Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

We have a home theater sound system that uses rear speakers. I love the system and want to bring it to TV when we move. But with many of the TV homes having cathedral ceilings, how do you get the wires to the rear speakers? Are there installation people of electricians that anyone would recommend?

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

I know that you probably love your system but the new way is wireless. Many of the top systems now have very good if not great wireless for the side/rear surrounds. You could still keep the subwoofer and fronts wired. That's what i would do anyway, probably wouldn't cost much more than having someone hide the wires for you.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Russ,

Going wireless, wouldn't that mean I would have to get new speakers as well as a new reciever? Plus, I would be concerned with interference. I am aware that wireless has come a long way, but unless they encrypt the signal I do not believe there is a way of canceling out interference.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

I think that they have figured out the interference. You do not need a new receiver since the wireless transmitter is wired into the rear speaker outlet. I have heard them in a very high end system and it was perfect.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

rsetterlund:

Your system sounds a gazillion times more sophisticated than mine, but the wiring, etc., should probably not be all that different!

I suggest that you contact Digital Sight & Sounds, 1554 Bella Cruz Drive (Spanish Plaines, near Albertson's) 352-347-8665 or 352-750-1438.

I built my house in late 2004, when complete individualization was possible. Digital came while the house was building and installed whatever wiring was needed for speakers, etc. This meant that their wires dangled from the ceiling for a while until after I actually moved in, when they came and installed the speakers I had ordered from them.

They'll do almost anything you want, I'm sure. And, they'll know one h--- of a lot more about what you want technically than I will! :joke:

SWR

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

I also have a 5.1 system. My front speakers and rear speakers are all mounted high up on the walls and are aimed down into the room. Before I physically mounted the speakers or attached the mounts I made a small hole in the wall where the speakers were to go. In my case I also made small holes at the very bottom of the wall for the wire. I used a wire snake (you can get them at Home Depot or Sears) and you can fish the speaker wire through the two holes. The snake is pretty rigid so it won't collapse inside the wall yet it's flexible enough for easy handling behind the wallboard. I drilled a couple of small holes in the floor near the wall and ran the speaker wire into the basement where I routed it to a spot underneath the Stereo Receiver. I know this sounds like I made swiss cheese out of my living room but the holes are small and behind furniture. The holes by the speaker were spackled up and painted. It's all a huge pain but once it's done..that's it. I'm running a Yamaha receiver into Polk Audio speakers. The center speaker and powered sub-woofer are both Yamahas. Hope this helps. Any questions just PM me. Don H.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Ahhh, the magic words "basement."* How simple that has made the installation of speakers.* But alas, we have no basements. :(

Does anyone know if Bose makes a wireless set of rear speakers?* I gave away my rear speakers with the house I sold in January - whatever the buyer wanted in this market she got. ;D

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Bose makes rear/side wireless surrond speakers that can extend their popular (and very good IMHO) Lifestyle system. These are what my friend has and you'd never know that they are not wired. I think they also sell a wireless transmitter that will work with their speakers if you are using some other receiver besides the Bose Lifestyle base unit.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Wow!* Thanks Russ.*

Here is the Bose weblink for that product: http://www.bose.com/controller?event...ries_ls_system It is the first item, called "SL2 wireless surround link"

I'm told it is comprised of a transmitter and powered receiver.* It allows a wireless link between the bass module at the front and the rear speakers.* Of course, the rear speaker arrays still need to be wired to the powered receiver and the receiver needs to be plugged into an AC outlet.* But wires are eliminated between the front and rear.* This provides a lot of flexibility.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Russ,

I just checked Bose's web site and all I could find for wireless were speakers that could be used in other rooms or outside if you had their receiver. Plus after looking at the prices of the Bose receivers I do not see one of them in my future. I will continue looking at other sites.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Gfmucci, You're right, I'm lucky to have a basement (ultimate wiring duct) in my home and probably won't have one in The Villages. I'm guessing that basements are not an option there. How about crawl spaces overhead? Do homes in TV have them? Just a thought. They're a pretty good alternative to basements for cable runs.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Can you make the run around the room near the base boards? They sell wire molding that will effectively hide the wire. I have a 7.1 system and will be running the cables along the edges of the room, hiding in the wire molding.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

We're having a system installed in our Jasmine II and the installers are putting the speakers in the ceiling and running the wiring from the the amp up through the wall and into the ceiling to the connections on the speakers.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

Yes, there is attic crawl space above every ceiling, usually with one, two or three access hatches. I've wired through many attics in my younger days. If you do it yourself I would strongly urge you to do it in the winter when the attics do not reach 130 plus degrees.

Baseboard wiring is also a good option as mentioned below if you do not have ceiling mounted speakers.

The Bose wireless "Transmitter/receiver" I mentioned above costs $249 and would be suitable for people who already have a Bose Lifestyle or Acoustimass system and don't want to wire their rear speakers from the main unit.

Re: Home Theater with 5.1 surround sound
 

I think you might be right about needing the Bose receiver but the SL2 wireless surround link is for rear speakers not just for those in another room.

But there are plenty of other options to use your current receiver (and current speakers even) if you need to go wireless. Read this article about how to accomplish that: http://www.practical-home-theater-gu...er-system.html