wiring for home theatre

[commode air]

In the process for wiring 7.1 home theatre. I'm wondering what other wires I should run in the wall to my ceiling mounted projector. I plan on using dvd, xbox, wii, etc. I know to run hdmi cable but should I run two of them? Should I run component cable in wall to an outlet? I wanna make sure I cover all of my bases. Thanks so much

 

[bandphan]

Cat 5\6 for control and or future av needs, id also run rg6 for component.

 

[deedubb]

I have HDMI and a couple of cat5. Just run a conduit so that you can run more cable through it in the future if necessary.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Conduit to your display location is the MOST important thing you can do. It allows you to run whatever you need after things are all done.

Otherwise, I typically recommend that you run a power extender so you can put your display on the same power conditioner as the rest of your gear, as well as one component, one composite, one HDMI, and one cat-5 run of cabling.

The conduit is strictly a 'future proofing' option.

Don't forget to properly wire for your subwoofer - which means RG6 type cabling to the subwoofer location, and put a power outlet right next to it.

 

[commode air]

Just a question on sub woofer hook up, Looking at the wall plates on monoprice.com looks like theres only a component cable hookup and not a Rg6 Just want to make sure before I run cable this week.

 

[scott911]

hey bmxtrix,

I understand the value of conditioning power, but are you suggesting it is important to have your gear hooked up to the same conditioner, vs. two seperate conditioners?

 

[BMXTRIX]

hey bmxtrix,

I understand the value of conditioning power, but are you suggesting it is important to have your gear hooked up to the same conditioner, vs. two seperate conditioners?

A good power conditioner will bring all equipment to the same ground. This will help to eliminate ground loops and visual noise in the picture you see on screen. As well, most people will spend the bulk of their 'power conditioner' money on the conditioner in their rack, then get a cheap one for their ceiling which typically is attached to their MOST expensive piece of gear!

So, you get to put the majority of your cash against a single power condtioner of better quality, and you remove the nasty look of a power conditioning wall wart up at the ceiling next to the projector.

Something like this is what I'm talking about...
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10425&cs_id=1042505&p_id=4652&seq=1&format=2

Inexpensive, and allows for legal extension of power to the equipment rack and top tier power conditioning from a rack mounted power conditioner with the same ground as the rest of the gear.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Just a question on sub woofer hook up, Looking at the wall plates on monoprice.com looks like theres only a component cable hookup and not a Rg6 Just want to make sure before I run cable this week.

RG6 is a type of cable. If you are newer into the A/V stuff, it's very confusing, but the end of the cable has connectors which can be in many different styles and shapes. The connector itself does not determine the type of cable in use.

All of what is below is provided FYI if you don't already know, but more generally, you need a single RCA connector on a wall plate. Heck, maybe even Home Depot will have these!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10426&cs_id=1042601&p_id=4133&seq=1&format=2
with this...
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10517&cs_id=1051703&p_id=1097&seq=1&format=2

Here are some pictures of the different ends you may see on a typical RG6 or RG59 type of 75ohm cable:

RCA Type - This is the most common that we see in residential installations.

F-Type - This is usually what you will see connected to your cable box.

S-Video - Believe it or not, S-video uses TWO RG59/RG6 cables within a single jacket to a single connector. This is used less frequently, but can be broken out to two distinct cables if you wanted to:

BNC - This is my personal favorite connector. It locks onto devices and passes audio/video very well. They are more often found on professional or commercial products.