j123vt_99

I recently moved into a new house and wish I had thought about having this done when I first moved in.. Anyway, I have my 51" TV with nice front/center channel speakers, but I have nothing in the back. I might be interested in having someone cable the room to have speakers (or at least jacks) on the back walls. I would like to have the cable hidden (versus running a cable across the baseboard)... What would be a rough estimate for how much this would cost to have someone do?



......or are there decent wireless rear speakers?

awmurray

What's under the living room? Crawlspace? Basement? Finished basement? Ideally it would be crawlspace or unfinished-basement for this kind of project.

Also, what's over it (i.e. can you get into the attic)?

No.

DJ_Longfellow

Yep, good questions above....if you have an unfinished basement, this makes it easy. You could do it yourself if that's the case. details please

j123vt_99

It's a 1st floor living room.. Below it is just a concrete slab.. Above it is my office.

Y2K Falcon

OOoooh.... Worst case scenario.

There are pretty much no basements in this part of the US. Sucks, really. I could use a "media room".

And it being a two-story house makes it harder. Climbing around an attic isn't fun, but it's much easier than wiring between floors of a two-story. Yikes.

j123vt_99

It can't be done through the walls of the living room all on the 1st floor?

DVD Josh

I'll just give a practical suggestion - wire under the baseboards (or along them). Then just drill into the wall and run the wires up from the floor and back through the wall.

Deftones

Yeah, if it was an attic/crawl space above it would be easy. Having a second floor makes it harder.

My guess is that it'll set you back about $90/hour for labor. My guess is that's about a 3-4 hour job, give or take. And if you are going to do it, do it right. Mights as well have them prewire for 7.1 surround sound if you plan on staying there a while.

j123vt_99

What would parts cost... ballpark? The more I think of it, the harder it will be. I forgot about the door on one side of the wall

Deftones

Well, it's not parts other than running speaker wire and maybe wall plates for the speaker tie ins. The cost is almost all labor. When I wanted to have a company come out to move my satellite dish, they wanted $90/hour to do it. That's just based on my experience, so that's why I posted that number. Just call around. Good companies will give you a price per hour for labor, and give you an estimate for how much it might cost given the dimensions of the room and desired results. I'd say if someone quotes more than about $400, then that's too high.

j123vt_99

Well, it is a new house and was an option when I bought the house so I just called the builder to see if I could pay for them to do it now (or at least get an estimate of what it costs).. They are going to call me back.. I'm sure it will be ridiculous, but at least it's an estimate

Deftones

I got mine prewired for 5.1 when I bought my new house, and it only cost $200. But that was pre-frame, so they could do it easily. You aren't so lucky.

Honestly, I'd try to find a reputable AV company in your town to do it. Don't go with your home builder. Usually HT wiring is treated just like any other electrical wiring. Get a company that'll do it right and use the right kind of wire. Just a suggestion, IMHO.

Sdallnct

Yup before doing my media room my self, I checked into have it done. You will easily spend $100 per hour.

cajun_junky

Do you know which direction your ceiling/floor joists run? If they run from the tv to the rear of the room it can be done a little easier but will still be a pain in the a**. You are looking at some drywall and/or ceiling repair after the fact which can sometimes be noticable after its done. One way to do it would be to make a hole above the tv in the corner of the room and run a fishtape along the ceiling parallel to the joists to the other hole in the ceiling in the back of the room and pull your wire. You would then need to fish the wire down each wall to the holes you made for the wire to come out. Then try to repair the holes as best you can.

If they run perpendicular then you are looking at an extensive and possibly messy job. Best to let the experts do the job then.

My home was already built but I was able to run the wires under the baseboards. My brother built his house and one evening after the workers finished for the day we went in and ran the wire he needed. We asked the superintendent in charge of building his house before the fact and he had no problem. SOOOOO much easier!!

Sdallnct

While it might not have the WAF, could you run the wire under the carpet to speakers on small stands? Or maybe get creative and put a couple of end tables behind your seating area and put the speakers on those?

I'm in a similar situation in my living room. Concrete slab foundation, vaulted ceiling so no attic space. Right now I'm running no rear speakers My only hope is that my hall was which is the common wall to where my tv is, is NOT vaulted. So if I can fish the wire in the attic from the living room to the hall, I will be gold. However, I will have to cross the ceiling joists so it will be a pain.

SINGLE104

You have a crawspace like mine, which is beneath the house.

ANDREMIKE

They sell 6ft drill bits that you can use to drill across the joist with minimal mess. but yes the only way your doing this now is to make holes in the ceiling.

Or run it under the carpet if you have carpet..

the baseboard is a good idea but if there is a door there then you will have to run it over the door.

If you really have the crawl space then it would be rather easy.

cajun_junky

I've never heard of a crawlspace between a house and its concrete slab. I wonder if this is a regional thing because all the houses in my area with concrete slabs have the house built into the slab (so to speak).

Michael T Hudson

Most of the houses in Austin are just a concrete slab.

Deftones

Yes. It's a regional thing.