Stringing up cables for surrounds

When i lived in apartments i would just go out and get some flat cable and some fishtape (a reel of stiff metal or plastic used to route cables, you can get this at GreyBar or any telecommunmications or electicians supply store) then run the fishtape under the carpet to the audio gear, and pull the flat cable under the carpet and bring it out where the rear speaker stands would be, and feed it up the back of the stands. No visible cable that way.

There is also a special baseboard you can buy that is actually a cable trough. you can use that or build your own to replace the existing baseboard, then drill a small hole on the wall where the speaker will be mounted. drop some twine down the hole with a weight on the end, then drill a small hole behing the baseboard and fish out the cable with a coathanger. Tie the cable to the string and pull er up.

A little caution, if you REALLY dont want the cable seen, unless you absolutly CANNOT find another way, always make sure the cable is 100% concealed. Those white cables sure look nice brand new, but believe me they get dirty fast. Just look at em wrong and they get filthy.

If you are not too concerned about the ULTIMATE PERFECT UNCOMPRIMISED GOD-LIKE AUDIOPHILE SOUND coming from your surrounds, i would go with the fishtape and flat cable method on the run that would have to cross your fireplace.

that one run will use a different style of cable, but come on man, were talking about surround speakers. You gotta be pretty anal about sound to go with an uglier method in this case to preserve that high-end sound.

Ive used the flat cable for my surrounds for a long time, never had a single problem with it. it sounded just fine.

i say your best bet is flat cable.
If you do it well, you wont even feel it under the carpet.

if you have hardwood floors, then... uh..
you might always be able to make baseboard that wraps around the bass of your fireplace...

So what is going on here? you have carpet or hardwood floors?
What kind of fireplace? is it one of those lame eco-friendly gas places that is flush with the wall? or a nice brick wood burner that sticks out intop the room?
so you CANNOT run another cable along the one that you can do through the basement for the other surround? maybe make it long enough to reach behind the couch to the other speaker?>

I used to run all sorts of cable for a living, i got pretty wicked at making my audiogear look wireless.

Hmm..
sounds like a heck of a place you got there, but i think i got it figured out.

Well, here is another option, i dont know if this would work for you, but i assume you have some sort of a couch at the viewing position, you could always purchase some speaker stands for the surrounds and place them at the sides and slightly behind the couch and just fish some flat cable under the carpet and have it come out where the stands will be placed. see if you can get some stands where the cable can run up through the center of the stand.

That option of course can cause 2 issues. First issue being that the surrounds are located rather close to you, ive had to have that configurration before and it really diddnt bother me a whole lot.
the 2nd problem is stability, there is always the chance of a dog knocking it over or etc etc.

Yeah, im gonna have to remember that Groovin-Drywall suggestion myself, i thought that was pretty slick.
Great if you are gonna be painting a finished basement and want to get some wiring done.