# HIDE MY WIRES: Can you help? :)



## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

Team,

After auditioning several surround sound systems, I have found my perfect match! Now, comes the need from you for a little bit o' help.

I am going to be fully renovating an 1800 square foot basement - this give me a blank canvas. No framing or electrical, etc has been installed. I am purchasing a 65" plasma, 4 Focal Chorus 814 V speakers, Focal Chorus center speaker, VTF-3 MK4 Subwoofer and Onkyo TX-NR3009 THX.

Now the question (da, da da <dramatic music>). How do I hide all the wires? I have seen finished HT that show no wires what so ever: clean and smooth. I want the same look. There are, however, a few challenges.
1) The speakers are floor model - no wall mounting for these puppies
2) The television is going to be above the center channel which will be above the component rack. I want to hide these wires if at all possible.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!!!:help:

~MLGamer


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

No framing yet, and I assume no sheetrock, and you wonder how to hide the wires? Behind the sheetrock, before it goes up. That seems painfully obvious, which leads me to believe that I’m missing something...?

Regards, 
Wayne


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

MLGamer said:


> I am going to be fully renovating an 1800 square foot basement - this give me a blank canvas.


Are you sure that's not 1800 _cubic_ feet instead? 1800 square feet would be a massive room, about 40x45. :yikes:


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

Hello Wayne,

I have been accused of overlooking the obvious! I am new at home construction and home theaters. You did not miss a thing. Thank you for your feedback!


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

Hello Jim. The house is big. The basement is fully under the first floor. We had architectural plans made up. The final result: 1800 square feet. Needless to say, the dedicated HT will only take up a small portion of that. BTW: love your picture! It reminds me of a few frat parties I attended in college!!!


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

MLGamer said:


> Hello Jim. The house is big. The basement is fully under the first floor. We had architectural plans made up. The final result: 1800 square feet. Needless to say, the dedicated HT will only take up a small portion of that.


If that space is open then you're probably going to have an issue with your audio system; I honestly don't see how those speakers or the sub -- especially the sub -- are going to do anything other then disappear. Assuming a mere 8 foot ceiling height you're looking at over 14,000 cubic feet total, which is nothing short of massive.

To a certain extent you can compensate for having undersized speakers by placing them close, and aiming them right at the listening position, but that doesn't really work the same for a subwoofer. It's going to "see" the entire area and try to pressurize it, which it won't come close to doing. A sub doesn't acknowledge imaginary boundaries, only physical ones like walls and ceilings, so that has to be sized in a different manner then speakers I'm afraid.




MLGamer said:


> BTW: love your picture! It reminds me of a few frat parties I attended in college!!!


There's probably a good story or two in there someplace, but I'm not sure I want to know what they might be...


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

While the overall space is significant, it will be broken up to some degree with an office, craft room, storage area and bathroom (see design)


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

MLGamer said:


> Hello Wayne,
> 
> I have been accused of overlooking the obvious! I am new at home construction and home theaters. You did not miss a thing. Thank you for your feedback!


Check my signature for an article on running wires in finished walls. It'll be the same concept - drilling holes in the top plates to drop wires down to an outlet box - except you'd do it all before the sheetrock goes up.

You might want to visit a new home construction site to see how the electricians, alarm people etc. run their wiring.

Regards,
Wayne


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks Wayne!


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

MLGamer said:


> While the overall space is significant, it will be broken up to some degree with an office, craft room, storage area and bathroom (see design)


The yellow area is what you'll have to account for with your calculations. The floorplan says 1808 SF, so if that doesn't include those other rooms -- and is just the yellow shaded area -- then a sub will see all of it. Or most anyway; the space down by the storage room can probably be discounted, but the rest really can't.


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## klaudia.becker (Apr 12, 2013)

I would sugggest Kablophile HDMI Cables, they are flat and can be easily used under carpets and on wall.
They also have Balance+ speaker cables which are excellent.

-Klaudia:R


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## caper26 (Sep 10, 2010)

you obviously want to do a mock up of where everything will be going (speakers, TV, sofa, chairs, etc) so that you can plan to run wires accordingly.
I just finished renovating upstairs and hide the speaker cables for my floor standing speakers behind the baseboard trim. First I put the electric fireplace in place, then the speakers and sub and got the wife to tell me where she wanted everything placed (centered and spaced). Then I marked it all, and went to work. One option is a speaker cable plate, ie run the cable in the wall to a faceplate, which would act like an outlet, except for speaker connections instead of electricity.
One 2 is run the cable in the wall, and drill a "just large enough" hole in the baseboard trim, and extend the cable out, with just enough slack to move the speaker slightly for cleaning purposes. That is what I did since I didn't want to have a pile of faceplates all over my walls. I don't have pics yet with the speakers in place, but I can if you like. Let me know.


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

caper26 said:


> you obviously want to do a mock up of where everything will be going (speakers, TV, sofa, chairs, etc) so that you can plan to run wires accordingly.
> I just finished renovating upstairs and hide the speaker cables for my floor standing speakers behind the baseboard trim. First I put the electric fireplace in place, then the speakers and sub and got the wife to tell me where she wanted everything placed (centered and spaced). Then I marked it all, and went to work. One option is a speaker cable plate, ie run the cable in the wall to a faceplate, which would act like an outlet, except for speaker connections instead of electricity.
> One 2 is run the cable in the wall, and drill a "just large enough" hole in the baseboard trim, and extend the cable out, with just enough slack to move the speaker slightly for cleaning purposes. That is what I did since I didn't want to have a pile of faceplates all over my walls. I don't have pics yet with the speakers in place, but I can if you like. Let me know.


Thanks for the insight caper26. My plans have elaborated since first making this post. First, I have changed brands of speakers to Paradigm after auditioning them. Second, I have more focused plans (attached). Also, I have decided to use in-ceiling speakers for the surrounds. Finally, I am going with a 7.2 system instead of a 5.1. I want the extra omph!

Thanks,

MLGamer


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

Are you planning to add zone speakers to the office, craft room, and jacuzzi? If so now is the time to wire.


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

rab-byte said:


> Are you planning to add zone speakers to the office, craft room, and jacuzzi? If so now is the time to wire.


I will probably set up 2 zones: billiards area and office. It really comes down to affordability.


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## caper26 (Sep 10, 2010)

at least pre-wire the rooms, and you could add the sound later.


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## cubiclecrusher (May 21, 2013)

caper26 said:


> at least pre-wire the rooms, and you could add the sound later.


I'd reiterate that. It is "cheap" to wire all your rooms now (compared to later). Where ever there is a phone jack, there should be ethernet. Where ever there is a cable jack, there should be audio jacks. I neglected to do this back in 2010, and I regret it to this day. Even running just conduit could be enough, or if you didn't want to deal with wall jacks, you could leave wire coiled up in the wall.

But some tax-return in the future, you may want to have music in that Jacuzzi room, and if it's already wired then it's exponentially easier.


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

cubiclecrusher said:


> I'd reiterate that. It is "cheap" to wire all your rooms now (compared to later). Where ever there is a phone jack, there should be ethernet. Where ever there is a cable jack, there should be audio jacks. I neglected to do this back in 2010, and I regret it to this day. Even running just conduit could be enough, or if you didn't want to deal with wall jacks, you could leave wire coiled up in the wall.
> 
> But some tax-return in the future, you may want to have music in that Jacuzzi room, and if it's already wired then it's exponentially easier.


All,

Based on the suggestions from all of you, combined with a sprinkle of common sense, I am going to pre-wire the billiards, office and craft rooms for future use.

Thanks for all your comments!

~MLGamer


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## admranger (Jul 12, 2013)

MLGamer said:


> All,
> 
> Based on the suggestions from all of you, combined with a sprinkle of common sense, I am going to pre-wire the billiards, office and craft rooms for future use.
> 
> ...


Any reason not to prewire the front highs and wides in case you go to 11.2 in the future? I wish I had wired for 7.1 when my house was built in 2000. Now, it would be a huge nightmare to do so, which means it is very, very unlikely to happen, no matter how much I want it. Seemed like a dumb idea at the time as I was just getting my very first real system and it was only 5.1 so 'why bother'. Not my brightest moment.

Thinking of a projector sometime in the future? Prewire for it now. Power and HDMI.

Also, having the subs off in the corners seems odd to me unless they are not very attractive and it is a WAF issue. I'd put them between the TV and the mains, but that's just me.



Regardless, I'm very jealous of your space. Very, very few houses have basements here in Vegas. I wish I had one. Really miss the space and the flexibility that comes with having that space.


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## kenbola (Jan 24, 2012)

Dont forget the www.procontrol.com RF remote! 
Enjoy!


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

kenbola said:


> Dont forget the www.procontrol.com RF remote!
> Enjoy!


Hello Kenbola. These remotes look amazing. I have not done a tremendous amount of research in this area. How much can I expect to pay for their least expensive solution?

~Matthew


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## MLGamer (Feb 10, 2013)

kenbola said:


> Dont forget the www.procontrol.com RF remote!
> Enjoy!


Never mind cheapest! How much can I expect to pay for the Pro24.z?

~Matthew


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