# Home theater, speaker wires, and carpet **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143 "2005-05-23T19:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/21 "2005-05-26T17:25:41Z")
Do you have any recommendations on what gauge of wire I should get? I don’t want to get something that’d be too big to work with. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/22 "2005-05-26T23:10:26Z")
> [@Fringe](#): > > Thanks **Chefguy** , that’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. Do you, or any others, have any suggestions or tips for working with baseboards? > > The wall I’m going to be running the speaker wire through is actually a half-wall, so I’m going to have to go across the carpet to get to the other side. Does anyone know a good solution to cover the wire, like cord covers? It’s going to be out in the middle of the floor, on tan carpet, so I’m hoping to find a solution that won’t look too out of place. I was thinking about maybe just laying down a rug, but I’d need one that is of fair size, and that would likely cost a good chunk of change. Any suggestions, anyone? I used a cable runner/cord cover to get about 3 feet across the passageway between the living room and the back bedrooms, then bought a 2-foot wide runner carpet to lay over it. Such runner carpets come in various lengths at the “marts” for probably under $20. I have a 30-foot long one in storage that I used on the main traffic area in a previous apt, that also overs a short run of stereo cable in cord cover. One could run across your the wall-to-wall but might clash, and the wire runner causes a slight hump along its length. If you use a carpet runner, you may not even need the humpy cable cover, but I cannot speak to its potential pitfalls-tripping if it slips out, damage to the carpet or to the cable from heavy (?) traffic. Really easy and cheap. Your choice-acoustics or aesthetics. Hint- if you get a carpet runner with a dark intricate pattern you don’t have to vacuum the lint from your dark socks off it as frequently-it kinda blends in. (Just the old bachelor in me talking.) ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/23 "2005-05-26T23:26:51Z")
14 gauge is generally adequate, unless the run is long, you’re pushing a _lot_ of power to the speakers, or both. If this is all just one room, and you don’t crank the sound up loud enough for the whole block (as is likely the case if these are your rear surrounds), you could probably get away with 16 gauge. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/24 "2005-05-27T01:23:27Z")
I’ve been using lamp-cord for speaker wire for years. It works great, is very cheap, and though not color coded, you can usually tell one side from another (one side is smooth, the other ribbed). I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/25 "2005-05-27T20:39:37Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > 14 gauge is generally adequate, unless the run is long, you’re pushing a _lot_ of power to the speakers, or both. If this is all just one room, and you don’t crank the sound up loud enough for the whole block (as is likely the case if these are your rear surrounds), you could probably get away with 16 gauge. The run will be long. Should I go for 10 or 12 instead then? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/26 "2005-05-27T23:27:16Z")
> [@Fringe](#): > > The run will be long. Should I go for 10 or 12 instead then? What do you mean by long? I meant upwards of 100’. If these are your rear surrounds, and you’re basically running around the perimeter of the room, say, 30’ total, then 16 should be fine, or 14 if you like playing it safe. Truthfully, 18 would probably be okay too, but let’s not push it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/27 "2005-05-28T02:47:03Z")
Yep. Home Depot sells speaker wire in bulk. Both in-wall and zip cord. Very cheap, and you can buy exactly the lengths you want. For running around inside a normal room, 14ga or 16 ga should be fine, as **Gorsnak** points out. For very high power applications over long speaker runs greater than 50 ft, you might want to go down to 12ga wire. 10ga is serious overkill. There’s almost always a nice sized channel hidden behind the intersection of your baseboard and carpet, but it might not be big enough for the thicker gauges of wire. If you use the putty knife technique that **Chefguy** described, you might want to stick with 16 ga wire to make the job easier. ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143/28 "2005-05-31T18:51:57Z")
That’s great, I think I already have some 30 feet of extra 16 ga wire. I believe I’m going to tape the speaker wires against the baseboard (the wall and boards are painted white, so I should be able to pull it off without it being too obtrusive). Thanks for all the help, everyone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-theater-speaker-wires-and-carpet/305143.md?page=1)