Wiring my lounge

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I've got a large lounge 18ft x 17ft that i'm currently renovating. Luckily there is a cellar underneath it which makes running cables a lot simpler. I want to make provision for installing a surround sound system later, and to make it look tidy I would like to have some sort of wall socket in each corner to plug the speakers into. I can run the cables through the cellar ceiling back to the corner where the system will be.

So my questions are:

1. Is there a recommended type of wall socket that I should be using, bearing in mind that in the corner where the system will reside, there will be 3 of them coming back from the other corners.

2. What sort of cable should I think about using.

Thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

WotNoHair:

I've got a large lounge 18ft x 17ft that i'm currently renovating. Luckily there is a cellar underneath it which makes running cables a lot simpler. I want to make provision for installing a surround sound system later, and to make it look tidy I would like to have some sort of wall socket in each corner to plug the speakers into. I can run the cables through the cellar ceiling back to the corner where the system will be.

So my questions are:

1. Is there a recommended type of wall socket that I should be using, bearing in mind that in the corner where the system will reside, there will be 3 of them coming back from the other corners.

2. What sort of cable should I think about using.

Thanks in advance

Welcome to the forum

When you say you're looking for a wall socket to plug the speakers into, do you mean a power socket for active speakers or something for the audio speaker cable?

You might want to think a little about the type of home cinema system you'll be looking to install. Most quality speaker systems utilse banana plug type connections, which would require a socket like this. Alternatively, some 'home cinema in a box' type speaker packages utilise spring loaded connections, in which case you would be looking at something like this.

The socket behind where you're AV system will reside could be catered for with something like this. With regards the type of speaker cable, there is alot on the market and all depends on your budget. As a rule of thumb, 10% of your system budget should be allocated to cabling (includes HMDI's, interconnects etc).

Here is a guide which may fill in some of the blanks.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Nick

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that Nick. Extremly useful info. With regards to the speaker plates. Thats exactly what I want, i just didn't know the name to type into Google.

Thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

One of my friends is recommending me to buy this:

http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz/ebz_product_pages/panasonic_scbt330.shtml?fshop

The wall plate that you pointed me at which distributes the cables is perhaps over the top me. This system would system would sit in the right hand alcove in my lounge. Therefore i would connect the Sub-woofer, centre and right-front speakers directly without the need for hiding cables

 

[Anonymous]

WotNoHair:

One of my friends is recommending me to buy this:

http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz/ebz_product_pages/panasonic_scbt330.shtml?fshop

The wall plate that you pointed me at which distributes the cables is perhaps over the top me. This system would system would sit in the right hand alcove in my lounge. Therefore i would connect the Sub-woofer, centre and right-front speakers directly without the need for hiding cables

The plates shown were just examples and there are other permutations to suit your requirements from suppliers. One word of caution, looking at some info on this system suggests it may have bespoke Panasonic speaker terminals rather than the industry standard banana or spring clip mentioned earlier. That may be problematic if you want compatible wall plates. Also, if you are really taken with the whole Home Cinema experience and consider changing or upgrading your system or just the speakers in the future; this also may be more tricky with non-standard connections.

Hope this helps,

Nick

 

[john1000000boy]

Hi wotnohair

Wall plates are a great way of tidying up speaker cable. The thing to remember is if you are going to buy bipolar rears the cable is at roughly 6ft up the wall and you would therefore need to have your cables coming through the wall and into the back of the speakers. Unless you are going to have the cables running up the outside of the wall and into your speaker. You may however be going for regular speakers at floor level so the face plates will be the best option.... If you are going for a sub /sat system the smaller speakers can look a little dwarfed by the large face plates and may not blend in with the room, especially at 6ft up the wall.

Having a nice tidy cable setup is very rewarding and keeps the other half happy. When sorting out my system a lot of time was spent chasing cables from the amp up the wall into the tv or to speakers. Even managed to get the front speaker cables tucked away behind the wall(lots of cable- up the wall along and down as my cables all run through the loft). I didnt go for face plates for the rx6's as i thought it would be tidier to only have the cable coming through a tidy hole behind each speaker. The QED faceplates are a little pricey too. Take a look at my system thread if you like..

Cheers

John

Edit I went for QED anniversay xt throughout if interested... Around £5 per m, its up to you though