I am currently building a new house and wish to run two lengths of NAC A5 under the first storey floor to hide them but have no real idea of how to neatly get the cables under and out of the floor again. I have a pair of SBL’s and know where the A5 will enter and exit the floor, and was just contemplating drilling entry and exit holes as they will be hidden by the speakers and rack but was looking for any better ideas!
It is a 19mm thick floor which will be carpeted, any ideas welcome!
You could terminate them inside a ‘wall box’ and cover the box with a plate that just has a round hole in it. The A5 emerges from the hole.
A challenge will be the stiffness of A5; it doesnt want to bend around sharp corners but you should be able to get it into and out of a box like this.
Just a little tip if you are running them under the floor in trunking. Don’t run them together in the same trunking as apparently this can sometimes cause issue - something I learnt from the guys at Naim. Ideally they need to be separated by a couple of inches, so two sets of trunking would work best.
Instead of using trunking under the floorboards, use some 40 or 50 mm diameter drainpipe. This will give you more space for manipulating the cable, plus you can add bends to it to make it even easier.
DG…
Also if you’re running trunking or drainpipe when you do the install install also run an additional pull cord, it will make your life easier if you want to swap out the NAS A5.
Add a run of Cat5e along with hot and cold water pipes.
You never know.
You can get ‘brushes’ for pattress boxes.
Search up Matt Black 2G Single Brush Cable Entry & Black Surface Pattress Back Box on eBay for example
Likely your 19mm thick floor, is the scree depth.
Done this with speaker cable into walls and floors a number of times. For a single run, 20mm is ok, just use slow bends.
For each run of Naca5, suggest you use 20mm/25mm flexible conduit - its corrigated and easier to work with, although 20mm/25mm standard conduit can be bent using heat and a pipe spring. 20mm is doable only with some more effort.
My 25mm pipe takes two Naca5, with a brush wall plate at amp end and an elbow at the speaker end, coming directly up from the floor. [ In hindsight I would use flexible conduit and a wall plate, rather than up through the floor. ]
Only if running multiple cables or HDMI cables is it worth using waste pipe, otherwise it is way too big to accomodate, except in voids.
Couple of pics to illustrate instal here, now done a long time ago. Brush plates available in single and double gang and can be fitted to a metal back box (wall inset) or a surface plastic box.
On the subject of Naca5 stiffness, this imho, is a red herring. While it is not flexible in the style of lighting flex or cable, it certainly doesn’t have the stiffness of standard uk ring mains wiring.
Always manipulate when the cable is warm. There is a trick which requires a little practice, to use a pair of electricians Side Cutters, using them back to front, placing the cable inside the handles to initiate the initial shape.
Thankyou all for suggestions. I will look into them all this evening
Here’s a suggestion… new house, new speaker cable.
NACA5 isn’t worth the hassle imho. So many better options. Just saying…
When I had this house with crawl space under the floor,I had the Naca5’s under the floor,free hanging.
When I ran NACA5 through my crawl space, I don’t recall the sound getting better, but my system doesn’t seem to have off days anymore.
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