Update… Against all advice I went ahead and wired up my old school surround sound. Took a week of work, only a few hours per day of labor but the mental energy I put into it was constant. All worth it though.
TL;DR install details: The spot I was going to go in through the basement ceiling light kind of worked/kind of didn’t. I opened up around the mount hoping to drill back a couple feet from there. There was a block in the way though. I was still able to open up another hole on the other side of it that will be covered by the light, but like the edge of the light that kind of floats a cm below the ceiling. The first hole would’ve been entirely covered flush by the light’s metal mounting bracket. So not as good but better than patching uncovered ceiling. I checked for blocks going the other way (the direction I needed to run the wire) and it was clear as far as I could see, so that was encouraging.
I was also fortunate that I have a water heater closet on the other side of the basement where I need to run wires back up. The ceiling there isn’t finished. The spot I needed to drill was outside of the closet, about 30" back over top of the finished part of the ceiling, so I technically had access but actually pulling it off required squeezing between joists and drilling about an inch at a time because there were water pipes in the way of the drill. Successfully nailed both drilling spots dead center into wall though, no holes punched into trim or floor.
Put a hole into the wall into the correct stud bay behind the AV receiver. Previously mentioned: to go over the light in the basement I had to put it off center on the wall, so I put it as close to center as possible up near the stud. And after I got the hole opened up there was a PVC drain pipe sitting there right in the middle of it. I was making shallow cuts so it wasn’t damaged but I’d never be able to get a full sized junction box in there. Shallow box + 90 degree RCA adapter for the sub worked but I was annoyed with myself for making it difficult because I knew that pipe was there.
Started fishing wires under the floor and had a brief panic when I couldn’t get the fish tape from the water heater closet to the hole at the other side of the ceiling, thought there was another unseen block in the way. I used my phone camera to look up into the hole from the other side and couldn’t find the fish tape anywhere. After resigning myself to the thought of putting another hole in the ceiling I started super exposing the picture I had taken to estimate where the next block was, and noticed a slight discoloration in the exact spot I had drilled through the block above the water heater. I waited until night and used a flashlight to confirm that it was in fact the hole I drilled, so my tape was just getting stuck and hidden on something else. Put some more effort into working it through and eventually got it to the other side.
Put a hole in the back side wall next for the rear speaker/sub hookups. After that was done I noticed there was no drywall on the back side of the wall on the left, it was mostly open for running up HVAC ducting. That got me thinking that I could run a wire direct to the left surround speaker instead of putting everything out in one central spot then running wire outside of the wall. I had previously given up on that idea because the left side in the basement was fully inaccessible due to the HVAC ducting there. The right side was blocked with standard wall studs and drywall on both sides of them but that side would be accessible in the basement through the water heater closet.
So I figured out where I wanted to mount my speakers to the wall and cut another hole for the left surround speaker. Quickly confirmed that there was in fact a path from that hole down to where I had wires run. Running fish tape all the way there was effectively impossible though as it would need to make multiple turns and get through some very tight gaps. After some effort I got it down into the neighboring stud bay but too far to reach through and pull out. Put some more effort into it and lost it. Took me almost an hour to get it back. Spent some more time trying to get it through the last foot or so more carefully but eventually caved. Cut another hole in that stud bay to help fish it through. It’s at the bottom of the wall behind the couch and I kept it to a standard junction box size, so there’s just a block off plate that no one will ever really see there now.
Cut a hole for the right surround speaker and another access hole through the basement to get into that stud bay. And then I ran into a fire break. Actually I think I knew it was there from checking earlier but not after I was already committed. Considered investing in a long flex bit to get through it but then I’d still have trouble fishing blind between two 1" holes 4 ft apart. Didn’t want to put another block off plate on the wall cause it was starting to get crowded. So close to finishing and feeling frustrated I YOLO’ed and cut a hole right at the fire break. I had already bought stuff to patch the ceiling, might as well use it on the wall too. And if I can’t get it right I’ll hire a professional to do it.
Patching took several days. I sanded off most of what I put on and reapplied maybe 6 coats trying to make it perfect. Didn’t have any matching paint so I took one of my several wall cut outs to get a perfect match. Of course it never is. I learned a lot about drywall patching and painting while waiting for my patches to dry. Common advice was you’ll never match old paint, gotta repaint the entire wall if you don’t want a patchy shade. This wall was only 70 sq ft and almost entirely square and rollerable so I did that.
And then finally after a week of work, I finished off the wall terminals, hung speakers, finished off wiring and tested them out. Probably should’ve done that earlier as the whole system had basically been sitting unused for the past 10 years. Works good though, and my wall patch looks flawless (TBD if it ends up cracking in 6 months). The basement still has holes in the ceiling but I’ll get to that later.
