Tidy Wires Fetish?

[DandyCobalt]

I spent about two hours on Saturday behind the tv and kit, tidying up all the wires, looping any extra lengths, and making sure that mains cables were away from sound/vision cables. Didn't stop till there were absolutely no wires visble from in front.

Is there a medical term for this, doctor?

I must admit that it was very enjoyable and I'm sure the sound is better now

 

[The_Lhc]

I spent a couple of hours doing this one Sunday morning a few weeks ago as my missus had been on at me about it for over a year, got it lovely, no wires visible at all. She took one look, said "Great, well done.... by the way I want to change the whole room around, put the TV and speakers over there instead".

I briefly entertained the idea of burying her under the patio but settled for a stern "No." and left it at that... There's just no pleasing some people.

 

[DandyCobalt]

If you're digging up the patio then you could put some cabling in at same time for outdoor speakers?

 

[Anonymous]

I spent ages sorting out my wireing, and im still not satisfied, there must be some way of achiveing cable zen, are there rules of thumb like i dont know starting from the top and daisy chaning down? the only rule i follow is to keep power and AV cabels seperate, but in this digital era is that even neccecery?

 

[Anonymous]

I spent ages sorting out my wireing, and im still not satisfied, there must be some way of achiveing cable zen, are there rules of thumb like i dont know starting from the top and daisy chaning down? the only rule i follow is to keep power and AV cabels seperate, but in this digital era is that even neccecery?

 

[The_Lhc]

I spent ages sorting out my wireing, and im still not satisfied, there must be some way of achiveing cable zen, are there rules of thumb like i dont know starting from the top and daisy chaning down? the only rule i follow is to keep power and AV cabels seperate, but in this digital era is that even neccecery?

Optical digital cables won't suffer from interference but it's still not a bad idea to keep electrical digital cables away from power leads.

 

[CnoEvil]

Is there a medical term for this, doctor?

..OCD...or is that a type of copper? :~

 

[DandyCobalt]

I started by labelling then removing all the power cables. Then I used those plastic pull-ties to loop any overlong speaker cables. Then I did same with the HDMIs and interconnects. Finally, I replaced the mains extension block etc in position (so many plugs!!) and then replaced the mains cables, keeping them away from the sound/vision cables. Yikes, took longer than the description sounds. All my mains are somehow routed through an Isotek substation mains unit, then to a remote controlled plug socket (B+Q for a tenner) (so that all can be mains turned off at night remotely to save on the electricity and bright stand-by lights illminating the swamp outside.

 

[Anonymous]

OFCOCD?

 

[CnoEvil]

OFCOCD?

That's the very one!

 

[The_Lhc]

I started by labelling then removing all the power cables. Then I used those plastic pull-ties to loop any overlong speaker cables.

I might be wrong but I didn't think this was recommended practice, looping electrical cables can induce, err, inductance. With power cables this could lead to overheating in the cable, with speaker cables (and presumably analogue interconnects) it can cause crosstalk. Of course whether you'd actually notice any of this is another matter...

You can loop optical cables ok, as long as you keep the radius of any bends as open as possible, too tight a bend or loop and you risk degrading the signal as the internal reflective properties of the fibre are reduced the more the cable is bent.

 

[chebby]

I achieved this by changing my multi-seperates system to the one below in my 'signature'.

I still have a few 'tweaks' to go...

1) 1 metre HDMI instead of 2 metres

2) Buying a fig. 8 mains cable (just a decent 'stock' one) that I can shorten to 0.7m (and pop the manufacturer's one back in the box).

3) Get smaller 3 or 4 socket mains extension instead of the present 6 socket one, and shorten it's lead too (I only need 3 sockets now) and screw it to the back of the AV unit so the mains leads are tidy and off the floor.

4) Get my 2 x 2.5m speaker cables shortened to 2 x 2m and have new banana plugs re-soldered on the cut ends.

5) Get a pack of matching white MK Toughplugs (and appropriate fuses) so all the visible - and hidden - plugs match. (I hate black plugs.)

 

[roger06]

Is there a medical term for this, doctor? I must admit that it was very enjoyable and I'm sure the sound is better now

Whatever it is I reckon I caught it worse than you a couple of summers back... This was me with the carpet up routing channels in the wood below to run cables in conduit.

Made a big difference.

 

[The_Lhc]

Is there a medical term for this, doctor? I must admit that it was very enjoyable and I'm sure the sound is better now

Whatever it is I reckon I caught it worse than you a couple of summers back... This was me with the carpet up routing channels in the wood below to run cables in conduit.

Blimey, my missus would have routed you a conduit where the sun doesn't shine if you'd done that to her floors!

Your Weemee isn't very flattering incidentally, I had you as being much older than that!

 

[roger06]

Is there a medical term for this, doctor? I must admit that it was very enjoyable and I'm sure the sound is better now

Whatever it is I reckon I caught it worse than you a couple of summers back... This was me with the carpet up routing channels in the wood below to run cables in conduit.

Blimey, my missus would have routed you a conduit where the sun doesn't shine if you'd done that to her floors!

Your Weemee isn't very flattering incidentally, I had you as being much older than that!

LOL! - I'm older than I look !

And the end result was a lot tidier than before so SWMBO was happy (it's all changed a bit since then) as there'd been loads of cables between the TV and hi fi cabinet as I didn't have an AV amp that video back then.

 

[The_Lhc]

Must admit my other half would probably be very happy with that, but she likes her wooden flooring!

 

[roger06]

Must admit my other half would probably be very happy with that, but she likes her wooden flooring!

Yeah give me a lovely oak floor anyday. This was parquet which I detest. I guess if it was one's cup of tea it would have polished up quite nicely...

 

[chris hollands]

Love this thread , made me laugh out loud as i think we have all been there at some time.

I have just spent a fortune having my lounge decorated and having all the wires put behind the skirting boards and channelled into the walls. It was not till after it was finished that i realised i had forgotten the sub lead that went half way around the room !!!!

Also it is still like spaghetti junction behind the cabinet simply because there are so many leads !!

 

[roger06]

Well I can probably make you laugh more...

I wasn't there to supervise my builder when he routed the channels in the floor for the speaker cable (ie not what I'm doing in the pic).

I told him where all the speakers were to go. The carpet was then laid the same day. I returned from work to find the cables in the right place but with only about 60 cm slack so not enough to actually reach the speaker terminals! Doh.

A whole section of carpet had to come up and be relaid just to give a couple more feet slack.

Then – one of the speaker cables happened to be routed right where a speaker stand was to go so a spike went right through it. Took me ages to work out why it all sounded so bad...

We live and learn.

 

[plastic penguin]

I spent about two hours on Saturday behind the tv and kit, tidying up all the wires, looping any extra lengths, and making sure that mains cables were away from sound/vision cables. Didn't stop till there were absolutely no wires visble from in front. Is there a medical term for this, doctor? I must admit that it was very enjoyable and I'm sure the sound is better now

A little word of caution (blimey, I'm the king of caution... :~ ): I used to work for a fire and safety company and I used to carry out fire risk assessments, and I can safely say leave the cables loose; try not to even use dedicated cable tidy gizmos either. The closer and the more cables are wrapped CAN be a fire risk.

 

[dave_k]

I achieved this by changing my multi-seperates system to the one below in my 'signature'.

I still have a few 'tweaks' to go...

1) 1 metre HDMI instead of 2 metres

2) Buying a fig. 8 mains cable (just a decent 'stock' one) that I can shorten to 0.7m (and pop the manufacturer's one back in the box).

3) Get smaller 3 or 4 socket mains extension instead of the present 6 socket one, and shorten it's lead too (I only need 3 sockets now) and screw it to the back of the AV unit so the mains leads are tidy and off the floor.

4) Get my 2 x 2.5m speaker cables shortened to 2 x 2m and have new banana plugs re-soldered on the cut ends.

5) Get a pack of matching white MK Toughplugs (and appropriate fuses) so all the visible - and hidden - plugs match. (I hate black plugs.)

Any chance of a picture of you set-up Chebby? I'm toying with the idea of doing something like you've done and would like to show my wife-to-be what i have in mind...

Fully understand if you'd rather not though!

 

[dave_k]

I achieved this by changing my multi-seperates system to the one below in my 'signature'.

I still have a few 'tweaks' to go...

1) 1 metre HDMI instead of 2 metres

2) Buying a fig. 8 mains cable (just a decent 'stock' one) that I can shorten to 0.7m (and pop the manufacturer's one back in the box).

3) Get smaller 3 or 4 socket mains extension instead of the present 6 socket one, and shorten it's lead too (I only need 3 sockets now) and screw it to the back of the AV unit so the mains leads are tidy and off the floor.

4) Get my 2 x 2.5m speaker cables shortened to 2 x 2m and have new banana plugs re-soldered on the cut ends.

5) Get a pack of matching white MK Toughplugs (and appropriate fuses) so all the visible - and hidden - plugs match. (I hate black plugs.)

Any chance of a picture of you set-up Chebby? I'm toying with the idea of doing something like you've done and would like to show my wife-to-be what i have in mind...

Fully understand if you'd rather not though!

 

[Anonymous]

This thread reminds me that I need to spend some serious time on this, thanks guys!

 

[john1000000boy]

The eternal tidy up behind the AV cabinet!! Whenever i sort the cables out they look great and then it just gets busier and busier!! The speaker cable is all cable tied together where it comes out the wall, then i TRIED to route each hdmi on its own path Then the phonos.... Then it just ended up in a total jumble!! They always move about when i pull the cabinet away from the wall.

The pics are great to show the effort that people go to (including myself) for the cable free cinema/hifi. The end result is very nice too!!

It always drove my wife nuts when there were cables lying on the carpet!! So used this as leverage for a new system. All cables are in the walls and go over the ceiling now(cottage)

It looks great and really adds to the appeal of the system(especially when its yourself crawling around the rafters feeding the cables down between the plasterboard!! GRIM!!

When new guests come in the male always admires the system while the female loves the cable free room!!

I love both!!

 

[john1000000boy]

Didnt mean both men and women!! You know what i meant!!!!