Replies

1. 
   CAP_ | Apr 03, 2001 05:34am | #1

   *
   Mike--

   Keep all the low-voltage at least 16" (a conventional stud bay) away from the romex. Crossing the power cable at a right angle is OK, but I like to get as much space in between as possible.

   My local telco says that you can run inside phone wire (Cat3) parallel (next) to romex and through the same top plate holes...but then again, they're just thinking voice transmission. And if you get hum on the line from 60Hz bleedover, hey, it's not their problem.

   Don't worry about phone/CATV interferences. Run 'em cheek-by-jowl. I don't have experience with speaker wiring, but from what I've read, it's not likely to bother or be bothered by phone or CATV.

   Try a search on "low voltage prewire guide". A fellow has written an excellent paper on how he prewired his place for everything under the sun. His approach and advice are right on. If you can't find it, e-mail me. I think I downloaded a copy.

   Good luck.

1. 
   Mongo_ | Apr 03, 2001 06:51am | #2

   *Mike, Here's a section from Smarthome's site that gives a fairly detailed description on considerations when running wire.Here are a couple of other sites I have bookmarked:http://www.datatech.com/hot/w96_2.htmhttp://www.johnscloset.net

1. 
   Francis_Voignier | Apr 03, 2001 03:59pm | #3

   *You can definitely run speaker cables next to your AC, but no audio cables except at 90 degrees. Same as CAP said, keep the modem stuff a good distance away. I wired a few recording studios, where all the AC was shielded to protect audio equipment from interference, such as radio frequencies picked up by AC lines and 60Hz hum. In a nutshell, all the wiring ahead of a preamplifier must be shielded from AC interference.fv

1. 
   The_Tennis_Court_Builder_...on_t | Apr 03, 2001 04:49pm | #4

   *Keep it as separate as you can...but don't lose sleep over any of it...unless you are Mick Jagger. Then get it done right by the pros!near the stream having run it years ago any old way with no trouble but separating and homerunning all now,aj

1. 
   Darrel_ | Apr 03, 2001 05:21pm | #5

   *Instead of running Phone lines, run dual Cat5, you can use that for voice, or ethernet networking. However, you WILL want to keep that away from the electical, as the network will crawl if it receives much interference from wiring.And be SURE to put in GOOD coax, and I'd also recommend dual coax as well, as HDTV and future DSS systems will need the extra line.

2. 
   Robert_Macaione | Apr 03, 2001 06:46pm | #6

   *You may want to check with your inspector too. I run Cat5, speaker, coax and audio signal in the same bay with AC without any interference, although through seperate holes in the plates...Cross AC at a right angle where you have to.

3. 
   John_Sprung | Apr 03, 2001 08:28pm | #7

   *The best way to be future proof with all these non-power type things is to put boxes in the walls, with conduit running to the attic or crawl space. That way you can pull in whatever they think up years from now without having to hack up the walls. I was thinking of putting in dark fiber, but the experts told me that it would be obsolete and something better would be a lot cheaper by the time I got around to using it.Do keep all signal level stuff (except fiber optics) separate from power, and to be really careful, separate from the speaker lines and even each other. EMT instead of romex will make for a quieter electronic environment, and give you the option to pull in more wires in the future if you go for larger sizes than the minimum.-- J.S.

2. 
   Mike_Haag | Apr 03, 2001 08:28pm | #8

   *
   I am in the process of remodeling my own home, and have all of the wall cavities opened. I want to run all of the different wiring systems which might be of use at some point in the future(electric, speaker, coax, phone, etc.). Will any of these systems create an electromagnetic field that will disrupt the others? I would hate to have distortion in my sound system because I ran the speaker wire too close to the electric. Any thoughts/recommendations?