How close can AC power and sub woofer cables be?

[Driving_Hamster]

Greetings everyone. First time poster, long time forum reader. I recently bought a new home and how have the room for a home theater. We are currently in the framing stage of the basement, of which a portion will be dedicated to HT. I tried to get the wife to allow me to completely close off the theater and she told me to take a hike. It's a balance thing I guess.

I have already received a ton of great ideas/tips from this site and are always looking for more. We are hoping to have the basement finshed by Feb-March of 2008, providing that the budget holds up! For those who are wondering I am doing all the work myself except the carpet and perhaps the drywall (to save some time).

I am a orderly and frankly type-A kind of guy when it comes to things of this nature. I plan on running all my wires/cables/etc in conduit behind my walls so the finished look is clean but yet allows me to adapt for future technology.

My question is how close can I locate a wall plate for my shielded sub cables in proximity to an AC outlet? Can I just put one on each side of the wood stud or is this too close and interfere and cause ground loop hum? I was hoping to get them as close together as possible as described above. The only thing that will be plugged into this circuit will be the sub and the power recline for the chairs (+/- the occasional laptop).

Thanks in advance for the advice.

- Driving Hamster

 

[mtrycrafts]

Greetings everyone. First time poster, long time forum reader. I recently bought a new home and how have the room for a home theater. We are currently in the framing stage of the basement, of which a portion will be dedicated to HT. I tried to get the wife to allow me to completely close off the theater and she told me to take a hike. It's a balance thing I guess.

I have already received a ton of great ideas/tips from this site and are always looking for more. We are hoping to have the basement finshed by Feb-March of 2008, providing that the budget holds up! For those who are wondering I am doing all the work myself except the carpet and perhaps the drywall (to save some time).

I am a orderly and frankly type-A kind of guy when it comes to things of this nature. I plan on running all my wires/cables/etc in conduit behind my walls so the finished look is clean but yet allows me to adapt for future technology.

My question is how close can I locate a wall plate for my shielded sub cables in proximity to an AC outlet? Can I just put one on each side of the wood stud or is this too close and interfere and cause ground loop hum? I was hoping to get them as close together as possible as described above. The only thing that will be plugged into this circuit will be the sub and the power recline for the chairs (+/- the occasional laptop).

Thanks in advance for the advice.

- Driving Hamster

I would suggest using one on each stud, not on the other side of it. Also prevents that narrow slice of sheetrock from braking on install. Run the signal cables at least 12" away from power cables. If you want future expansion, just run the wire as is and an empty conduit, 1" for HDMI plugs.

 

[Frugal]

low volt wall plates

When I do this I use low volt wall plates, available at building stores, instead of electrical boxes. After the drywall is up use an electrical box as a template to trace around and cut out the hole with a drywall knife. Push the low volt wall plate into the hole, bend the tabs back and crimp them gently with plyers. The advantages are the wires aren't crowded into a small box and you can put them anywhere between the studs. It's also a lot easier to fish wires out the same hole later.

 

[Driving_Hamster]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to mount them on adjacent studs then instead of the same stud.

I bought low voltage boxes for the speakers terminations, DVI/S-video plate and the sub woofer terminations. I decided to get deep electrical outlet boxes for all the plugs and switches so I won't be concerned about overcrowding the boxes.

Almost finished framing. Should be onto electrical by the beginning of May if all things go well.

Thanks again