Pioneer elite help: cabling & home theater setup

[VideoScuba]

Long time reader, first time posting...

I'm just about to pull the trigger on purchasing a Pioneer Elite 43 inch plasma (I've spent months looking at all the different plasmas, and I like the picture better than any of the competition).

My 2 questions are:
I'm mounting this on a living room wall, and right now I have that wall completely open (meaning down to the studs - we're putting in heating/AC at the same time, and I reinforced where the plasma will hang as well as put a dedicated circuit plug in the wall) - I want to get the wiring right (correct wall plates, etc.) before I sheetrock/paint the wall.

The "system cable" that connects the media receiver and the screen has two connections - does anyone know a reliable source for wall plates for this specific cable? (the media receiver will be placed about 5 ft a way from the screen, but I want to run the cable through the wall).

2nd question:
I haven't a clue how I should hook this up in a surround sound set up. The Pioneer comes with 2 wall mountable speakers - but the media receiver only has output for a sub-woofer. How do people recommend I integrate this into a 5.1 system (open to any/all ideas...)

Thanks - can't keep the wall open forever (wife doesn't like looking at it like this) so quick answers would be much appreciated...

 

[md1953]

I have a year old Pio Elite 930. There are two cables from the monitor to the media center, DVI and MDR.

I found wall plates for the DVI cable here:

http://www2.dvigear.com/dviwallplates.html

I'm not sure what type of cable the MDR is, they only refer to it as a system cable - proprietary maybe?? The cable that is supplied is 3m (9.8') and they have an optional 10m cable. If you can hold off the wife a bit, I would get the TV with the cable first and make sure you can get the right wall plates.

As for the speakers that came with it, I have never heard them or even taken them out of the box. I would definitely use a receiver/prepro-amp for a true surround system. Good luck, sorry I couldn't give you the complete solution.

 

[JonBaker99]

As far as the wall plates go, let me give you some friendly advice; Do not use a connecting wall plate. Put up a dobule gang hole or sweep plate and directly connect the Pioneer cable from media box to display. Those Pioneer cables are not really installer friendly and tend to have problems when they are run too long or have breaks put into them.

On the speaker issue, don't both using the included speakers or amp. Buy some good speakers and a receiver and run all audio directly to the receiver.