Home theatre wiring

[stomachmonkey]

Finally getting around to dealing with my media room upstairs.

Had the room wired 7.1

Installers also ran coax for my component to the projector.

Have a built in media cabinet where everything starts.

First thing I'd like to do is put a wall plate in the cabinet so I dont have a mass/mess of wires coming out of the wall to the receiver. Something like this.



I would do similar two wire plates for the speaker locations.

I also need various ends and assorted connectors.

Was at Lowes today picking up some other stuff and priced the items out there, was around $200 just for wall plates.

So what I need help with is a good cheap source for this type of stuff.

[MysticLlama]

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

[david914]

Originally Posted by mysticllama

hdmi cable, home theater accessories, hdmi products, cables, adapters, video/audio switch, networking, usb, firewire, printer toner, and more!

+1

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by MysticLlama

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

Perfect.

Same speaker wall plates for $1.96 that Lowes wants $13.99 for.

Thanks,

[id10t]

Put a central patch panel in somewhere else - go ahead and add ethernet and phone (2 or 3 runs of cat5) while you are at it. Have power available where the patch panel is. Actually, after a quick google it seems that running your a/v stuff over cat-5 (in teh walls) w/ appropriate connections at each end is entirely possible...

[PorscheGAL]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Installers also ran coax for my component to the projector.
I also need various ends and assorted connectors.

Just curious, what other cables you are running to your projector beside coax? We a home theater with projector and it was difficult to find wall mounts/outlets for the HDMI cables. In fact, it was so difficult, we ended up running long/very long HDMI cables from projector straight to components.

[Jagshund]

Picked up my banana plugs and related hardware on Amazon. Works great. Just don't stoop for the ridiculously cheap items.

On Q plates from Lowes were also pretty reasonable if you buy in bulk.

[willtel]

Parts Express is also a good source. I ran my 5 channel system like this, I got a dozen of the banana type connectors on eBay and bought most of the other stuff online.


IMG_2605 by willtel, on Flickr


IMG_2606 by willtel, on Flickr


IMG_2599 by willtel, on Flickr

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by id10t

Put a central patch panel in somewhere else - go ahead and add ethernet and phone (2 or 3 runs of cat5) while you are at it. Have power available where the patch panel is. Actually, after a quick google it seems that running your a/v stuff over cat-5 (in teh walls) w/ appropriate connections at each end is entirely possible...

It's all already there in wall plates. It's the mass of speaker and coax that I want to clean up. Right now it's all dumping out of one of these. Would rather terminate behind the walls and patch to the components.

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

Just curious, what other cables you are running to your projector beside coax? We a home theater with projector and it was difficult to find wall mounts/outlets for the HDMI cables. In fact, it was so difficult, we ended up running long/very long HDMI cables from projector straight to components.

That's what most people end up doing. You can always send HDMI over Cat 5/6. And thank you for the question. It reminded me I had an unaccounted for Cat run so just checked it and it was tucked up in my ceiling so I have another option.

[89911]

I'm all for keeping things neet and tidy, but your best audio connections are the ones with the least amount of connectors. If you plan where your plates will be, they will generally be hidden behind the audio equipment. Likewise with the speakers. There is not much cleaner then a 1/4"hole close to the speaker mount with the wire coming directly out and into the speaker. Some mounts allow you to bring the wire within it. You can adjust the length by pushing the wire back into the wall. I've wired 2 systems in my home this way, not because I'm cheap (well, maybe), but I wanted the cleanest, most uninterrupted runs possible.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I recently set up my basement as a media room with everything ran in the walls. Was going the same route with the connectors then realized it is not a great idea. Instead of a speaker wire having 2 terminations, they now would have 6 each.

I ended up using standard blank plates with a hole drilled in the middle to match wire size. Nice clean install with no breaks in the wires.

[LWJ]

I did the same as above. Less connections = less signal loss = better.

I also ran a long HDMI.

It rocks!

Larry