(I'm not committing blasphemy by asking a non-travel tech question here, am I?)

We are trying to make things look neater and we are thinking of this for the rear speakers of our surround sound system.

Any recommendations? Experiences?

The obvious recommendation is wireless. They work much better than in years past. You still need power to the speakers of course. But I used a flat speaker wire to do what you suggest -- I didn't want to punch any holes and needed to get wire to the back of the room. I looked online (this was a number of years ago) and found a spool pretty cheap. it wasn't expensive and I seem to remember it being a generic brand but worked fine. It was flat with the left/right wires running across so it was easy to attach to the wall.

My first try was with one that had an adhesive back. Thought that work work better --- apparently I am too uncoordinated to use tape. So went to the staple method with good results.

adhesive (didnt do good for me): http://www.amazon.com/Sewell-Super-A.../dp/B005TK0PN8

good: http://www.amazon.com/SIIG-16-Gauge-.../dp/B005FM5WY2

Monoprice.com is my go-to for all cables and wires, and a lot of cheap-ish gadgets.

I use this

They're good but they're not the go-to for *ALL* cables and wires--sometimes they don't have it. Like in this case.

Are you looking to go under carped, up the outside of the walls, in the walls, be spackled & painted over, or some combination therein?

If you're not looking to be spackled/painted, I'd try to find something 14awg or better... if you are, the 16awg flat stuff previously linked to is your best bet and wouldn't have any notable sonic impact if you're not using higher-end equipment. Check out this article concerning reccomended wire gauge as a function of length based on insertion loss and damping factor... but if you're talking about a Home Theater in a Box, you could probably use RJ11 telephone wire with no noticeable impact.

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-vid...er-cable-gauge

The main part of the offending run is across the ceiling. There's no carpet to go under and the speakers are mounted high anyway.

It's nothing high end, right now it's running with the ordinary cheap speaker wire but we are trying to tidy things up a bit. By that chart our wire is too thin.