Running speaker cables under the house and more...

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bazzer

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#191554 23-Jan-2009 13:53

linw: To glue cable inside I recommend a hot glue gun. Sticks instantly and is unobtrusive.

But does the glue come off easily later on?

Edit: Tried it, works great!

bazzer

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#193653 3-Feb-2009 11:44

smarsden: Both stores that Johnk mentioned supply Clipsal ducting in varying sizes, although only in 4m lengths (easy to saw to size though). It separates into two, so you have one bit screwed to the surface of the wall, that the cable sits in, and a snap-on cover to hide it all. It's available in either white or brown (or was when I did mine this time last year), the brown being perfect for the outside of the house if the walls are that colour, and for me didn't require any painting.

I did as you suggested. They only had the slightly larger size (25mmx16mm) in brown but still reasonably discreet and goes well with my brown aluminium joinery.

As for the inside, does anywhere know somewhere to get something like this?

It would be good for routing my cables out of the wall, I don't want to terminate them on wall plates. $40 from RapalloAV seems reasonable, but wondering if there's anything similar that's cheaper.

Jaxson

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#193662 3-Feb-2009 12:18

Hi Bazzer, I'm watching this to see what you can find. I prefer to use just one cable where possible, rather than terminations at wall plates at both ends and then short fly leads to the wall plates. Too many connections and possible failure points/hassle introduced for my liking. Good luck, your project sounds very similar to what I will be doing once my current house sells!

CYaBro

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#193665 3-Feb-2009 12:28

I have in the past just used standard PDL wall plates and, depending on how many cables you want to poke through, just get a 1,2,3...6 way wallplate.
They can be bought at any electrical supplier for a lot less than $40.
An HDMI connector will fit, just, though one of the holes.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

bazzer

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#193670 3-Feb-2009 12:40

Jaxson: Hi Bazzer, I'm watching this to see what you can find. I prefer to use just one cable where possible, rather than terminations at wall plates at both ends and then short fly leads to the wall plates. Too many connections and possible failure points/hassle introduced for my liking. Good luck, your project sounds very similar to what I will be doing once my current house sells!

It's not much of a project. I'm just to lazy/cheap to do the job properly (i.e. rip off the gib etc) so I'm trying to do the best cheap job I can. I just haven't done much of this kind of thing before, so makes the job seem harder than it is.

CYaBro: I have in the past just used standard PDL wall plates and, depending on how many cables you want to poke through, just get a 1,2,3...6 way wallplate.
They can be bought at any electrical supplier for a lot less than $40.
An HDMI connector will fit, just, though one of the holes.

Thanks for the hint, I'll check it out, but I'm just not sure it will have the look I'm going for. what I like about the above is that it has a nice finished look to the hole.

CYaBro

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#193672 3-Feb-2009 12:45

bazzer:
Thanks for the hint, I'll check it out, but I'm just not sure it will have the look I'm going for. what I like about the above is that it has a nice finished look to the hole.

Which will be hidden from view behind the TV or equipment rack

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

bazzer

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#193675 3-Feb-2009 12:51

CYaBro:
bazzer:
Thanks for the hint, I'll check it out, but I'm just not sure it will have the look I'm going for. what I like about the above is that it has a nice finished look to the hole.

Which will be hidden from view behind the TV or equipment rack

I suppose so, but in that case I may as well just leave it as a hole in the wall!

Edit: But I take yuor point and it's a good one. I was just hoping I could find something nicer like that picture, but cheaper

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Jaxson

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#193682 3-Feb-2009 13:10

Yeah he's right, my current setup uses exactly that, a 6 (or 4?) way wall plate with no switches in it. Hdmi cables push through and then there's enough room for another rca plug in the same slot etc. Looks mildly naff, but it's behind a big a$$ speaker, so no one evey sees. In fact my wall mounted TV has just a small hole in the wall behind it with a bunch of cables hanging out, but the TV and it's bracket covers that, so once again it all appears good that end too. Things you do to prepare a house to sell.

smarsden

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#193691 3-Feb-2009 13:34

What I did for mine was get a mounting block and a basic blanking plate, with no holes in it (got mine from Bunnings, but DSE links provided for the pictures). Then drilled a big hole through the middle of the plate, filed to the appropriate size for all the cables to get through. The mounting block then covers the messy hole through the plaster board, and having the plate screwed to that allows easy removal for additional cabling without affecting the screw-thread in the plaster board (which could happen if you screwed the plate direct to the plaster).

Although it's all hidden behind the TV, it's a lot nicer to look at should you ever have to move your TV! However, the 4/6 way wall plate, will of course do the same job without the need for drilling/filing, as long as it's got enough holes in it for the number/thickness of cables you need to run.

Also - pleased to hear that the brown clipsal 25x16mm ducting worked for you!

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