Things You'll Need:
- electrical tape, coat hangers, utility knife, wire cutters
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Step 1
Determine where the wires will run. It is best to lay out where you want the speakers and other components to sit before getting down to business. Since you will be cutting into your carpet, you need to be sure of where your components will sit. The locations you choose most likely will be in the corners of the room, or at least close to a wall. Choosing out-of-the-way locations for making these slits ensures they will be unmolested by foot traffic and generally hidden by things such as furniture. It is also best to be wary of the locations of other pre-existing openings in the carpet, such as heat vents or outlets, as these can serve as additional places from which you can manipulate the wires as you pull them under the carpet.
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Step 2
You will need your utility knife. In the determined locations, spread apart the carpet fibers to reveal the backing. Carefully make a 1" to 1.5" slit in the backing perpendicular to the direction the wire will run. Try not to cut any fibers and as little of the backing as possible. Making the slits small will insure that when it comes time to pull out the wires, the damage to the carpet will not be noticeable.
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Step 3
With a slit made at or near the location for each speaker or component and one behind the entertainment center where the wires will be collected, it is time to make a homemade "fish tape." Fish tape is what electricians use to pull electrical wire through conduit. If you can get your hands on some genuine fish tape, great. If not, read on.
Take a coat hanger or two and straighten them out. If you have some really stout metal coat hangers, these work best. It may be easier to cut off the hanger hook with wire cutters than untwisting it. Lay the coat hanger down on the carpet between two slits where you will be running the wire. This is to determine if one hanger will suffice. If the distance is too long to span with one, take another straightened hanger and add it to the first. Overlap the two by about six inches and cover the overlapped part with electrical tape, ensuring that the cut ends are taped over. This is to avoid any snagging.
Bend about 2" of each end of the coat hanger to create a narrow loop. Once again, tape over the jagged end of the coat hanger with electrical leaving the end of the loop uncovered to allow for the speaker wires to pass through. You now have homemade "fish tape." -
Step 4
Go to the location of the first speaker or component and begin fishing the hanger through the slit in the carpet toward the entertainment center. This will take some finagling to make sure it is headed in the right direction, especially if the coat hangers you have are flimsy. If you lift the carpet slightly as the foremost part of the homemade fish tape passes through, it will create a path easy for it to follow - grab a friend for help. Once it is near the opposite slit, you can have another person guide it through using the hook portion of the hanger which was cut off earlier.
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Step 5
Now take the speaker wire and guide it through the loop you created earlier at the end of the hanger. (You may pull more than one wire at a time depending on the size of the wires.) Pass about 2" to 3" inches of wire through the loop and bend the wire over, back onto itself. Grab the electrical tape and cover everything including the end of the wire and the hanger loop itself. You should have one solid wrapping of tape where the hanger joins with speaker wire.
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Step 6
You are now ready to pull the hanger and the newly joined speaker wire back through under the carpet in the opposite direction. Having someone guide the speaker wire into the slit in the carpet will reduce the possibility of snags. Once through, undo the tape covering and connecting the speaker wire to the hanger. The first speaker wire has been pulled!
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Step 7
Repeat steps 4 through 6 for the remaining speaker/component wires.
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Step 8
Once all the wires are pulled, hook up all of your speakers or other components. You have now hidden your speaker wire without pulling up carpet.
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Step 9
If you ever need to pull out the speaker wires for any reason, simply unhook all of the components and pull the wires through. The carpet should look good as new by doing a little grooming. If there is any concern about the damage done by the slits, a hot glue gun can fix that. Spread the carpet fibers apart, revealing the slit. Glue the slit and hold the fibers apart until the glue has solidified. Good as new!
