Media Room.. cables in wall cavity

Hi there

Is there any codes/standards to consider when running speaker cables (from wall mount tv) through the wall cavity and ceiling to where surround sound speakers go and a hdmi cable from amp to tv via the wall cavity ?

I'm curious if there is any fire risk basically or easy for us to do ourself.

Nothing for running speaker wires but you must be a licence delete tri ain with the correct endorsements on your licence to work with coax, phones and data cables.

Only a licensed electrician can work with coax and data cables? Evidence of this, please?

My bad, no mention of coax but data and phones are definitely covered by the legislation

http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Supplie ... quirements

Thanks for that.. puts my mind at ease a little.. maybe I should have a little more faith in the husband lol
Just surround sound and TV cables.. hdmi.. so we should be cool putting them thru the walls

You don't need to be a licenced electrician. An electrical licence on its own gives no authority to work on telecommunications cabling. You need an ACMA cablers licence which is another qualification.

I'm pretty sure coax was also included in the definition of "customer cabling" recently as well (in the last few years). But your ACMA open licence is no longer sufficient for data or coax cabling.

So to clarify, to work on standard telephone cabling an ACMA open cablers licence is a legal requirement. To work on data you need the ACMA licence with structured cabling endorsement. To work on coax you need the ACMA licence with coax endorsement. Same deal with fibre optic.

I have no doubt there are plenty of electricians and technicians running around doing unlicensed telecommunications cabling. Probably plenty of completely unqualified DIYers too...

As far as I know speaker cables and video cables do not require any particular licence, however they still need to be run with separation from power cables for safety as they would be classed as Extra Low Voltage electrical cabling.

If it's only speaker cable thru the roof and walls and 1 hdmi cable going through the wall about 50cm that's okay ?

Should be fine - just keep them away from power/lighting cables (at least 15-20cm if running parallel to each other) to avoid noise interference and also for safety.

Yes you are quite correct, I guess I just associated that type of work with electricians, my bad. I am sure there are other registered cablers around who have a non-electrical background.

Any cabling that can potentially connect to the telecommunications network requires a cabers licence to be installed and maintained. Coax cable for TV was not considered as Comms cabling until of late, because most modern TV's, DVD players which have an RF output also have a Network output, you could say the same about speaker cabling since some AVR's have internet connectivity functions.

The short answer is No, there is no current regulations for a licence requirement for speaker cabling, however there is still a long list of requirements you need to follow as it is still classed as cabling works, mainly separation from power cabling, do not run it inside the same conduit as any power cabling, keep it away from any power terminations, be it switches, GPO's, light fittings etc and you should be fine.