I wouldn't either but if you must then just put in conduits of sufficient diameter so you can snake the wires easily later. You certainly don't want to commit to wires at this point Ron.
Although I never tried metal conduits, long ago I wrapped all my ICs and speaker cables with aluminum foil and connected everything to the ground. That time it was a complete disaster - it killed the system, making it lifeless and boring.
Remember that you will need large diameter pipes - some connectors are really thick.
Knowing the cables Ron is considering this will be a large conduit. Hence cutting into the slab. This for me is a no go. I'd rather deal with the cables on the floor
Knowing the cables Ron is considering this will be a large conduit. Hence cutting into the slab. This for me is a no go. I'd rather deal with the cables on the floor
Behind the wall or in the upper crawl space? Cutting into concrete is a "big mess' lot's of dust and it goes everywhere,structural?. Even if they can contain the dust...I would look for other options.
Knowing the cables Ron is considering this will be a large conduit. Hence cutting into the slab. This for me is a no go. I'd rather deal with the cables on the floor
I agree. Getting a concrete saw in there and the mess it makes as well as the expense, isn't there any other options? A cable raceway molding or something? It is "Highly" recommended that metal conduit is not used. If you must go this route, use 4" PVC conduit. I'm assuming schedule 40 would be o.k. but should check. If memory serves, electrical lines are supposed to be run in schedule 80, but these are audio signals, not power cables.
I saw Dave C. said that either metal or PVC would both be problematic. Dave could you share why PVC would be problematic?
Thank you for your assistance and thoughts, gentlemen.
I have pretty much dropped the idea of the under-the-slab conduit (very expensive; limiting on cables; and perpetual worry about leaking) and so this raceway has to go on the floor (on top of the carpet) right at the five foot wide entryway/archway between two rooms. So there is a trip-over risk issue and a cosmetics issue.
Legard makes a fairly nice stainless steel box raceway, and that might be less unsightly than a typical rubber Wiremold Coreduct or a plastic box raceway. This conduit has to go across the entire five foot opening between the two rooms so the stainless steel raceway might allow it to look almost like a design element as opposed to a yucky-looking wire cover thing.
As David says, I do not want to commit to wires at this point.
I would worry about conduit resonating or rattling behind the walls. If it were me, I would get some nice belden coax wire and run them now before the walls are up. It will cost next to nothing and doesn't need conduit. When the time comes you can experiment with using that, versus garden hose cables run the surface.
I think proper aesthetics of a room has value and one that is too often sacrificed with too much running from here to there in typical stereo systems.
On that note be sure to distribute enough outlets on the wall as not have to run long AC cables.
I have never seen interconnects done this way but I have seen speaker wires run through PVC through a concrete slab. The slab was poured though with the conduit in place. No issues at all.
There are companies that specialize in it. It is a massive, loud machine that cuts with water/diamond saw. So no dust. They get it done in an hour or two. I have had it done at my theater and the one at work. In the stage of construction that I think Ron is at, it is not a big deal at all.
