Project Complete...

Hey All,

Finally had the installer come in yesterday to setup up my components...He does this on a part-time basis and had couple of good and bad experiences -

The 21" Flat Panel TV from was moved from the Master bedroom (wall mounted) to the guest bedroom (again, wall mounted) - well done.

The 27" Flat Panel was moved the basement (stand) to the Master bedroom (new perless wall mount) - well done. I'll sleep with the fear of the wall ripping apart every night


Home Theater:

50" panasonic plasma well mounted but aligned to the right by 1ft. The installer said there are no studs to get it installed excatly between the 2 doors I have in the basement.

Wiring was a TOTAL mess. He asked me to get the adhesive invisiwire 14/2 (spent $210 for 150 ft) that I got and he wasn't used to installing it. So he finally gave up and asked me to get normal speaker cables that he can hookup to the wall.

We went to Lowe's and got the Philips wire that's transparent but the copper inside is very visible. He got the wiring done but the wires look dirty on the wall due to the copper.

Setup of the HTR-5960 Yamaha Receiver was a mess too. 3 out of the 5 speakers were reversed (+/-) and he did a manual setup (I found this out when I did the auto test/setup).

Connections:

He has one DVI-HDMI cable running from the DVD into the Plasma
He had L/R speaker cords running from the DVD to the Receiver. I replaced this with an Optical cable.
There is no cable running from audio-out of the plasma into the receiver. I've got a A/V cord and will just use the Audio component of this cord.

QUESTIONS:

Now to the truck load of questions I have -


1) Where do you think I could get white colored speaker cables 16AWG ? I think I am going to do the rewiring myself.

2) What's the best way to get the speaker calibration/setup done - Yamaha YPAO or the RABOS that comes with the Infinity system? The YPAO was easy - watching the screen. The RABOS needs graphs drawn based on the meter readings etc.

3) I somehow feel the surround sound from the back speakers are not very audible or don't play up a lot. Most of the time its the front L/R/C and the sub. Is this normal (I tried out 2-3 movies 5.1 - spiderman too). But when I use the Yamaha auto test, the back speakers do work.

4) I have 2 options to run the speak cables (new ones - white) . Option one it to run it up the ceiling like the way it is now or the second option is to run it along the baseboard at the bottom of the walls. But to do this I need to run it under the carpet for approxi 2 feet. Is there a way to get the wire under the carpet? Will there be a buldge in the carpet causing the carpet to go bald ?
5) Any suggestions to the connections that I have? Or am I all set?
6) Also any feedback on easy calibration is welcome


That's it for now.
Will post my pictures very soon.
Greatly appreciate yor help.

Front side Setup

This pictures shows you the front side with the wall mounted plasma. Do you see the plasma aligned to the right? Its because there were no studs to get it to the center

Sub woofer wiring

I'd like to take the subwoofer wiring under the carpet to the subwoofer rather than having it climb the door all the way. Your take ? How do we do this?

Back Speaker wiring

Instead of having the wires for the back speakers climb the wall and run on the ceiling like hown in the images, how about running them under the carpet towards the stair railing and along the baseboard?

Some more pics....

Some more shots of the setup...feel free to coment - good or bad!

Regarding the wiring: BB and some Home Depot/Lowes type stores have white wiring in 16ga. I saw white at BB yesterday. You can also use "wire molding" found in most HD type of store. It is generally an off white and can be painted to match the color of walls, ceilings, molding, etc. It is fairly narrow and runs along the floors, etc with the wiring inside it. It is used in applications where the walls can not be opened but wiring, usually electric, must be run to the fixture, etc. You can use it for speaker wiring just as well.

Any wiring under the carpeting will be felt underfoot as you walk. Generally not a great idea though I have my surrounds connected that way due to no other way and I just live with it.
You can use the wire molding to run the wires either along the wall/ceiling or wall/floor. Depends on your aestetic decision.

I used the PYAO on my Yamaha receiver then used an SPL meter to check the calibration and found it to be somewhat off especially for the sub. So I manually set the system up with the SPL meter with must better results. It was also more enjoyable...setting up the sweet spot exactly where I sit was great though my wife frowned at me more than once when she realized where the "sweet spot" is hehehe.

The "off center" position of the tv is just aestetic and based on its' location between 2 door ways is/should not be a problem. Furniture just gets adjusted to the right a bit is all. Be happy that the tv is mounted to the wall studs period.

I do question if you have tried to place the sub in different locations to maximize its' output. Its' current location does not, to me, seem to provide the best output. With your tv a bit to the right have you considered moving the gear stand a bit to the right and placing the sub to the left of it? I think you would get better bass output.

If you are bugged by the position of the tv on the wall, I would be every time I sat down to watch tv but I am very anal about those sort of things. I would look into attaching some dramatic effect drapes across the wall to either side of the tv and across the doorways. Just close them when watching tv and open them when using the door ways. Also would attach a "valance" across the top to fill the gap across the top of the tv. You can create quite a visual effect by the use of dark draperies not to mention your eyes will be focused directly to the tv and its' content rather than some distraction by the doors, walls, off center tv, etc.
I painted my back wall a darker color than the side wall for that reason and found an improvement and more soothing feel as well.

Good luck and keep us informed with your changes, etc.

To get to one of my speakers (which was located on the other side of a doorway), I peeled back the carpet. Cut a notch in the under padding. Slit two openings to pass the cable in/out. Then I passed the speaker cable through one of these openings, through the notch, and finally out the other opening. Put the carpet back.

You can't feel the cable (because I cut the padding away) and all looks good.

White speaker cable is a way to go.

Or if you have access to an attic (above) or a basement/crawlspace (below), you could always use these spaces to route your cables to where they need to be.

If your living room is on th etop floor why not run the wiring up through the wall (fish it up) and then run in in through your attic and then back down to where your receiver is so that you dont really see the wiring. Or else buy white wiring. Or you could put up crown moulding except only draw back with that is then if you need to get at your wires for whatever reason you gotta take the crown down as well. TV looks GREAT though I wish I had a plasma !!

For the tv i would probably get a nice grade of plywood cut to fit betwwen the doors, then you could put some trim around the edges and paint or stain it. Then you could center the tv and mount speakes to it. I would look at the wire mold also. its easy to install and paint to match any color room.

luvdodo said:

This pictures shows you the front side with the wall mounted plasma. Do you see the plasma aligned to the right? Its because there were no studs to get it to the center

Click to expand...

There is always, usually , another way.
I bet the plasma could have been centered. Running horizontal mounting boards, wood or metal, 3 studs are 32" apart, then you can, could have centered the TV. Still can.

luvdodo said:

I'd like to take the subwoofer wiring under the carpet to the subwoofer rather than having it climb the door all the way. Your take ? How do we do this?

Click to expand...

That door is closed. Does the carpet go beyond that door? If so, you will have a bump under the carpet from the wire and not easy to fish it through under it.

If the carpet stops, you could pull it up, cut a small strip from the padding for the wire, no bump created, and re-fasten the carpet.

luvdodo said:

Instead of having the wires for the back speakers climb the wall and run on the ceiling like hown in the images, how about running them under the carpet towards the stair railing and along the baseboard?

Click to expand...

Same would apply here about the carpet.
Or, if it is in one piece, or seamed under the door, it might be worth getting a carpet guy to cut the seam and help roll it back in both cases, cut the padding for the wire and re-seam it. You'd have a much cleaner insulation.

Under the house, into the walls an option???

luvdodo said:

Some more shots of the setup...feel free to coment - good or bad!

Click to expand...

The wires at the ceiling/wall intersection, you can use crown molding to hide the cable, paint it another color, or, blend it in one of the wall colors.

As to the cables up front, along the door jamb molding, you could send it into the wall cavity, out at the speaker and the other continue up to the ceiling.

luvdodo said:

2) What's the best way to get the speaker calibration/setup done - Yamaha YPAO or the RABOS that comes with the Infinity system? The YPAO was easy - watching the screen. The RABOS needs graphs drawn based on the meter readings etc.

3) I somehow feel the surround sound from the back speakers are not very audible or don't play up a lot. Most of the time its the front L/R/C and the sub. Is this normal (I tried out 2-3 movies 5.1 - spiderman too). But when I use the Yamaha auto test, the back speakers do work.

.

Click to expand...

I would try a manual speaker setup. SPL meter, either receiver's internal test tone or external from a test DVD and level match all channels. Make sure you also measure the distance to the speakers and input your numbers.

I feel for you about that part time helper Doesn't seem to know much, guessing and you are paying.

The wall appears to be about 6.5 to 7' in length judging by the photo. I would measure out my studs and mark the center of each stud on the wall. Once you know how many studs are contained in the wall take a piece of MDF and mount it to the two centermost studs with 4 3" sheet rock screws or whatever you feel comfortable using making sure that the screws are exactly in the center of the 2 studs. The piece of MDF should not be more than 18" long. This should allow you enough room to mount the TV exactly in the center of the wall and not be able to see the MDF behind it. One last thing, by the looks of the pic with the TV, MAKE SURE YOU USE A LEVEL.
Hope this helps.

Interesting...

mtrycrafts said:

There is always, usually , another way.
I bet the plasma could have been centered. Running horizontal mounting boards, wood or metal, 3 studs are 32" apart, then you can, could have centered the TV. Still can.

Click to expand...

Sounds interesting...let me check this out tomorrow...

mtrycrafts said:

That door is closed. Does the carpet go beyond that door? If so, you will have a bump under the carpet from the wire and not easy to fish it through under it.

If the carpet stops, you could pull it up, cut a small strip from the padding for the wire, no bump created, and re-fasten the carpet.

Click to expand...

How abt moving the sub below the plasma? Would that be a bad choice?

mtrycrafts said:

I feel for you about that part time helper Doesn't seem to know much, guessing and you are paying.

Click to expand...

I've been fOOled

dburchet said:

The wall appears to be about 6.5 to 7' in length judging by the photo. I would measure out my studs and mark the center of each stud on the wall. Once you know how many studs are contained in the wall take a piece of MDF and mount it to the two centermost studs with 4 3" sheet rock screws or whatever you feel comfortable using making sure that the screws are exactly in the center of the 2 studs. The piece of MDF should not be more than 18" long. This should allow you enough room to mount the TV exactly in the center of the wall and not be able to see the MDF behind it. One last thing, by the looks of the pic with the TV, MAKE SURE YOU USE A LEVEL.
Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I somehow feel the TV is not well balanced too. Mainly because the raceway for the cords running down the TV is not standing 90 degrees. I am going to sit and redo all of the wiring myself with raceways I just received.

Tomorrow is the day...Pray for me!

I will move the TV to the center as the next step....a learning process

Thanks everyone for the valuable feedback.

installer

dburchet said:

The wall appears to be about 6.5 to 7' in length judging by the photo. I would measure out my studs and mark the center of each stud on the wall. Once you know how many studs are contained in the wall take a piece of MDF and mount it to the two centermost studs with 4 3" sheet rock screws or whatever you feel comfortable using making sure that the screws are exactly in the center of the 2 studs. The piece of MDF should not be more than 18" long. This should allow you enough room to mount the TV exactly in the center of the wall and not be able to see the MDF behind it. One last thing, by the looks of the pic with the TV, MAKE SURE YOU USE A LEVEL.
Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I have asked the installer to return, fix a MDF and reposition the plasma. Hope it works out