Sugestions on hidden wire organization 4 home theatre
Right now my 60" LED TV is mounted above the fireplace and I will be removing the fireplace and reuse the same mount. I have also decided that this is an excellent time to make accommodations to hide all wires without using that cheesy channel that just goes on the wall since the wall will be torn apart and I can put all my wiring in the wall. I want to have an open console to house receiver, BD player, cable box, etc. and place a panel behind it about 1' off the floor with the appropriate connections. Here I plan to use AC wall outlet, HDMI, co-ax and banana plug push-ins (7.1 audio). Higher up behind the TV I plan to have a smaller panel with HDMI, co-ax (as an alternative for future owners) and its own AC power. How many HDMI connections should I incorporate? Should I use the banana plugs for audio? Right now I am bi-amping my front speakers and am wondering if I should keep them like that in the new set up or abandon it as it takes 2 sets of connections (there will also be front speaker connections from the wall in the appropriate spots). All my other speakers are flush mounted or wired through the wall and ceiling. Any and all ideas are appreciated in advance.
Comments
Paging @Sonorous
I would run at least two HDMI cables to the display. It just adds for more flexibility down the road, much like running the coax. With your receiver, are you able to bi-amp the front channels and maintain 7.1? Most 7.1 receivers drop the rear left and right outputs to allow the user to run a bi-amp set of fronts. You could always add a secondary panel of banana plugs just for the fronts.
I second the extra wiring for bi-amping the front speakers. When you get a nice set of towers you don't want to cheap out on power. They are you main speakers, the rest are supporting the front.
Go with the banana plugs. They combine the best connection with the ability to easily unplug/plug them to move things around.
There are some things to pay attention to though. When flipping the switch from full range to bi-amp on speakers, you will want to find out what the cross over points need to be set at prior to sending any signal to them. You won't want to send low frequency to your delicate little tweeters. I'm sure most of use home audio nuts already know this, but I wanted to mention for anyone who reads this and wants to take the plunge into bi-amplifcation.
Thank you for your help. I have been running my Paradigm Studio 60 v5 front speakers bi-amped with 2 separate power amps running off the pre-out connection of my receiver. The Paradigms are built with crossover filters to keep unwanted frequencies from going to the wrong drivers. I have now ordered my connections and will continue to bi-amp. These speakers just sound too much better this way than straight wired to go back. I am going to run 2 HDMI connections to the panel along with 1 coax, 1 USB and 2 AC outlets. This should be enough to keep most future home owners content as well as myself.
Running some Ethernet along with the bunch might not be a horribad idea.
I had thought that out very hard. And came to the conclusion that since there isn't any in the house save the direct connection to the router in the office. Then added the proliferation of wi-fi enabled TV's and decided against it. Good thought though.