In wall AV cabling attempt

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150 posts

Master Geek

# 143089 2-Apr-2014 23:04

More or less looking for ideas from people who have done this.

I finally got around to building a recessed AV box behind the wall mounted TV.

For the next stage I could go the easy route and get a little faceplate that has a bull nose or brush but I am leaning towards having outlets for each cable type via keystone adapters. I'll need 12 keystone inserts and then another 8 for speakers (or a dedicated speaker-faceplate).

These guys http://www.darkstar.co.nz/wall-plates/inserts.html (found from another thread) seem to have most of the gear to do this, currently I can't think of a good reason not to do this :D

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

reven

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# 1017610 3-Apr-2014 06:40

this is what I have for my speakers.

I'm also using these in the lounge where the receiver/xbox is below the hanging tv. and these in the master bedroom where the tv wallmounted in front of the bed and the receiver/ps4/etc is in the wardrobe.

i decided not to use hdmi plugs as they could effect the signal (plug could be version 1.3 but cable is 1.4), also I wanted to leave room for future cables/cable types. the only real thing i actually have running to the tvs are a single hdmi cable as they use ARC to return sound from tv to receiver if watching tv, and everything else is plugged into reciever which sends picture to tv if using one of those.

the speaker wall plate is a blessing, a lot easier to deal with the speakers now and looks nice IMO.

jonathan18

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# 1017677 3-Apr-2014 09:32

For the home theatre we built last year I went with the minimalist option - simply having the cabling coming out through PDL boxes (blank front plates with suitably-sized holes drilled in them) - for two main reasons: price and to avoid signal degredation. I'd especially worry about this for speaker cables - why add in additional and unnecessary breaks in the signal? (especially since some of the cabling's quite long, ie to the rear speakers). Speaker cables coming out of the walls next to the speakers were managed by gluing a suitably-sized washer to the wall to ensure the gib board didn't get damaged.

Given that each one of the boxes is hidden (eg, behind the TV, stereo unit or the sub) and the washers behind the speakers are painted in with the wall so are not obvious, I really can't see any major downside. Sure, the socket approach is neat and tidy, but does that really matter too much if it's not even visible?!

richms

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# 1017763 3-Apr-2014 11:24

reven: i decided not to use hdmi plugs as they could effect the signal (plug could be version 1.3 but cable is 1.4)

1.3 and 1.4 are protocol versions. Cables only come in normal or high speed and optionally ethernet on either type. Anyone selling a 1.4 hdmi cable doesn't know what they are on about.

Richard rich.ms

reven

3460 posts

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# 1017765 3-Apr-2014 11:27

i thought it must of been the speed of the cable and older hdmi cables couldnt handle 1.4 3d etc. ive done very little research into this.

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150 posts

Master Geek

# 1017769 3-Apr-2014 11:30

Cool idea for the speaker wires Jonathan, might look at that for the wires coming out of the wall into the speakers, I'll still go for a proper speaker/binding post faceplate down behind the entertainment unit.