Some good suggestions, Slappy, but apparently I need to better describe my predicament. My family room (where the HT is) opens up into the kitchen. It didn't do this originally, but at some point the people that we bought the house from took out the wall between the two rooms. The guy who we bought the house from built the house (and took out the wall), and was a big time commercial/industrial contractor, so everything is way overbuilt. The beams that he used to support the remainder of the wall between the family room and the kitchen (we have very high ceilings - 13' or so), so they only took out the bottom 7.5' or so of the wall) are huge, and make running wire up through the wall a near impossibility. My surrounds are mounted on the remainder of the wall (is it now an "archway"?) between the family room and the kitchen, about 8-8.5' from the floor. They are angled down, slightly. I figured if in ceiling surrounds would do the trick, this would too. It was darn near the only place to put them.
So, running under the floor isn't a problem. I have carpet, and I could either go under the carpet with flat wire, or just drop down into the basement, run it underneath the floor (where it is hidden by my suspended ceiling in the basement) and back up to the speakers. The difficulty is, getting it from the floor up to the speakers. On one side, it's a relatively easy run, and if I used paintable vinyl tape, I should be able to hide most of it in the corner (where two walls meet). One idea that you gave me, is that maybe it would look better to run the cable to my second speaker along with the first one, and then just continue it to the second speaker.
You see, this second speaker is in a really tough spot. The fireplace in question is quite large, and runs from the corner of the left wall (as you are facing the TV) towards the "archway" between the family room and the kitchen, and then wraps around (such that the fire faces both the family room and the kitchen), and then the stone continues into another room adjacent to the kitchen, where there is a second fireplace. I am not sure if that makes sense, but the reality of it is that the rear left speaker is located above the archway (and right about above your head, as you walk between the fireplace and the couch), and has a floor to ceiling fireplace off to the left (again, as you are facing the TV). So, my intial plan was to run my cable over to where the fireplace stones meet up with the archway, then up the corner between these two to the ceiling, then along the ceiling where it meets the fireplace stones, then down the corner between the fireplace stones and the "left" wall. I should be able to minimize the visual impact - especially if I can paint the cable, or get some vinyl tape over it.
However, you have now given me a second idea, and that is running the cable from the right rear speaker straight over to the left rear speaker. Yes, it would be a "naked" run, but it might work. Actually, as I have been typing this up, you have forced me to think of one more option. I may be able to run the speaker cable ALONG the top of the beam supporting the archway, to another wall, where I may then be able to fish it down to the basement. This would totally conceal the speaker cables, although the wall plates for where it would come out of the wall might be slightly above the speakers. Then again, I might be able to keep them low enough to have the surround speakers themselves hide them.
Okay, you have me thinking again, and that is USUALLY not a bad thing!
Thank you very much for your input.
Tom.
So, running under the floor isn't a problem. I have carpet, and I could either go under the carpet with flat wire, or just drop down into the basement, run it underneath the floor (where it is hidden by my suspended ceiling in the basement) and back up to the speakers. The difficulty is, getting it from the floor up to the speakers. On one side, it's a relatively easy run, and if I used paintable vinyl tape, I should be able to hide most of it in the corner (where two walls meet). One idea that you gave me, is that maybe it would look better to run the cable to my second speaker along with the first one, and then just continue it to the second speaker.
You see, this second speaker is in a really tough spot. The fireplace in question is quite large, and runs from the corner of the left wall (as you are facing the TV) towards the "archway" between the family room and the kitchen, and then wraps around (such that the fire faces both the family room and the kitchen), and then the stone continues into another room adjacent to the kitchen, where there is a second fireplace. I am not sure if that makes sense, but the reality of it is that the rear left speaker is located above the archway (and right about above your head, as you walk between the fireplace and the couch), and has a floor to ceiling fireplace off to the left (again, as you are facing the TV). So, my intial plan was to run my cable over to where the fireplace stones meet up with the archway, then up the corner between these two to the ceiling, then along the ceiling where it meets the fireplace stones, then down the corner between the fireplace stones and the "left" wall. I should be able to minimize the visual impact - especially if I can paint the cable, or get some vinyl tape over it.
However, you have now given me a second idea, and that is running the cable from the right rear speaker straight over to the left rear speaker. Yes, it would be a "naked" run, but it might work. Actually, as I have been typing this up, you have forced me to think of one more option. I may be able to run the speaker cable ALONG the top of the beam supporting the archway, to another wall, where I may then be able to fish it down to the basement. This would totally conceal the speaker cables, although the wall plates for where it would come out of the wall might be slightly above the speakers. Then again, I might be able to keep them low enough to have the surround speakers themselves hide them.
Okay, you have me thinking again, and that is USUALLY not a bad thing!
Thank you very much for your input.
Tom.