A Tale 5 Installs Part 2 - Surfer Dude Gets Surround

[admin]

"Joe" is a single guy who has youth group meetings at his home and watches movies with friends. He used to have a roommate who had a decent TV and speakers but now it's time to replace the system that "moved out". Joe is a bit of an enigma. He's actually quite "metro" and concerned with aesthetics - much like... well, your typical girl, particularly the kind that always seem to be married to the average audioholic. OK, that's enough Joe-bashing. The good news is that Joe already owns a Sony home theater-in-a-box, complete with subwoofer (bass module). The only thing left to do was make it actually be usable by buying ceiling mounts and wiring up the living area for a full 5.1 system.

Discuss "A Tale 5 Installs Part 2 - Surfer Dude Gets Surround" here. Read the article.

 

[Matt34]

Clint, for those attics without lights.

 

[Audioholics]

No doubt. I actually have a 3-LED one. I want to get one of those safety glasses with the ones built into the side, though. Very cool!

 

[Matt34]

My only install story comes from when I was running cable from my satallite dish to my TV in the living room. My house's foundation is three feet tall(flood zone) so there is a crawl space underneath.

After overcoming my fear of the black widows that call it space home I began crawling from one end of the house to the middle where I had already drilled a hole and my wife was now shinning a flashlight through. I get about a quarter of the way there and hear something coming up behind me! It's pitch black under there and I'm only wearing my headlamp so I spin around as quick as I can to look at what's coming up on me and all I can see is the green reflection of my german shepards eyes! I guess he thought he could help and followed me in.

 

[mjsmith]

Attics are for wusses. Bring on the Crown Molding!

These install articles are great but I was hoping they would differ a little. This last one is very similar to the first one.

Are you going to showcase any that are a little more difficult? In my current situation I just bought a two-story home and the living room has a high ceiling. I think I can hide most of the cable in molding but it is going to be tricky.

 

[cwall99]

Love the articles

So, I've been lucky in that my wife has let me buy all the gear for my system that I want. Actually, she bought me a 57-inch Sony RPTV for my 40th birthday, and while the technology that's out now (I'm almost 46) eclipses what was available then, I still think she's at least a finalist for the "Coolest Wife Ever" award for that one (granted, I did spend the night before camped outside the Palace in Auburn Hills with her so she could get second row, dead center seats to see Bon Jovi - a band I've seen too many times... you mean once?). But I digress....

So, right now, I'm feeling inspired by these articles, and I'm considering re-running my surround speaker cables (my back speakers are a pair of old, but still very capable, NHT 1.3As).

My questions:

1. How do I determine where to drill down into the wall header? More specifically, from what point in the attic do I measure to have any sort of realistic chance of drilling down between the same two wall joists where I cut my hole in the wall?
2. Is it easier just to run the cables through the attic over the listening room/family room and dropping the cables, or is it easier to just do the crown molding trick? I figure that if I do the crown molding trick, locating the holes through which I need to run the wires ought to be pretty easy as I don't have to go up into the ceiling and then try to make sure my holes in the header are between the same two joists where I cut into the dry wall to put my plates.

Oh, I'm not very handy. I'm hoping that if I buy the materials and some good beer, my handy buddies can help me out with the carpentry work.

Thanks.