'm running is about 60 or 70 feet long. 

One more thing, based on the distance, is there a difference between 14, 16 or 18 gauge wire? 

Also I live in Lexington, SC if that helps.


----------



## jimmie57

mastrauckas said:


> I'm running speaker wire under my house and I was wondering if you could run normal speaker wire or do you need outside speaker wire? I call up my insurance company but they couldn't answer my question. I was thinking maybe there is a building code I had to use but I'm unable to find one for speaker wire.
> 
> Each speaker wire i'm running is about 60 or 70 feet long.
> 
> One more thing, based on the distance, is there a difference between 14, 16 or 18 gauge wire?
> 
> Also I live in Lexington, SC if that helps.


I can answer just 1 of your questions and that is the size of the wire. The lower the number of the gauge the larger the wire is. I would go with the 14 for this length of run. Also, the lower the number the more power it is able to transmit.

Personally, I would not talk to the Insurance company or the Building codes people about speaker wire for my house.


----------



## mastrauckas

jimmie57 said:


> I can answer just 1 of your questions and that is the size of the wire. The lower the number of the gauge the larger the wire is. I would go with the 14 for this length of run. Also, the lower the number the more power it is able to transmit.
> 
> Personally, I would not talk to the Insurance company or the Building codes people about speaker wire for my house.


The reason I did is because of insurance reasons. Don't want the insurance company saying I won't cover my house in case of fire because I ran speaker wire.


----------



## fluffybear

When we purchased our home (8 years ago), the previous owner had set-up a surround system by running the wires under the house (at least 10 years ago). They used 14-gauge which is preferred for runs over 50 feet (their runs were around 25). While we have since removed the wires from that room (2011 when we installed Oak Flooring), I was in the crawl space a few weeks back and the wires themselves still look new. 

I also would recommend not making any kind of splices as this is typically where most issues occur and don't cheap out on quality. You may pay a couple of extra bucks but I personally think you will be happier in the long run..


----------



## mgavs

IMHO... If this is difficult run a cat 6, good chance you will wish you did. Our audio throughout the house is delivered digitally.


----------



## harsh

Is this a multi-zone AVR or a central intercom/music setup?

Most whole-house systems have high impedance amplifiers and speakers for making the extra distance. On the other hand, a 4 ohm speaker may need transformers at either end to jack up the impedance as 12ga wire is a minimum to get the job done at up to 80'.

Jacketing depends on what might be attacking the cable. If you don't have petroleum products, animals or sunlight leaking in, pretty much anything of sufficient gauge will work. If there's nasty stuff, SEOW cord would keep the copper protected. In any case, the wire should be stranded and not solid.


----------



## fluffybear

mastrauckas said:


> The reason I did is because of insurance reasons. Don't want the insurance company saying I won't cover my house in case of fire because I ran speaker wire.


exactly! never give an insurance company an opportunity for an out.


----------



## mastrauckas

harsh said:


> Is this a multi-zone AVR or a central intercom/music setup?
> 
> Most whole-house systems have high impedance amplifiers and speakers for making the extra distance. On the other hand, a 4 ohm speaker may need transformers at either end to jack up the impedance as 12ga wire is a minimum to get the job done at up to 80'.
> 
> Jacketing depends on what might be attacking the cable. If you don't have petroleum products, animals or sunlight leaking in, pretty much anything of sufficient gauge will work. If there's nasty stuff, SEOW cord would keep the copper protected. In any case, the wire should be stranded and not solid.


It's a receiver that supplying the two back speakers on a 5.1 surround sound system. I'm not using multi-zone at all. The two back speakers are Mirage Omni 60(which I believe are 6 ohm). Based on the on the chart at this link, I should be using 12 gauge wire.

I'm not understanding your bit about the jacketing?

Anyway, it appears it doesn't matter if I use inside or outside speaker wiring?


----------



## mastrauckas

fluffybear said:


> When we purchased our home (8 years ago), the previous owner had set-up a surround system by running the wires under the house (at least 10 years ago). They used 14-gauge which is preferred for runs over 50 feet (their runs were around 25). While we have since removed the wires from that room (2011 when we installed Oak Flooring), I was in the crawl space a few weeks back and the wires themselves still look new.
> 
> I also would recommend not making any kind of splices as this is typically where most issues occur and don't cheap out on quality. You may pay a couple of extra bucks but I personally think you will be happier in the long run..


I didn't think there was a difference with quality kind of like HDMI cables?


----------



## jimmie57

mastrauckas said:


> I didn't think there was a difference with quality kind of like HDMI cables?


There are some aluminum wires vs copper wires and there are differences in the coating around the actual wire inside that varies from brand to brand.

12 gauge wire is even better for long distance. I have some 16 gauge ran that is 30 feet long and do not have a problem with it. It is inside the house.


----------



## harsh

mastrauckas said:


> It's a receiver that supplying the two back speakers on a 5.1 surround sound system.


And the closest route is 60+ feet?


> Based on the on the chart at this link, I should be using 12 gauge wire.


12 gauge is good. Since they won't normally be carrying much current and you've probably got some equalization available, you should be OK.


> I'm not understanding your bit about the jacketing?
> 
> Anyway, it appears it doesn't matter if I use inside or outside speaker wiring?


Jacket is what the outer insulation is made of. Some homes have all manner of goodies rat-holed under them and some of it may attack that insulation either chemically or mechanically (rodent chews, scuffing, shearing).

The cabling should probably be at least rated for in-wall use. I think that crawlspace cabling is supposed to be riser rated. The rating comes down to what kind of gases the cable gives off when it is burning.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/inwallrating.htm

You don't have to do things according to code if you don't want, but there are reasons that the code exists and they aren't silly.


----------



## mastrauckas

harsh said:


> And the closest route is 60+ feet?
> 12 gauge is good. Since they won't normally be carrying much current and you've probably got some equalization available, you should be OK.
> Jacket is what the outer insulation is made of. Some homes have all manner of goodies rat-holed under them and some of it may attack that insulation either chemically or mechanically (rodent chews, scuffing, shearing).
> 
> The cabling should probably be at least rated for in-wall use. I think that crawlspace cabling is supposed to be riser rated. The rating comes down to what kind of gases the cable gives off when it is burning.
> 
> http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/inwallrating.htm
> 
> You don't have to do things according to code if you don't want, but there are reasons that the code exists and they aren't silly.


60 feet is just the back speakers distance. The center and right and left are about 10 feet or less. Unless I'm not understanding your question?

I'm thinking I'm going to go with CL2 speaker wire. However I emailed my county code enforcer to find out for sure. I also believe these codes exist for a reason. Also I don't want any type of out for insurance companies.

Right now I'm thinking this speaker wire. However I won't decide until I I hear from the county code enforcer.


----------



## jimmie57

mastrauckas said:


> 60 feet is just the back speakers distance. The center and right and left are about 10 feet or less. Unless I'm not understanding your question?
> 
> I'm thinking I'm going to go with CL2 speaker wire. However I emailed my county code enforcer to find out for sure. I also believe these codes exist for a reason. Also I don't want any type of out for insurance companies.
> 
> Right now I'm thinking this speaker wire. However I won't decide until I I hear from the county code enforcer.


Lots of people on this site buy from these people.
http://www.monoprice.com/Search?cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&keyword=speaker wire

You might check it out before purchasing.


----------



## dmspen

If you want to keep your speaker wire rat bite free or bug free, run it through small diameter PVC under the house. Granted it adds some cost but you'll not have any issues. I had rats eat my air conditioning wires that ran under my house.


----------



## harsh

mastrauckas said:


> 60 feet is just the back speakers distance. The center and right and left are about 10 feet or less. Unless I'm not understanding your question?


It seems like an awfully long room that has 50' between the fronts and the rears.


----------



## Scott Kocourek

harsh said:


> It seems like an awfully long room that has 50' between the fronts and the rears.


50' isn't that much when you consider it's not traveling a straight line.


----------



## harsh

Scott Kocourek said:


> 50' isn't that much when you consider it's not traveling a straight line.


That's the point of going under instead of around. Even at 6' down and 10' up, that's 44' away.


----------



## dmspen

Some 15 years ago, I need to route a phone line under the house to get DSL near the PC. Underneath was pretty dirty, nasty, and full of cobwebs.
So what did I do? Did I crawl under in all that stuff myself? Heck no! I paid one of our friends kids $5 in McDonalds gift certificates to do it!


----------



## peds48

dmspen said:


> Some 15 years ago, I need to route a phone line under the house to get DSL near the PC. Underneath was pretty dirty, nasty, and full of cobwebs.
> So what did I do? Did I crawl under in all that stuff myself? Heck no! I paid one of our friends kids $5 in McDonalds gift certificates to do it!


heck, my son wouldn't do it even if you gave him $50 for Outback steak house.... Lol

Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk


----------



## Cholly

One of the previous owners of my younger son's house in Dallas ran unprotected regular speaker wire outside the house to feed the rear speakers in the living room. The house is built on a slab and the living room has a slant cathedral ceiling, so outer walls seemed the best choice. Son has been running a pair of Paradigm Atoms as rear speakers for 7 or 8 years now. I would have thought that weather extremes would have attacked the insulation by now, but all still seems well.


----------



## dmspen

Cholly said:


> One of the previous owners of my younger son's house in Dallas ran unprotected regular speaker wire outside the house to feed the rear speakers in the living room. The house is built on a slab and the living room has a slant cathedral ceiling, so outer walls seemed the best choice. Son has been running a pair of Paradigm Atoms as rear speakers for 7 or 8 years now. I would have thought that weather extremes would have attacked the insulation by now, but all still seems well.


Sounds like my current house. I have my theater setup in a niche which used to be a wet bar smack dab in the middle of the house. To get the rear speakers wired, I put down flat speaker wire on the slab while the carpet was being installed right when we moved in. Getting the DISH coax down through the roof, through the central pipe area and out really required some serious fishing work by the DISH guys. I ended up using the DISH coax as a guide for routing my ethernet that way too.

Carpet may get replaced soon and I'm looking at replacing the speaker wire with flatwire (note the caps). http://www.flatwireready.com/


----------

