How things look.

[bigfish786]

And solutions to the cables.

im really happy with the setup. But the cables are not exactly nice to look at.

any suggestions? Or pics of what you do to hide cables?

 

[CnoEvil]

Very nice indeed.

I'm not sure there is an easy solution for your cables....in my case, the AV rack is wide enough to hide most of "the spaghetti".

 

[Al ears]

And solutions to the cables.

im really happy with the setup. But the cables are not exactly nice to look at.

any suggestions? Or pics of what you do to hide cables?

Nice touch the candles. Try to hide the extention block behind the rack. Get a block with enough sockets so you only have one cable going to the wall socket. With wall sockets that high it's difficult but you can get some plastic trunking to cover the cables. On the floor I have used some rubber stepped-strips like they use in offices to cover a power cable crossing the floor.

 

[SemiChronic]

 

[chebby]

Mmm, grim indeed.

I had a system getting like that (Naim amp, CD player and tuner, separate DAC and even a Rega TT with Fono-Mini). The system and the cables were taking over and it was doing my head in.

Five years ago I solved it by selling the entire system and getting a good 'all-in-one' system with just one mains lead, a pair of speaker cables, one FM aerial coax cable, one optical cable and one ethernet cable.

My present system has gained a mains lead (AirPort Express) but lost the FM aerial cable and i've paid a bit extra to ensure every single one of the few cables left are the exact length I need and no more.

Looking at your system I can tell you will never be quite as radical but you can work on changing all cables for the exact length, so there is no unsightly 'slack' and the cable colours all match wherever possible. You could invest in a box of decent 3-pin plugs from MK (black or white) to make sure they all match too.

I'd rather have very neat and matching plugs and leads on show than a rats nest forced into some plastic trunking to hide it or all rammed behind a rack.

 

[steve_1979]

Nice setup.

Unfortunately I can't give any advice re your cables. My technique is to pretend they're not there and try not to look at them. It's a rubbish solution though so I'll be watching this thread with interest to see if I can get any ideas.

 

[Al ears]

Mmm, grim indeed.

I had a system getting like that (Naim amp, CD player and tuner, separate DAC and even a Rega TT with Fono-Mini). The system and the cables were taking over and it was doing my head in.

Five years ago I solved it by selling the entire system and getting a good 'all-in-one' system with just one mains lead, a pair of speaker cables, one FM aerial coax cable, one optical cable and one ethernet cable.

My present system has gained a mains lead (AirPort Express) but lost the FM aerial cable and i've paid a bit extra to ensure every single one of the few cables left are the exact length I need and no more.

Looking at your system I can tell you will never be quite as radical but you can work on changing all cables for the exact length, so there is no unsightly 'slack' and the cable colours all match wherever possible. You could invest in a box of decent 3-pin plugs from MK (black or white) to make sure they all match too.

I'd rather have very neat and matching plugs and leads on show than a rats nest forced into some plastic trunking to hide it or all rammed behind a rack.

Shortening and minimising cable runs I can quite agree with. Failing that you could throw a nice chintz throw over the lot of it.

Is that a Tacima mains distribution block I see? Pity they don't come in white.

 

[jonathanRD]

The position of your sockets doesn't help, as they are all one side and on show - forcing all the cabling to the left. You could put some sort of panel or picture low down and either side, but it would have to be something that looked good and not out of place.

I have floorstanders (hifi) and standmounts (avr) either side of an av rack (below the TV) in a similar arrangement to you. But the av rack hides the rats nest of extension blocks/cables. Can you box them in? or make a box. or purchase something that will look ok? The box could then go behind the rack.

I have 2 x white speaker cables, 1 x black electric power cable and 2 x subwoofer cables running to the left of the rack but they look quite neat because they are running together straight along the wall with no slack in the cables. To the right are 2 x speaker cables and 1 x power cable and again they are neatly running together with no slack.

 

[SemiChronic]

Im hoping a trip to ikea should sort mine out, they have some innovate furniture and easy on the pocket too

 

[Gazzip]

Stick 'em under the floorboards if you can. It might take you a day but well worth it if you can be bothered.

 

[jonathanRD]

Stick 'em under the floorboards if you can. It might take you a day but well worth it if you can be bothered.

And if it's a concrete floor dig a trench! *biggrin*

 

[plastic penguin]

And solutions to the cables.

im really happy with the setup. But the cables are not exactly nice to look at.

any suggestions? Or pics of what you do to hide cables?

Leave it. Whoa. Don't do anything.

From a safety point of view leave the cable out stretched. I used to work for a fire safety company, and I visited a few places with a fire risk assessor. One of the biggest causes of house fires is people using double or triple plug adapters. When you either have two or three additional plugs it can arc and create a short. Likewise if you wind or fold cables that creates heat and can interfere with the current. You can disguise them with a bigger cabinet or a rug, but leave the leads loose.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Can't find how to post images here so here's a link to my set-up taken a couple of years ago, before I got into vinyl:

http://www65.zippyshare.com/v/eIcILn72/file.html

Please forgive the decor, it is currently in a state of flux *biggrin* Units were cheap and cheerful from Argos. As has been mentioned Ikea do have some great solutions and is where I will be looking for any future changes.

Just noticed that the image appears a little squished in the horizontal, the dimension across the wall is 4m. Hiding behind all this is a marble hearth and plinth which will be restored when I downsize my abode in the next few years - early retirement.

 

[chebby]

From a safety point of view leave the cable out stretched. I used to work for a fire safety company, and I visited a few places with a fire risk assessor. One of the biggest causes of house fires is people using double or triple plug adapters. When you either have two or three additional plugs it can arc and create a short. Likewise if you wind or fold cables that creates heat and can interfere with the current. You can disguise them with a bigger cabinet or a rug, but leave the leads loose.

One of the reasons I advocated leaving it all out ...

I'd rather have very neat and matching plugs and leads on show than a rats nest forced into some plastic trunking to hide it or all rammed behind a rack.

On the safety angle for a moment; how many people have checked to ensure the fuse ratings for everything they have plugged in are correct according to manufacturer's recommendations?

I'd guess insurance companies would be interested in this too (along with whether any 'after market' mains leads are all certified compliant with BS1363).

 

[keeper of the quays]

I suggest getting a 78 player! Its wind up..no cables...imagine all that extra space liberated? Of course it wont sound like your very nice set up? But that might be expectation bias? ....hope this is helpful?

 

[tino]

Visible cables is one of my pet hates.

My suggestion would be to put some furniture in front of the spaghetti.

IKEA do a BESTA unit that is only 20cm deep. Put those against the wall. They are tall enough to hide the plug sockets, but not so deep as to intrude into the room, You can even store all your CDs in them.

PS For a bit of fun, search for Tidy Up and Ikea ... the video ad campaign (including a spaghetti cable vignette) is very funny.