How To/Best Way to Run Conduit (electric/audio wire) Through 2 Leaf Walls?

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The Dread
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How To/Best Way to Run Conduit (electric/audio wire) Through 2 Leaf Walls?

#16

Postby The Dread » Mon, 2021-Feb-08, 15:36

Starlight wrote:This is not the perfect photo but I can use it to explain. Imagine the two joists are the two walls. The green cable is very loose. If one of the walls is excited (as in sound excites a wall) then the cable will not transfer much if any of the sound to the other wall.

Remember the children's telephone game where with two plastic cups and a string held taut between them you can hear the other person when they speak into their cup? If the string was left floppy between the cups the noise would not get to the other cup.

Another example might be likening the cable (or cables, as we pass multiple cable through our studio walls) to guitar strings. If the strings are left all floppy the guitar would not be able to produce a resonating sound.

If the green cable in the photo was taut then some sound could transfer from one wall to the other. Try to avoid having any tautness in the cables between the walls; leave a bit of slack so that sounds cannot travel from one wall to the other, following the same principle as HVAC ducts, avoiding solid connections between the walls.

Thanks Star, that does provide some insight to my thinking.

So I suppose, then, that it is common/appropriate to simply run my audio cables through each leaf, askew, and sealed up with a 'non-corrosive' caulk (referenced above), in the manner that your pic shows above. I have visualized a conduit (metal/PVC) through each leaf, but thinking about it now, that approach would probably be less than ideal (i.e. flanking, etc.), with your 'loose' wire method in mind.



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Starlight
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How To/Best Way to Run Conduit (electric/audio wire) Through 2 Leaf Walls?

#17

Postby Starlight » Mon, 2021-Feb-08, 19:43

If it is of any interest, you can see my cables in the first 4 photos in post 41 in my studio build, here, where you can see I used a floppy plastic conduit (as opposed to the solid plastic conduit that we put on walls). All the cables come through the outer wall together. All but three cables drop down to ground level before coming through the inner wall. The remaining three moved along one stud, so about 2 feet, before coming through the inner wall at ceiling level.

Metal conduit, to my thinking, is too rigid and would provide a bridge, a flanking path, between the two walls, so perhaps make a break in the conduit and, if it is practical, protect that section with a floppy plastic conduit. You will have local codes or laws concerning electric cable installations so it would be worth checking what will be legally acceptable in Chicago.



The Dread
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Posts: 17
Joined: Tue, 2020-Nov-24, 19:39
Location: U.S.A., Chicago, Illinois

How To/Best Way to Run Conduit (electric/audio wire) Through 2 Leaf Walls?

#18

Postby The Dread » Thu, 2021-Feb-11, 16:01

Starlight wrote:Source of the post If it is of any interest, you can see my cables in the first 4 photos in post 41 in my studio build, here, where you can see I used a floppy plastic conduit (as opposed to the solid plastic conduit that we put on walls). All the cables come through the outer wall together. All but three cables drop down to ground level before coming through the inner wall. The remaining three moved along one stud, so about 2 feet, before coming through the inner wall at ceiling level.

Metal conduit, to my thinking, is too rigid and would provide a bridge, a flanking path, between the two walls, so perhaps make a break in the conduit and, if it is practical, protect that section with a floppy plastic conduit. You will have local codes or laws concerning electric cable installations so it would be worth checking what will be legally acceptable in Chicago.

Mint. Those photos from your build/thread are exactly what I've been hoping to see. It seems that I've wasted some time overthinking this step, I appreciate you providing this link!

Thankfully, I've been a general contractor in the Chicagoland area for 15+ years, and thusly have a thorough understanding of code compliance in the region, so hopefully, that won't be too much trouble for me. 8-)

Next, build silencers/baffles and get this inner leaf sealed up! It couldn't happen soon enough.

-Cheers!




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