advice on hiding cables

I did an installation kind of like what you are describing, but the construction of my house may have allowed for a less destructive installation. The house is wood frame, raised foundation. My equipment cabinet is against an outside wall. My speakers are on either side of a fireplace. I ran my speaker cabling into the outside wall, down through the sill plate, under the house in the crawl space, back up through the sill plate in the same wall, and then through the wall. Each time, only a small 3"X3" hole was required...small enough to be covered with a wall plate through which I ran the speaker cable without an additional connection at the wall. The wall plates were standard cable jack plates with the cable jack removed and the remaining hole enlarged with a Dremel tool.

I should mention that the same method was used on an inside wall for the other speaker. The installation was part of a larger project, and the whole thing was done by two outstanding local home theater installers for about $350. Well worth the money for the clean installation.

Other cables, like power cords, are hidden behind floor length drapes. A power conditioner and power supply for my VAC amp are hidden behind a chair. Fairly clean looking.

Sorry guys, I was not very clear on my room description. I have hardwood floors and house is built on a slab foundation, no basement, So you now can undestand my dilemna.

When I had my speakers in the living room with equipment across the room about 18 feet from the speakers, I thought about going through the basement floor and up but realized this would take a lot of extra cable and a lot of extra work. I got some Goertz MI-2 cables and ran them under a rug in front of the speakers and then under the speakers (they were raised up on spikes). The rug ended a few inches from speakers, so all that was visible was a few inches of nice copper flat cable. My wife was very happy and it was a very practical solution.

Pull off the baseboards, use a router to make a nice groove in the back and run the cables in the groove--this way there is no sheet rock repair. If you do it carefully, you shouldn't even need touch up paint.

I know a gentleman(?) who drilled a hole in his floor and ran his cables under the floor. He has a basement so the whole thing was pretty easy. Is that a possibility?