locating wires

[GirkMonster]

Anyone have experience locating speaker wires in finished walls. I ran them during framing 5 years ago and in this particular instance I failed to mark on my drawings the location of the wires (I know, I know). To make matters worse, the builder failed to open up the wall for the box the wires were run into.

This is an exterior wall. Engineered wood siding. I used shielded speaker cable and have already cut one opening where I expected them to be...naturally that wasn't the case.

I have a tone and probe and am thinking that I might put a tone on the shield and either one internal wire or possibly house ground. I am open to other ideas.

I also have a coax and power cable (If I recall correctly, the power cable is the same shielded speaker cable) ran for a video camera. I have a fairly good idea of where it is and didn't install a box. I need to locate those guys as well.

Of all the low voltage wires I ran...I have only identified two boxes that the builder covered up. This one and an alarm wire for a glass break sensor - unfortunately for me, that one was 20 feet above the floor! I was able to locate the speaker wires for my surround sound with no trouble - although cutting holes in the finished ceiling certainly made me nervous.

Thanks in advance for any good ideas.

[carl6]

Tone and probe is my best idea, but typically you are not going to hear it through a wall. I think there are some models of that kind of device that provide a stronger signal and/or have a more sensitive probe that are designed to work through walls, but can't offer brand or model info.

Carl

[houskamp]

What kind of "box" are they in? if it's a framed one a stud detector will find it.. if its steel a metal detector might work..

[GirkMonster]

What kind of "box" are they in? if it's a framed one a stud detector will find it.. if its steel a metal detector might work..

I thought of the metal detector route...I used plastic handy boxes, but they're the adjustable kind so there is a pretty substantial metal bracket that goes over the fact of the stud. That said, I have a tone and Probe and don't have a metal detector so I was hoping to try and amplify the tone as best I can in the hopes of finding a feint signal. May try both the interior and exterior walls...

in the meantime, I need to search for a buddy that has a metal detector, just in case.

thanks