How to Run the Back Speakers for a Home Theater System

While hooking up speakers for a home-theater system is relatively easy, getting wires to the other side of the room can prove to be a challenge. Follow the tips shared here to get your speakers hooked up while still keeping those ugly wires hidden.

Things You'll Need

• Speaker wire Staple gun 1/4-inch staples Speaker stands or mounts Cord concealer

Instructions

1. Place your speakers in their desired location around the room. Generally, you want to put your center speaker above or below your television and space your left and right speakers as widely as you can. For the back, you will likely have either two or four speakers. Spread them out evenly along the back wall, or put two on the sides and two in the back.

2. Determine your speaker placement. You can put them on the floor; however, this is not a good option for smaller speakers. You can put them on tables or shelves, if possible. If not, either purchase speaker stands or mount the speakers to the wall with speaker mounts. (Install these according to the included directions.)

3. Determine the best way to run your wire. Ideally, you should run it under a couch or a rug. If not, you can run it along a baseboard. If there is a door in the way, you can run the wire up and around the doorway. If you need to run the wire across the floor, consider using a cord concealer, or run the wire underneath a throw rug.

4. Run the wire by connecting one of its ends to your stereo and laying it out along the path you have selected. If you are running the wire along a baseboard, staple it down using your staple gun. Make sure you do not put a staple through the wire, as this will affect the sound and could short out your system.

5. Connect the wire to the speakers.