I am in the process of selecting wires for routing through the walls for my Home Theater project.

The longest run will be about 40 feet for the rear surround speakers.
The speaker cable may run close to power cabling. Is this a big no-no?

I am thinking of using either 14 or 16 AWG wire after reading various threads discussing speaker wire. Should I go to 12AWG just to be safe?

I have seen on monoprice what is referred to as in-wall rated speaker wire.
What's the difference between this and normal wire?

Thanks for any tips!

I am in the process of selecting wires for routing through the walls for my Home Theater project.

The longest run will be about 40 feet for the rear surround speakers.
The speaker cable may run close to power cabling. Is this a big no-no?

I am thinking of using either 14 or 16 AWG wire after reading various threads discussing speaker wire. Should I go to 12AWG just to be safe?

I have seen on monoprice what is referred to as in-wall rated speaker wire.
What's the difference between this and normal wire?

Thanks for any tips!

In wall rated is what you should put in your walls. I believe the difference is that there is an outer sheath to protect the wires inside, and it has different burn propoerties than a regular wire.

Adam

Thanks Adam.

I will use in-wall cable.

Anyone with any tips on running these cables near power cables?

near your electric wiring in the wall? Try not to and if you must cross over one, do so at a 90 degree angle.

I like to keep a stud between the electric wiring and my in wall speaker wiring, but sometimes that is not always possible.

[QUOTE=sivartk]near your electric wiring in the wall? Try not to and if you must cross over one, do so at a 90 degree angle.
QUOTE]

Yes, thats what I was referring to.

First I should say that I live in Europe and the regulations are not as stringent.

The walls are all brick and electricians usually run parallel pvc conduits around the walls which are plastered in and run electric wiring through.

The electrician suggested laying a few more pvcs parallel to the other conduits and route the speaker cables through there.

I have since told him to run them though the floor and avoid the electric wiring alltogether.