advice on hiding cables

Purchase $6000 cables, and display them with pride.

Try here:
http://cableorganizer.com/?src=googlewords

Hardwood floor, or , wall-to-wall? How about flat cables run under the carpet if it's wall-to-wall. If hardwood, run the cables under the floor (provided there is a crawl space or basement beneath your room).

I've always wondered why cable manufacturers don't use neutral colored jackets instead of black or other bold colors.

If you are sure that the speakers will reside where you have them currently placed. I would consider mounting jacks in the wall or the floor if the basement is unfinished. You don't mention the distance. Can you ,if you definitely don't want to cut holes, run the perimeter of the room with both runs? If this is possible, buy a matching peice of trim and tie the cable to it and wedge it along the baseboard so it won't be so obvious.

Slipknot has the best answer I know of. For my "living room" system, I run the cables through the floor, through the basement, then back up. If you have that option, you can also "hide" your amp in a closet or in the basement and score some WAF points.

Sorry guys, I was not very clear on my room description. I have hardwood floors and house is built on a slab foundation, no basement, So you now can undestand my dilemna.

When I had my speakers in the living room with equipment across the room about 18 feet from the speakers, I thought about going through the basement floor and up but realized this would take a lot of extra cable and a lot of extra work. I got some Goertz MI-2 cables and ran them under a rug in front of the speakers and then under the speakers (they were raised up on spikes). The rug ended a few inches from speakers, so all that was visible was a few inches of nice copper flat cable. My wife was very happy and it was a very practical solution.

Pull off the baseboards, use a router to make a nice groove in the back and run the cables in the groove--this way there is no sheet rock repair. If you do it carefully, you shouldn't even need touch up paint.

I know a gentleman(?) who drilled a hole in his floor and ran his cables under the floor. He has a basement so the whole thing was pretty easy. Is that a possibility?

How about duct tape ? A million roadies can't be wrong. It comes in loads of colors these days, so you'll probably find a pretty close match.
( I think you should pass this suggestion along to your wife and try to keep a straight face while doing so).

Actually I think Ultraviolet's idea is a really good one .. tucked away in my mind for possible future use.

@miner42 I understand your problem and think you might find something acceptable as a compromise to in-wall routing on Amazon. I was looking for something similar myself and ran across an add-on channel that runs along the baseboard. The advantage to doing it this way is that if you desire to make changes to the room arrangement down the road, it will be much easier and of course less expensive. 

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10635

Maybe, as mentioned, elevate them and give an on-purpose look to them.

I made mine from bowl blanks from Ebay and some time with the router table.

a compromise to in-wall routing on Amazon. I was looking for something similar myself and ran across an add-on channel that runs along the baseboard. 

This sounds similar to what I did and somewhat visible between the speakers and credenza in my Phoenix virtual system. These “cord hiders” were purchased on Amazon and they run along the baseboard.

@toro3 I think this idea is the best compromise for a room that is not a dedicated listening/theater room. A dedicated theater room would be nice but then it wouldnt be good for anything else. For the money I have to throw at this hobby, a dedicated space is not reasonable. If I lived alone I could justify it and would have the freedom to do it, but still would not be able to afford it. Sadly doing this is far from free. :)

@livinon2wheels 100% agree with everything you said and in the same boat on multiple levels. Dedicated is nothing but a dream for many of us.