How to save money installing Speakers, you know where to get the wire. He he he.

Installing recessed speakers is a lot easier than one might think — especially if your home was pre-wired with speaker cable during construction. It also gives you a cleaner, more finished look than running surface speakers and visible cord. If your home isn't pre-wired, no problem: speaker cable can be retrofitted through walls with a little patience. The video below is one of the better speaker-install walkthroughs we've seen. The only addition we'd make: use caution when cutting drywall so you don't nick any electrical wires hidden behind it. An insulated drywall cutter is cheap insurance against accidental contact with live circuits. A quick gauge guide: 16 AWG handles most runs under 50 feet, 14 AWG is the safer choice over 50 feet, and 12 AWG is the standard for long runs (100+ feet) or high-power systems. If you need help picking the right gauge, email sales@ramcorpwire.com or browse Ramcorp's audio cable selection.

Thermostat Wire & Cable for HVAC installation Explained

Thermostat wire is one of the simpler specs in low-voltage cable: it comes in 20, 18, and 16 AWG, with two common jacket constructions — plenum-rated CMP for return-air spaces and standard PVC for everything else. Conductor counts run from 2 to 8+ depending on the HVAC system (heat-only is usually 2-wire, heat-pump and zoned systems often need 6-8). The full Ramcorp lineup is split between the thermostat cable section and our PVC cable shop. That said, what trips most installs isn't the cable spec — it's the prep work. In the video below, an HVAC contractor walks through the pre-installation checks that prevent the kind of failures that can damage equipment downstream. Worth a few minutes whether you're a homeowner doing a swap or a contractor onboarding a new tech. For NEC compliance, remember that thermostat cable in any plenum space (drop ceilings used for return air, air-handling chases, etc.) must be CMP-rated per NFPA 90A — running CL2 or CL3 PVC cable in those spaces is a code violation. The plenum-rated lineup is over here. When in doubt, default to plenum and check the local AHJ.

The video below has a contractor walking through tips on pulling electrical wire — useful whether you're running building wire, communication cable, or shop-floor tray cable. The walkthrough shows several cable types side by side, including Ramcorp's tray cable shop products. One thing worth flagging if you're pulling a mix: smaller-gauge cables (18/2, 18/4, 16/2, 14/2 — the kinds you'd find in fire-alarm, control, and plenum runs) are far easier to over-stress than 12/2 building wire. The thinner conductors stretch first, the lighter jackets scuff or crack, and the damage often isn't visible from the outside. ICEA recommends a maximum pulling tension of 0.008 lbf per circular mil for copper conductors as a starting point — if you're at the limit, step up the conduit size, add cable lube on the long sections, or split the pull. Most pull failures aren't dramatic snaps; they're cracked jackets and stretched shields that pass install inspection and fail months later. The full plenum-cable lineup is at ramcorpwire.com.

Great video on terminating Fiber Optic cable ready for Direct Burial

This video walks through tips on preparing direct-burial cables for installation. It was produced by the Fiber Optic Association — the same standards body behind the CFOT certification — so the techniques apply equally to direct-burial fiber-optic and armored copper runs. Direct-burial armored cables are well suited to underground installations without conduit. The trade-off is the armor itself, which can be tricky to strip cleanly. The walkthrough below shows a couple of time-saving techniques. Two extra tips beyond what the video covers:

• Run a tracer wire alongside any non-metallic direct-burial run — a 12 or 14 AWG copper conductor (insulated, color-coded per local utility convention) terminated at both ends to a marker post. Makes the cable findable years later when no one remembers where it went.
• Bed the run in clean sand or fine soil. Sharp rock against the jacket is the slow-failure mode that nobody plans for. NEC Article 300.5 covers minimum burial depths (18 inches for direct-burial UF, 24 inches under driveways) — verify the local AHJ requirement before backfill.

The full fiber-optic catalog at Ramcorp, including direct-burial-rated runs, is here. Tracer wire and direct-burial copper are available through Ramcorp Wire & Cable.