Let's talk about cable...
Jstas
Posts: 14,842
...management.
Folks, some of y'all need to invest in zip ties or wire loom or something!
I peruse the System Showcase and believe me, some of you have got it going on! But others, seems like you're trying to set up a nest to breed rats!
There are benefits to cable management. Having a pile of cables twisted and running back over themselves is not a good thing. It collects dust and grime easier, hampers effective air flow, is a hazard for tripping or yanking a cable inadvertently and can be a source of EM interference.
Now, granted you don't want to wrap power cords up with speaker wires and you do not want any high voltage/current wires running with your signal wires either. Those conditions are rife for signal interference.
That said, the first consideration in effective cable management is properly sizing your cables. If you have a rack with closely spaced components, you do not need 12 foot cables strung behind your rig to span a distance that is roughly 10 inches. This concept alone will solve the problem that many have with loops of signal cables dangling down the back of the rig and draped across the floor. You know, even if the cables are insulated, static charges from things like kids playing on the carpet, vacuuming or even lightman rubbing his butt on the carpet can cause a static charge to build up and adversely affect your rig. So take those 12 foot cables and replace them with better sized cables. This will eliminate many issues and you won't have to drape cables across the back of your rig.
Cable sizing applies to other cables as well. Speaker cables, once you find your sweet spot for your rig, should be shortened so the slack is taken up. I mean, if you found your sweet spot, you don't need the speakers to move anymore so why all the extra slack? Get rid of it. I've seen some with coils of wires dangling behind speakers and zip tied up. Guess what you just made there, Sparky? An inductance coil. It picks up radiation of all kinds and transfers it to your rig. Get rid of it.
About the only cable that I would not worry about length so much on is power cables. If you have a Power Distribution Unit for your rack or a UPS that everything is plugged in to then, yes, size your cables properly. But if all you have is a surge protector on the floor then the length of the power cord will have to compensate for the other units plugged in as well. Longer power cords can help dissipate temperatures caused by high draw conditions as well. But don't coil your power cords either.
Next idea, keep it neat and tidy. Wires draped down the back or your rig can block air flow going in to and out of your gear. We all know heat kills gear so why do so few of us take precautions against heat? Bundle your cables together in groups. One large bundle of cables has a smaller overall footprint than a curtain of cables strewn across the back of the gear. So grab some zip ties or velcro bands and bundle your signal cables together. They won't interfere with each other. Bundle your power cords together, even if they do interfere with each other, it won't matter unless you have some kind of ground loop somewhere causing a harmonic in your household power grid. Don't bundle your speaker wires together cause they can actually cause a bit of signal cancellation because programming info is different per channel.
Once you have your bundles all tied up, secure them. If you have a quality rack, there should be stanchions in places or grooves on the back to shove cables in and clean up the appearances. If not, you can get stuff to fit your needs, I'll put links at the bottom of my post. You can also use pretty wireloom to cover up the glaring plastic covered gaudiness of bare speaker cables. Hell, make it match your decor! You can even get PVC channeling that sticks to your wall or baseboard for a clean, finished look and it can even be painted to match! The bonus here is that there is alot less to clean.
That brings us to the next topic, cleaning. Clean the cables as much as you would any other component. Dust is made up of all kinds of nasty. From plain old dirt to human and pet dander to body oil particulates to mold and mold spores. They all work to degrade your cabling. They corrode connections and dissolve/rot insulation and shielding. Keep it clean and you will greatly extend the life of your cabling as well as preserve that "like new" performance. Also, regular cleaning allows you to inspect your gear for things like pets chewing on the cables or stress points that can cause insulation to be compromised and cabling to fray.
All of this not only helps preserve/improve the performance of your rig but best of all, it looks GODO! This is a HUGE positive in the WAF column because we all know how those ladies love neat and orderly. Go ahead, admit it, you like it too! The biggest difference from one rig to the next is the attention that one owner puts in to the details over what the other owner does. You don't have to be a millionaire to have that "Better Homes and Gardens" feature story look. You just need to take care to pay attention to details. Cleaning and cable management is a major detail that is fairly inexpensive to cover and just requires a bit of attention and time to accomplish.
Go ahead, do it, you'll thank me for it!
Now, some resources!
I see many stereo places offering cable management solutions that seem needlessly expensive and complicated. You know where many of the ideas for that came from? The computer industry. Us nerds need to keep our warehouses full of servers cool, clean and organized. So we have oodles of goodies to accomplish the tasks. We're super cheap too so alot of this stuff is decent quality and inexpensive. My favorite source is Cyber Guys. They have a massive selection with a great deal of variety and their stuff is as attractive as it is functional. Designed for the home or pro, it's easy to use, cheap and looks good. The customer service is top notch and they are lightning fast with shipping. They won't break the bank either!
http://www.cyberguys.com/product-listings/?categoryid=107
Now, quality cables. Everybody has their source and I know cables matter, cables don't matter...yeah, whatever. I don't care. Thing is though, you want a quality cable and sometimes you need a special cable that you just can't seem to find. Never fear! While the Cyber Guys I posted above have alot of quality cable options as well as adapters, there's one place that I just cannot beat for variety. Black Box. I've been using these guys for years. Their catalog is HUGE and if they don't have it, they will build it custom for you. They also have insurance programs to protect your cables from catastrophe like a rogue vacuum cleaner, careless repairman, bad doggy and so on. I wish I could say they were cheap but they aren't. I can say that they do have decent products and they do have good customer service.
http://www.blackbox.com/Store/storefront.aspx
You don't really need any more resources. If you can find something to meet your cable and cable management needs at one of those two places then what you are looking for likely doesn't exist. So get out there and manage those cables!
Folks, some of y'all need to invest in zip ties or wire loom or something!
I peruse the System Showcase and believe me, some of you have got it going on! But others, seems like you're trying to set up a nest to breed rats!
There are benefits to cable management. Having a pile of cables twisted and running back over themselves is not a good thing. It collects dust and grime easier, hampers effective air flow, is a hazard for tripping or yanking a cable inadvertently and can be a source of EM interference.
Now, granted you don't want to wrap power cords up with speaker wires and you do not want any high voltage/current wires running with your signal wires either. Those conditions are rife for signal interference.
That said, the first consideration in effective cable management is properly sizing your cables. If you have a rack with closely spaced components, you do not need 12 foot cables strung behind your rig to span a distance that is roughly 10 inches. This concept alone will solve the problem that many have with loops of signal cables dangling down the back of the rig and draped across the floor. You know, even if the cables are insulated, static charges from things like kids playing on the carpet, vacuuming or even lightman rubbing his butt on the carpet can cause a static charge to build up and adversely affect your rig. So take those 12 foot cables and replace them with better sized cables. This will eliminate many issues and you won't have to drape cables across the back of your rig.
Cable sizing applies to other cables as well. Speaker cables, once you find your sweet spot for your rig, should be shortened so the slack is taken up. I mean, if you found your sweet spot, you don't need the speakers to move anymore so why all the extra slack? Get rid of it. I've seen some with coils of wires dangling behind speakers and zip tied up. Guess what you just made there, Sparky? An inductance coil. It picks up radiation of all kinds and transfers it to your rig. Get rid of it.
About the only cable that I would not worry about length so much on is power cables. If you have a Power Distribution Unit for your rack or a UPS that everything is plugged in to then, yes, size your cables properly. But if all you have is a surge protector on the floor then the length of the power cord will have to compensate for the other units plugged in as well. Longer power cords can help dissipate temperatures caused by high draw conditions as well. But don't coil your power cords either.
Next idea, keep it neat and tidy. Wires draped down the back or your rig can block air flow going in to and out of your gear. We all know heat kills gear so why do so few of us take precautions against heat? Bundle your cables together in groups. One large bundle of cables has a smaller overall footprint than a curtain of cables strewn across the back of the gear. So grab some zip ties or velcro bands and bundle your signal cables together. They won't interfere with each other. Bundle your power cords together, even if they do interfere with each other, it won't matter unless you have some kind of ground loop somewhere causing a harmonic in your household power grid. Don't bundle your speaker wires together cause they can actually cause a bit of signal cancellation because programming info is different per channel.
Once you have your bundles all tied up, secure them. If you have a quality rack, there should be stanchions in places or grooves on the back to shove cables in and clean up the appearances. If not, you can get stuff to fit your needs, I'll put links at the bottom of my post. You can also use pretty wireloom to cover up the glaring plastic covered gaudiness of bare speaker cables. Hell, make it match your decor! You can even get PVC channeling that sticks to your wall or baseboard for a clean, finished look and it can even be painted to match! The bonus here is that there is alot less to clean.
That brings us to the next topic, cleaning. Clean the cables as much as you would any other component. Dust is made up of all kinds of nasty. From plain old dirt to human and pet dander to body oil particulates to mold and mold spores. They all work to degrade your cabling. They corrode connections and dissolve/rot insulation and shielding. Keep it clean and you will greatly extend the life of your cabling as well as preserve that "like new" performance. Also, regular cleaning allows you to inspect your gear for things like pets chewing on the cables or stress points that can cause insulation to be compromised and cabling to fray.
All of this not only helps preserve/improve the performance of your rig but best of all, it looks GODO! This is a HUGE positive in the WAF column because we all know how those ladies love neat and orderly. Go ahead, admit it, you like it too! The biggest difference from one rig to the next is the attention that one owner puts in to the details over what the other owner does. You don't have to be a millionaire to have that "Better Homes and Gardens" feature story look. You just need to take care to pay attention to details. Cleaning and cable management is a major detail that is fairly inexpensive to cover and just requires a bit of attention and time to accomplish.
Go ahead, do it, you'll thank me for it!
Now, some resources!
I see many stereo places offering cable management solutions that seem needlessly expensive and complicated. You know where many of the ideas for that came from? The computer industry. Us nerds need to keep our warehouses full of servers cool, clean and organized. So we have oodles of goodies to accomplish the tasks. We're super cheap too so alot of this stuff is decent quality and inexpensive. My favorite source is Cyber Guys. They have a massive selection with a great deal of variety and their stuff is as attractive as it is functional. Designed for the home or pro, it's easy to use, cheap and looks good. The customer service is top notch and they are lightning fast with shipping. They won't break the bank either!
http://www.cyberguys.com/product-listings/?categoryid=107
Now, quality cables. Everybody has their source and I know cables matter, cables don't matter...yeah, whatever. I don't care. Thing is though, you want a quality cable and sometimes you need a special cable that you just can't seem to find. Never fear! While the Cyber Guys I posted above have alot of quality cable options as well as adapters, there's one place that I just cannot beat for variety. Black Box. I've been using these guys for years. Their catalog is HUGE and if they don't have it, they will build it custom for you. They also have insurance programs to protect your cables from catastrophe like a rogue vacuum cleaner, careless repairman, bad doggy and so on. I wish I could say they were cheap but they aren't. I can say that they do have decent products and they do have good customer service.
http://www.blackbox.com/Store/storefront.aspx
You don't really need any more resources. If you can find something to meet your cable and cable management needs at one of those two places then what you are looking for likely doesn't exist. So get out there and manage those cables!
Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
Post edited by Jstas on
Comments
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Mine are outta sight outta mind!
the only cables visble are my speaker cables. -
My main issue with cable maintenance is that I am always swapping gear, making changes, or re-arranging things. Having the cables tied up and routed nicely makes doing these things tedious. I try to be as neat as possible with my cables, but it's still a pretty big mess behind my cabinet.Speakers: Polk LSi15
Pre: Adcom GFP-750 with HT Bypass
Amp: Pass Labs X-150
CD/DVD Player: Classe CDP-10
Interconnects: MIT Shortgun S3 Pro XLR
Speaker cables: MIT MH-750 bi-wire
TT:Micro Seiki DD-35
Cartridge:Denon DL-160
Phono Pre:PS Audio GCPH -
I was able to shed several cables by using HDMI. My Wife hates seeing all of the cables behind the rack...so I try.Polk Audio Surround Bar 360
Mirage PS-12
LG BDP-550
Motorola HD FIOS DVR
Panasonic 42" Plasma
XBOX 360[/SIZE]
Office stuff
Allied 395 receiver
Pioneer CDP PD-M430
RT8t's & Wharfedale Diamond II's[/SIZE]
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music. ~Ronald Reagan -
My cabinet is very close to the wall, it's impossible to get back there and clean. I know I should someday soon pull out all my gear and give them a good cleaning, wipe down the shelves,gear. YUCK!
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I finally tried to "manage" my cables after the new AV cabinet arrived a couple months ago. Well, unfortunately the cabinet was long but doesn't have enough space to jam in 2 huge amps - 1 huge AVR - 1 heavy power conditioner/UPS - Bluray player & sattellite receiver, therefore I had to leave the two amps on both sides of the cabinet. At least I won't have to worry about heat issue
Pic1: the 5-channel amp at the low corner provides power for the HT speakers on the other side of the wall, while the 2-channel amp at the top takes care of the speakers inside the room. Outlaw PCA IC's and Monoprice 12AWG home-made speaker cables are used (can't upgrade speaker cables for the HT set since cables run inside the wall, and I don't want to open walls again). Just a very very slight hiss of speaker static on those HT speakers; I got to put my ear right on the grills to hear it.
Pic2: power cables are "managed" close to each other thanks to the power conditioner/UPS. The 2 gigantic Pangea Audio AC9 power cables are for the 5-channel amp and the power conditioner/UPS. The 2-channel amp uses the green Kimber Kable PK10 power cable and was plugged in a separate power outlet. Oh, about the cabinet's opening in the back, I got to actually saw it open that much since there were only two holes of 6-inch diameter
Pic3: from the other side of the cabinet. That thick black cable plugging into the amp isn't a power cable but a Harmonic TruthLink IC which I picked up from one of our CP members. I got to use it because I ran out of IC's I tried other IC's but always got static noise coming out of these speakers when not playing anything (in fact, once I even jammed Ben's silver ICs on them, but still...). However, together with an Outlaw PCA IC, the Harmonic TruthLink IC and the KK 4tc speaker cables did help make the 2-channel room environment as "black" as possible (except for when I first turn on the amp that these 2 speakers are connected to, I hear a very light pop from each speaker, and then that's it, dead quiet!). So I am very happy with this current setup since I was able to get rid of speaker static noise completely. 100% black! I mean I put my ear right on the grills and could not pick up any noise all all, perfecto!
Gears shared to both living room & bedroom:
Integra DHC-80.3 / Oppo BDP-105 / DirecTV HR24 DVR /APC S15blk PC-UPS
Living room:
LSiM707's / LSiM706c / LSiM702 F/X's / dual JL Audio Fathom F113's / Parasound Halo A51 / Panasonic 65" TC-P65VT50
Bedroom:
Usher Dancer Mini 2 Diamond DMD's / Logitech SB Touch / W4S STP-SE / W4S DAC-2 / W4S ST-1000 / Samsung 52" LN52B750
Other rooms:
Audioengine AP4's / GLOW Audio Sub One / audio-gd NFB-3 DAC / Audioengine N22
audio-gd NFB-10.2 / Denon AH-D7000 -
FYI, the cable management items in that link can also be found in your local rat shack or home depot."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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Great post! Personnally, I am big on panduit and velcro (cable ties are a pain when troubleshooting or rerouting cables)
Then the velcro is for you (that is what we use for on the road equipment, can be reused and last forever).My main issue with cable maintenance is that I am always swapping gear, making changes, or re-arranging things. Having the cables tied up and routed nicely makes doing these things tedious. I try to be as neat as possible with my cables, but it's still a pretty big mess behind my cabinet.
Not even possible to push the vacume extension through using the flat duck adaptor?My cabinet is very close to the wall, it's impossible to get back there and clean. I know I should someday soon pull out all my gear and give them a good cleaning, wipe down the shelves,gear. YUCK!DARE TO SOAR:
Your attitude, almost always determine your altitude in life
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Then the velcro is for you (that is what we use for on the road equipment, can be reused and last forever).
Still more trouble than it's worth for me. I don't want to have to undo all the velcro'd ties when I remove a component, only to have to redo it all again afterwards. For me, with everything being behind a cabinet anyway and pretty much out of sight, it's just not worth the trouble.Speakers: Polk LSi15
Pre: Adcom GFP-750 with HT Bypass
Amp: Pass Labs X-150
CD/DVD Player: Classe CDP-10
Interconnects: MIT Shortgun S3 Pro XLR
Speaker cables: MIT MH-750 bi-wire
TT:Micro Seiki DD-35
Cartridge:Denon DL-160
Phono Pre:PS Audio GCPH -
meh... neat little bundles are for anal retentive sissy boys. Real men like it sloppy.
Actually, every time I think things are going to be left alone for awhile and try to bring even the slightest modicum of order to the chaos, something necessitates a change and it all gets undone.Turntable: Empire 208
Arm: Rega 300
Cart: Shelter 501 III
Phono Pre: dsachs consulting
Digital: Marantz SACD 30n
Pre: Conrad Johnson ET3 SE
Amp: Conrad Johnson Premier 350
Cables: Cardas Neutral Reference
Speakers: SDA 2.3TL, heavily modified -
FYI, the cable management items in that link can also be found in your local rat shack or home depot.
Not all of them. But yes, many of the more popular items are also available at local stores. Often times they are more expensive as well. So if you need to buy in quantity, the savings from ordering online could come in to factor. At the very least, perusing the Intarweb is a good way to get an idea of what you need to get at your local store(s) from the comfort of your couch and filthy home entertainment center. Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
DMara,
What is that your receiver is sitting on top of?Sony KDSR70XBR2 70" RPTV
POLK LSi-25s (Front)
POLK LSi-FX (Surround)
POLK LSi-C (Center)
POLK LSi9s (Rear)
Dual JL Fathom F113 :eek: (Sub)
Onkyo TX-NR5007 (Receiver)
Oppo BDP-83 (Universal Player)
Toshiba HD-XA2 (HD-DVD/DVD)
XBOX 360 Elite -
DMara,
What is that your receiver is sitting on top of?
You mean the 2 stands that my amps are sitting on? They are the VTI AGR404-01 amp stands (http://www.standsandmounts.com/vti1shelfampstandwglassshelveagr404-01blackorsilverpoles1.aspx). I got both of them for cheap on AudiogoN.Gears shared to both living room & bedroom:
Integra DHC-80.3 / Oppo BDP-105 / DirecTV HR24 DVR /APC S15blk PC-UPS
Living room:
LSiM707's / LSiM706c / LSiM702 F/X's / dual JL Audio Fathom F113's / Parasound Halo A51 / Panasonic 65" TC-P65VT50
Bedroom:
Usher Dancer Mini 2 Diamond DMD's / Logitech SB Touch / W4S STP-SE / W4S DAC-2 / W4S ST-1000 / Samsung 52" LN52B750
Other rooms:
Audioengine AP4's / GLOW Audio Sub One / audio-gd NFB-3 DAC / Audioengine N22
audio-gd NFB-10.2 / Denon AH-D7000 -
Thanks DMara, Ive been looking for something just like that, its perfect. My receiver is 1/2 inch too tall for my tv standSony KDSR70XBR2 70" RPTV
POLK LSi-25s (Front)
POLK LSi-FX (Surround)
POLK LSi-C (Center)
POLK LSi9s (Rear)
Dual JL Fathom F113 :eek: (Sub)
Onkyo TX-NR5007 (Receiver)
Oppo BDP-83 (Universal Player)
Toshiba HD-XA2 (HD-DVD/DVD)
XBOX 360 Elite -
Thanks DMara, Ive been looking for something just like that, its perfect. My receiver is 1/2 inch too tall for my tv stand
Make sure you look elsewhere, not from the link I included (it was sent only for you to view its specs), so that you can get better pricing.Gears shared to both living room & bedroom:
Integra DHC-80.3 / Oppo BDP-105 / DirecTV HR24 DVR /APC S15blk PC-UPS
Living room:
LSiM707's / LSiM706c / LSiM702 F/X's / dual JL Audio Fathom F113's / Parasound Halo A51 / Panasonic 65" TC-P65VT50
Bedroom:
Usher Dancer Mini 2 Diamond DMD's / Logitech SB Touch / W4S STP-SE / W4S DAC-2 / W4S ST-1000 / Samsung 52" LN52B750
Other rooms:
Audioengine AP4's / GLOW Audio Sub One / audio-gd NFB-3 DAC / Audioengine N22
audio-gd NFB-10.2 / Denon AH-D7000 -
JStas - Since we're probably 10 minutes from each other, maybe you can volunteer your services to come check out my systems and lend a hand? I'll provide the beer
James2 Channel/HT:
Sony SS-M9 P's (ES version)
Sony SS-M1CN Center Channel
Polk RT800 Surround Speakers
Odyssey Stratos Dual Mono Amplifiers
TAD 150 Signature Tube Preamp
Harman Kardon HK354
Sony SACD Player -
With all your cables neatly bundled up like that, how do you ever manage to short out your amp?!? This is what it's supposed to look like. That way changing a single connection is an adventure.
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I only give cable management a passing glance. Don't really care how it looks, just as long as wires cross at 90 degrees and power cords are not near signal cords.
While I'll admit it looks nice, I can't see it from where I sit and the important thing is routing, so if it looks like a rat's nest, it is supposed to!
Gordon2 Channel -
Martin Logan Spire, 2 JL Audio F112 subs
McIntosh C1000 Controller with Tube pre amp, 2 MC501 amplifiers, MD1K Transport & DAC, MR-88 Tuner
WireWorld Eclipse 6.0 speaker wire and jumpers, Eclipse 5^2 Squared Balanced IC's. Silver Eclipse PCs (5)
Symposium Rollerblocks 2+ (16)Black Diamond Racing Mk 3 pits (8) -
sorry...wrong area
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Funny guy (in bold)meh... neat little bundles are for anal retentive sissy boys. Real men like it sloppy.
Actually, every time I think things are going to be left alone for awhile and try to bring even the slightest modicum of order to the chaos, something necessitates a change and it all gets undone. As far of having to redo, that is the main reason I prefer velcro and panduit (or any other conduit of the sort). However, if you properly manged your cables, in most situation re-routing should be very minimal if not necessary at all
If your cables are properly labelled at both ends, the adventure should be really pleasant (you should be able to disconnect everything and reconnect without un-tying any cables. Also, for people who can afford it, a small tone generator with sniffer would be very handy :cool:On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »With all your cables neatly bundled up like that, how do you ever manage to short out your amp?!? This is what it's supposed to look like. That way changing a single connection is an adventure.
Even with wires crossing at 90 should avoided as much as possible and proper tying will hgreatly help to eliminate as much as possible. Wire mannagement by priority is: avoidance of any potential problems (such as crosstalk, EMI etc...), ease of tracing the cabling during troubleshooting, neatness of the work performed (pride in a job well done), last but not the least is the good look (and that is just to name a few advantages)!I only give cable management a passing glance. Don't really care how it looks, just as long as wires cross at 90 degrees and power cords are not near signal cords.
While I'll admit it looks nice, I can't see it from where I sit and the important thing is routing, so if it looks like a rat's nest, it is supposed to!
Gordon
Wise manJStas - Since we're probably 10 minutes from each other, maybe you can volunteer your services to come check out my systems and lend a hand? I'll provide the beer
James !!!
Cheers!
TKDARE TO SOAR:
Your attitude, almost always determine your altitude in life -
TK -
I just hope he takes me up on it
James2 Channel/HT:
Sony SS-M9 P's (ES version)
Sony SS-M1CN Center Channel
Polk RT800 Surround Speakers
Odyssey Stratos Dual Mono Amplifiers
TAD 150 Signature Tube Preamp
Harman Kardon HK354
Sony SACD Player -
It's up to you to make it more appealing to himTK -
I just hope he takes me up on it
James but basically, you should seek his knowledge and supervision ratter than expecting him to do it for you... That is the best way to learn
Cheers!
TKDARE TO SOAR:
Your attitude, almost always determine your altitude in life -
Looking good Dmara!
I use cable management as well in both rigs and clean them quite often. My wife thinks I'm nuts I bet. -
If your cables are properly labelled at both ends, the adventure should be really pleasant (you should be able to disconnect everything and reconnect without un-tying any cables. Also, for people who can afford it, a small tone generator with sniffer would be very handy :cool:
TK
Actually, my cables are well labeled enough that I've never had a problem knowing what cable is supposed to hook to what device. I run into trouble when it comes time to plug them into the AVR. I always end up humping the home theater console for half an hour trying to figure out by feel which of the 8 HDMI slots I should jam each cable into. It goes unappreciated when my wife's Harmony remote tells the AVR to look for the Tivo signal on the BDP cable. Friggin technology. What happened to the good old days of the 300lb television cabinet with a six inch black and white tube and monaural speaker! -
Don't get me started on this topic. Wire mess is a pet peeve of mine.
I look at pic's of what people are posting and as nice of system as they have , I can't get past the sloppy work of installing it.
All of you should hire to me clean up your racks.
Mantis- the wire specialist.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
So here is just a few jobs I've done over the years. A few are old as you can tell by the gear and the rest are a Control 4 job I did in the last few months.
Maybe some of you can get ideas from these.
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Nice clean jobs you do MantisDon't get me started on this topic. Wire mess is a pet peeve of mine.
I look at pic's of what people are posting and as nice of system as they have , I can't get past the sloppy work of installing it.
All of you should hire to me clean up your racks.
Mantis- the wire specialist. Whoever lives close to Mantis and has problem with wire management should take is advice. Sometime, spending a few bucks for proffessional set-up is worht it big time!!!
Cheers!
TKDARE TO SOAR:
Your attitude, almost always determine your altitude in life -
LOL... I actually had everything nice and tidy once... after the initial assembly of my home theater. Then I realized the 5 channel signal was dropping out when I played certain SACD's. After a couple hours of troubleshooting playing with different settings on the BDP and AVR and finally swapping out different cables I finally nailed it down to a bad HDMI. I spent half the time undoing all the neat and tidy wire wrapping I had done on the first install. I vowed never to punish myself with nice orderly cable management again. If I was paying a professional to set up a system where my only interaction with it will be through my remote then I'd want it to look like the clean room at an Intel fab plant when it's all done. But I like messing with my gear and though it's pretty it just isn't worth the time to me. I'll save fussy and fastidious for when I'm getting paid.
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When (sometime's I still go nut's) I was in my audiophile stage I used to clean my rca's and put an extremely light tad of oil on them. My ac plug connection's too. I know this does not really have anything to do with keeping thing's neat but for some reason my system seemed to sound a little better. Plus it makes pulling those rca's out a tad easier. Don't hold me responsible for overdoing it though. Just a thought.
