i,m moving house soon and its an old 1930,s building. i want to cut the surround sound cables into the walls and was wondering if anyone had any useful tips? i,ve never attempted anything like this and don't know where to start, what equipment to use, do the cables need to be protected etc. do i need plaster or could i use standard filler?

Hi,
I did this for a bedroom system.I just marked were i wanted the cables then cut out the plaster with a hammer a chisel.Then i got some 10mm flexible clear tube(so i can get the cables out again) which i fixed in the groove in the wall.Then filled the groove up with polyfiller and painted.I used Chord Rumour which is thin but quite stiff which i just threaded into the tube.
I only wanted the amp end with plugs so it was easy if you wanted both ends terminated then you would have to do one end in place.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Trevor

Jason,
There is a simply superb tool available from tool hire shops which will put 2" channels in your wall via 2 diamond saw blades. They make very little mess or dust, as they are attatched to a powerful vacum cleaner.
The whole thing looks like a large electric planer.
A few words of warning.
You need to be competent with power tools firstly, & then, of UTMOST importance, you need to know EXACTLY where ALL power cables etc run within the walls, (A device to find which can be easily purchased from diy shops / maplin etc.

Into the channel you can put prety much as you like. I used proper in wall speaker cable.(Sonance?) Just be aware that again you need to keep the lengths constant for better performance.
Over this I put wide galvanised cable cover & re-plastered the lot. It is now invisible, but cables are permanently in there!
You could put 2" wide plastic conduit in with a snap on cover?
I cut channels for 3 speakers, 3 lights & 4 new power points so it was well worth it, considering the lack of mess & dust.
Please, if you do use this, take heed of finding all the cables in a wall before proceeding!
Where the cable exits the wall, I used the DEEPEST single box I could get (50mm) and onto this I put a 'blanking 'plate' The centre of the plate had been drilled as a cable exit, soldered some plugs onto the cable ends, & voila, very neat job done.
Reason for the deep box is that you may decide to put in a 'speaker plate' with black & red sockets & run speaker cable from this. I prefered to keep the amount of connections to a minimum so simply soldered banana plugs to some cable & this was soldered to the in wall cable (silver solder).

Before digging into the wall consider using surface mounted plastic conduit with a clip on cover - it can be painted the same colour as the wall and is much less distructive and more acessible

i have heard of this machine that cuts channels into the wall but 2" seems a bit exsessive for surround cable. i like the idea of plastic tubing. keep the ideas coming people.

hilti diamond wall chaser is the tool you need
it can be set for various widths and depths
also you will be charged for wear on the blades by the mm

neil

If the house has old wooden floorboards (without tongues and grooves) it may be worth considering an underfloor route. It avoids damaging in-wall wiring and plumbing. Depending on the direction the joists run some simple wood boring may be necessary.

Do not try to save money by using a diamond wheel in a common high-speed angle grinder on your walls. You'll be spitting dust this time next year.

Nime

quote:

If the house has old wooden floorboards (without tongues and grooves) it may be worth considering an underfloor route. It avoids damaging in-wall wiring and plumbing. Depending on the direction the joists run some simple wood boring may be necessary.

Nime..

One slight problem there... what happens if you want the speakers mid wall or just below ceiling height?

You don't want to do it like that!

I should have mentioned earlier, the satalite speakers will be placed on brackets just below ceiling height. It's a sony system and not the most powerful expensive set-up as I imagine a lot of people on this forum might have. The speakers will be too retarded at floor level with all our furniture.

If they're the typical entry level speakers, they will suffer just as much by being placed near the ceiling. Just my 2 cents...

Jason

Just make sure if you have plaster board, DO NOT cut through if fully, you will give yourself a ridge, the two surfaces will not align properly, especially if they have been re-done in the last 10-15 years

Guy