need some advice in terms of cable/wire management.
mods, if this is in the wrong forum, please move to the proper on and I do apologize for not putting it in the right one.

right now, our TV is placed in part of an open space and will be moving it to a smaller area in the very near future.
our current set up has the TV approximately 12 feet from the sitting area that is open on one side. It works well right now but beacuse the area behind the stand is open(Currently occupied by a wood stove that will be on it's way out), and the stand itself has an open back, the mess of wires can be easily seen. Now it's not as bad as it was before, but it could be better.
The new area it will be going to will be a 9x9 room. The stand will be against one of the walls and the couch will be going on the opposite wall. One side of the room is completely open, but at least this way we'll be making better use of the floor space.
So my questions are: what tips can you give me when it comes to managing the various cables/wires on the back of my AVR? How did you approach your cable/wire management? If you have your rear speakers wall mounted and ran the wires on top of the wall instead of behind it, what product did you use to disguise them?

Here's my equipment list:

42" Lg Plasma
Yamaha RX-V663 (it does transcode via HDMI so I only have 1 cable connected to the TV)
DSR 505 (connected via CV and TOSlink to AVR)
PS3 (connected via HDMI to AVR)
Paradigm Cinema 110 CT system (currently the ADP's are mounted on stands that are about a foot higher than ear level when sitting on the couch, would like to wall mount)

Any insight will be greatly appreciated


Thank you

bump....anybody?

i would consider running speaker wires for the rears under the baseboards if u can slip them in.

You can also look for J channelling in the siding section of your HomeDepot or Home Hardware building section. I used that as cable runs to to speakers. Fairly cheap solution.

http://www.pjbj.ca/uploaded_images/IMG_1221_filtered-764411.jpg
http://www.pjbj.ca/uploaded_images/IMG_1222_filtered-763999.jpg


I should take a pic of the wires behind my stand.... u'd laugh. Luckily, they aren't very visible.

thanks for the advice Petee, I have been looking at things I could use to hide wires.
for the J-channel you used, how do you have it attached to the baseboard/floor? Friction fit or stapled/glued/nailed to the baseboarrd/floor?

Managing wiring at the back of any entertainment unit is a bit more challenging than hiding long cable runs to speakers, IMO.

As has been mentioned, there are a variety of cable conduit type products available in most hardware stores you can use to hide speaker cables (if running them underneath carpeting or behind walls is not possible or practical).

For organizing all the connections of various devices, some TV/audio equipment stands provide channels between shelves at the rear of the unit to 'hide' cable runs from one device to another. Aside from that, it's mostly down to proper placement and planning, judicious use of cable ties, and not using cables longer than the bare minimum required (after factoring in a small margin of error, of course).

What kind of roof in the room/s, drop ceiling?

between the carpet and the wall, you can pull out the carpet with pliers and tuck the cables in easier if you need to.

I cleaned a guys setup the other day, he had a HDMI, and toslink cable running to his surround sound system (SSS) from his sat reciever, a HDMI and Composite from his SSS to his TV, composite and component to his TV from his sat reciever, and composite from his DVD/VCR combo to TV. Your setup sounds pretty good though, only thing I could suggest is zip tying the cables to run in a single line.

I just got back from Home Depot and found some interesting products that I can use to hide long runs of speaker cable along the baseboards as well as some channels I can use to cover them going up the wall.
Overall, the wires aren't as bad as they used to be. What really bothers me is where I have the power cords plugged into. Maybe once the move is done I can somewhat hide them better. I do have cable ties I can use to bunch the wires together.
another question, my speaker wires are about 2-4 feet longer than what what the run needs. I don't really want to cut them considering there could be c chance of us moving in the future and they could come in handy. do you reccomend I spool the extra length and use cable ties or cut them to fit?

You can leave the speaker wires longer and do whatever to hide them (behind the speaker or AVR.

As for the power cords, make sure you keep them separate as much as possible from the signal cables/speaker wire and don't bundle them with either of the others.

thanks 57. I'll keep that in mind once we start putting the system back together.
On a side note, since I will be unplugging everything, will I lose any of the settings I currently have with my components? I know I'll lose my favorites on my STB, but that shouldn't be an issue. Also, I'll have to re-run the Yamaha YPAO. But other than that, will the other components re-set?

The components should not revert/reset to default in a brief time. I don't know the specifics if you were to leave a component unplugged for a long time - may depend on the individual component.

thanks 57. I think I will write down my TV's setting just in case.
would it be a good idea to cover the components with either plastic or drop cloths while I work on the area it's going to?
I'll be taking brick veneer off 2 walls and depending on how the drywall is behind it, I'll be either patching it up and then painting it or putting new drywall on top of the exsisting and then the usual tape, mud, sand routine. I ask because the are where the TV is currently is adjacent to the room where I'll be taking the wood stove out. I plan on putting up a plastic sheet between the two rooms as well as moving the TV and other components about 10 feet away from the work area. Should I bother with wrapping up the components?

P.S. anyone interested in a wood burning stove?

thanks for the advice Petee, I have been looking at things I could use to hide wires.
for the J-channel you used, how do you have it attached to the baseboard/floor? Friction fit or stapled/glued/nailed to the baseboarrd/floor?
friction fit.... i actually took tin snips (the channel is vinyl) and cut out some sections leaving 3-4" tabs that I slip underneath the base.

P

Blue11,

The homedepot channels I bought were these ones by legrand wiremold:

plastic cordmate II Kit (http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=911643&Ntt=911643&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=157952&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber)

I was skeptical but the adhesive was much stickier than I thought and held two 12ga. speaker wires no problem.

It looks pretty decent as well.

thanks for the tip Q. I didn't see any of that particular type at the store. I did see smaller channels, 5 feet long, that I plan on using for the rear speakers. I was wondering how the adhesive is, glad to know they do the job.
My wife is excited to see the stove gone, I'm excited I'll soon have a dedicated area for our set up.
I'll post pics when I can.