# Ok to run L/C/R speaker wire in a bundle?



## Trizzly (Oct 24, 2007)

Hello All,

I am finally getting started on my home theater and I was wondering if I could run my left, center and right speaker cables together from the media closet to the front of the room? Or will they interfere with each other? I am using 12 guage wire from monoprice.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Not a problem..There is no interference between speaker cables..


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## Trizzly (Oct 24, 2007)

Nice.

And thanks for the quick reply.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Yeah, agreed. I had LCR all crammed into the same 1" conduit at my old house and did not notice any interference. Just keep them away from your TV/Cable/Video feeds.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

If you have to run them across power lines run then at a 90 degrees to the power lines. 

Matt


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

It's not too bad to run speaker wires alongside power lines if you HAVE to. But if you can swing it 90 degrees will avoid any interference. The signal in speaker lines is much higher than video or audio level signals, so it drowns out the noise pretty well.

ALWAYS cross any signal lines at 90 degrees, though, because they pick up noise very easily. Separation by a few inches to a foot and using shielded cable is recommended as well.


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## Trizzly (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for all the help fella's.


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## Trizzly (Oct 24, 2007)

I have another question, if my power lines are run inside metal conduit is it still likely that I will pick up interference in my speaker wire?


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

The conduit will act as a shield both ways. It's just more common to have shielding on the signal lines than power or speaker wire.

I've worked with EMT conduit before. You just need to run individual wires inside it for power, not run the jacketed ROMEX in it (heat dissipation issues). I've had discussions with code inspectors and electricians regarding this topic and that was the consensus (although nobody could cite the actual code for it).

So it's a lot more common to pull jacketed ROMEX for power and run your speaker wires in conduit. EMT bending can be tricky, but if you fork over the money, you can buy pre-bent corners and jogs.

Good luck.


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## emilyamelia769 (11 mo ago)

Anthony said:


> The conduit will act as a shield both ways. It's just more common to have shielding on the signal lines than on power or speaker wire.
> 
> I've worked with EMT conduit before. You just need to run individual wires inside it for power, not run the jacketed ROMEX in it (heat dissipation issues). I've had discussions with code inspectors and electricians regarding this topic, and that was the consensus (although nobody could cite the actual code for it).
> 
> ...


Some time ago, I had a lot of problems with electric wires. because the power lines were scattered. I was afraid something might happen. Then the electrician advised me to use a black EMT conduit. Then I started using EMT conduit for electric wires in my house. I would also recommend you all use the EMT conduit in your house.


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