I plan to run Cat5e + 16/4 combo (aka Siamese) cables for use with a Russound CAM6.6. At worst (I hope) I'll have to run 16/4 speaker wire and separate Cat5e for the control panels. The double-worst case would be running separate 16/2 runs for each speaker.

Is it necessary or even desirable to cut and remove the Cat5e beyond the control panel?

When you guys get to the first speaker of a L/R pair, do you just split the jacket to get a pair of wires connected to that speaker while keeping the jacket intact for the continuing run to the second speaker?

I plan to split the jacket for about 6", cut one pair of wires, pull the cut pair out of the slit then wrap the jacket with electrical tape to cover the split. This will leave me with a 6" tail to connect the speaker. Is this the 'correct' procedure? I don't want any hassle from my electrical inspector...

Do you usually pull the 'dead' pair out of the jacket if the remainder of the run is short enough?

I plan to run Cat5e + 16/4 combo (aka Siamese) cables for use with a Russound CAM6.6. At worst (I hope) I'll have to run 16/4 speaker wire and separate Cat5e for the control panels. The double-worst case would be running separate 16/2 runs for each speaker.

Is it necessary or even desirable to cut and remove the Cat5e beyond the control panel?

When you guys get to the first speaker of a L/R pair, do you just split the jacket to get a pair of wires connected to that speaker while keeping the jacket intact for the continuing run to the second speaker?

I plan to split the jacket for about 6", cut one pair of wires, pull the cut pair out of the slit then wrap the jacket with electrical tape to cover the split. This will leave me with a 6" tail to connect the speaker. Is this the 'correct' procedure? I don't want any hassle from my electrical inspector...

Do you usually pull the 'dead' pair out of the jacket if the remainder of the run is short enough?

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I typically run 16/4 from the home run to the wall panel along with a CAT5e and or power.... Then I run 16/2 from there to the speakers in the room.... Depending on how much 16/4 you have, you can simply run all 16/4.... Might be cheaper than buying two large spools that you won't finish.... What ever you do, I would not run any wire in the walls that is not sheilded (CL2 rated)... As I am sure you know, CL2 is fire rated and you don't want to get into any code issues...

Thanks for the insight. My 'panel' consists of three four-speaker single-gang wall plates (six rooms, two speakers/room) that are within a few feet of the CAM. I will use short pieces of 16/4 with banana plugs to make the connection from the CAM to the wall.

I was hoping to run 16/4 from the panel to the room, and just extract one pair at the first speaker I came to then continue on the the second speaker. I am beginning to think that this may not fly if the inspector doesn't like seeing my 16/4 wrapped with tape to seal the opening I need to make to get that first pair of wires out of the jacket.

Oh well, running 16/2 for each speaker won't be that much trouble.

Just dont split the wires and install the speakers until the dry wall and everything else is completed and inspected.

You know, that might actually work.

"When you guys get to the first speaker of a L/R pair, do you just split the jacket to get a pair of wires connected to that speaker while keeping the jacket intact for the continuing run to the second speaker? "


I ran 14/4 wire and looped it through boxes in the ceiling space. Cut through the jacket towards where it leaves to go to next speaker, pull out two colours and hook it up. I left these in the jacket, cut those short at the end, and used the other two colours for other speaker. (my 14/4 wire was black, green, red, white) ... not sure what convention is, but I went with Black and white as one pair.

Make sure you keep it consistent with all of them to get the left/right pairing and +/- pairing correct for speakers and speaker pairs. There is no problem with having different lengths of wires going to each speaker in a pairing. That is, keep wires to any one speaker equal length (+/-), but the lengths to the Left/right can be different.

Good luck !

Cheers
sd

Depending on how much you need to go from the keypad locations to the speakers, run up to Home Depot or Lowes and get some 16/2. Use the simese to go from the home run drop to your keypad locations and then the 16/2 to the speaker locations. This worked great for me as I needed about 400 feet of the simese, but only 50-75 feet or so of 16/2.

Of course if you got the simese cheap, just loop it through your keypad location once and keep going to the speaker locations. I think I've seen speakers with CatX connectors, plus who knows what will be coming out in the future.

Depending on how much you need to go from the keypad locations to the speakers, run up to Home Depot or Lowes and get some 16/2. Use the simese to go from the home run drop to your keypad locations and then the 16/2 to the speaker locations. This worked great for me as I needed about 400 feet of the simese, but only 50-75 feet or so of 16/2.

Of course if you got the simese cheap, just loop it through your keypad location once and keep going to the speaker locations. I think I've seen speakers with CatX connectors, plus who knows what will be coming out in the future.

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This is exactly what I did... Worked great...