check list for building a ht?

jaritta

Hey guys, I kind of wanted to do a check list to see if i am missing anything on what i need for wiring/setup ect.

Here is what i have so far,

Hdmi, 25-30 ft.
25-30 ft componant wire (xbox360)
Speaker wire 14gauge inwall type
cat 5 cable for internet/tv(our cable provider uses cat5 for cable)
projector mount
projector
screen
speaker mounts


This is what i have so far,

I guess i kind of have another questions on wall plates and connections from them to all my gear.

I didnt know if i should get the 5.1 style wall plate and the single speaker wall plates with the posts on them or should i use a plate that allowes me to just pass the wire through it? i guess i am concerned that i may have a loss of audio quality by making terminations on both sides of a plate and then on the speakers and avr also. This is why i am concidering just passing through speaker wire through a wall plate with a hole in it.

Which way would you guys suggest?

jaritta

Sorry i guess i should mention hdmi pass through plates, would i loose anything on that or should i just pass the hdmi cable right to the projector and not run it through a plate. I have also concidered a whisker biscut style of pass through ( i dont know what else to call it) it basically has heavy hair style of opening about the size of a rocker switch. It looks like the horse hair on a vacume attachment.....this is about the best way i can explain it.

on the single speaker channels i was concidering doing a single keystone plate?? Also do i need full boxes or has anyone had experence with the low voltage "boxes" from monoprice??

jinjuku

I use the pass through plates. One less connection to have to make.

B Run

Is your receiver going to be that far from your xbox? I'd run everything through your receiver and just one hdmi output to the projector so you dont have to switch it.

jaritta

I am useing the avr 510 it has no hdmi, sorry i didnt put it in my list but i am going to use a monoprice hdmi switcher and toslink cables from all of my componants to the avr....but i am hoping to upgrade the avr soon so this way i can get rid of the toslink and just use all hdmi's and loose the switcher....sorry i didnt mention that

B Run

jaritta wrote: »

I am useing the avr 510 it has no hdmi, sorry i didnt put it in my list but i am going to use a monoprice hdmi switcher and toslink cables from all of my componants to the avr....but i am hoping to upgrade the avr soon so this way i can get rid of the toslink and just use all hdmi's and loose the switcher....sorry i didnt mention that

Oh gotcha, that makes sense! Just tryin to make it easier on ya if you had the option. Good luck with everything.

JimAckley

You forgot to add beer to your checklist :biggrin:

jaritta

JimAckley wrote: »

You forgot to add beer to your checklist :biggrin:

It is already on there:biggrin: i am sure there will be a little consumption going on while this is built.......hope it doesnt affect quality

Zeros

If you are running through walls, run an extra cable if you can afford it. There's nothing like the feeling of running a cable - putting up drywall - only to find out the cable is bad.

If it's not in the budget, run a pair of cat5's to each location. It's cheap and then you can use baluns if your cable is bad.


If you plan on hiding your equipment in another room / closet or behind / beside your viewing area, don't forget to run an extra cat5 cable for an IR repeater to your screen area.

For the low voltage, I used shallow electrical boxes so the drywallers knew where to cut out. If you are doing it you can just use those metal bending low voltages things to screw a wall plate into. Low voltage only, obviously.

This is what i mean:

http://www.hometech.com/hts/products/wiring/wallboxes/low_voltage/le-c0224.html

jaritta

ok, can you explain this to me, i have never seen a cat 5 use for an ir repeater, I was planning on a harmony 900, I could be wrong but doesnt that remote package have everything that i would need? like a ir blaster that hooks to a rf converter???? maby i dont understand the whole ir/rf package that comes with the harmony 900.

Zeros

The harmony 900 should work fine in place of a standard wired IR repeater.

In a standard repeater a receiving eye is mounted up front and then wired (cat5) to a hub that is usually installed where your equipment is. The hub then has IR blaster that stick to each piece of equipment to send the IR signal.

The Harmony 900 uses an RF interface in stead of the wiring (Cat5) to send the signal from the received to the hub. Perfectly fine and saves you time and wiring headaches.