I just got a new TV, and am re-doing my surround setup and furniture layout. I look at avsforum.com, but those guys are too hardcore, rivaling AMC with their home theater setups.



What do you have, and how is yours set up? I recently got a new tv, and I want a cleaner appearance. I'm trying to find a piece of furniture that will hold an AV receiver, satellite receiver, Xbox, PS3, and possibly a Wii (if I can get it working again https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR ). However, the TV is mounted on the wall, and I want the components to be as out of the way and unobtrusive as possible. Right now they're on a ~5' tall shelf unit that throw off the whole room, I want something low and as small as possible. I was thinking of something long and flat-ish, like a bench with shelves/storage underneath, that can hold the items and double as a seating spot when there are more guests than couches will hold. Bad idea? Good idea? It'd be even better if the subwoofer could fit in there somewhere.



I'm also hunting for good cable-hiding options. Right now the surround speaker wire is simply stapled to the baseboard, it's unattractive. However, 50'-60' of Wiremold (sold at retail stores, usually 3 4' segments to a package) brand stuff would cost way too much (and in-wall is not an option). Know of any alternatives?

I don't live at my house any more but when i did I had the surround done through the roof. got my fat ass in the attic and ran the wires to a wall plate right behind the receiver. as far as speakers I bought a pioneer 5.1 receiver and bought a separate sub amp and made my home theater with speakers bought from madisound.com



I bought 6 Audax HM100C0 4" Carbon Fiber Cone Woofers

6 Audax PR125T1 Horn Tweeter

1 Pioneer Premier 12" Dual 4 ohm Car woofer with another blown premier woofer I had as a passive radiator.



I put 1 mid and tweeter on each satellite and 2 mids and tweeters center. i made the boxes out of MDF and wrapped in black vinyl and let me tell you sounded really good i would put my old system up against any newer 5.1 system and whip some ass.

my **** is super old, always invest in good speakers, it is the one thing you can always use no matter what new tech they come out with.



Cabinets are hard to find, I shopped for 5 months when we bought our tv, then gave up and just bought something from Ikea because it was cheap- well here I

am 5 years later with the **** from Ikea, lol- cant be bothered.



Do you have a basement or access to the ceiling? is there carpet in that room? I bet you could get the wires running up the wall to your tv pretty easily, even

a electrician cant charge more then a hour worth of work to do it



definitely run a Ethernet cable

My ****'s really old too. This house has a full wall of very nice maple finish built-in bookshelves, with cabinets below, on either side of the gas log fireplace. Above the fireplace (non-vented, of course) is a big recessed area for a giant CRT, with a shelf below for the cable box and DVD. My 32" Sharp CRT sits in there (I know, I know). My receiver is an Onkyo 5.1 from around the turn of the century. I forget how many watts, but it's plenty. It weighs a ton and does a nice job. I keep it in one of the cabinets, just to the right of the TV, with the wires snaked through the sheetrock. My main speakers are my antique Boston Acoustics A60's that I bought as a college student. I replaced the bass drivers a few years ago and they still sound great. Center channel is a newer Infinity unit that blends well with the Bostons. I put in-wall two rear surround speakers from Dayton. Pretty easy install, and they all but disappear unless something's sneaking up behind you! The builder ran a piece of THX-certified cable under the house, from the cabinet to the rear wall, so I didn't have much trouble extending the wiring from the wall jacks up to the in-wall speakers. The subwoofer is a cheapie I got as a gift from my brother a couple years ago.



All in all, it's a bunch of mis-matched pieces, but together it sounds quite nice. Setting up any listening area involves some compromise, unless you design a home theatre space when you build your own custom home. Not many of us are that lucky. Just try to get the main speakers left and right and equidistant from the listening position, Tweeters should be at ear level. Sub can pretty much go anywhere. I agree with Rob on the speakers. Buy the best ones you can afford. Ultimately, it's the speakers you're listening to. No other component in your system is as important.

I have Bose front and rear, Yamaha center and powered sub, and a pair Celestion speakers that I run up front also for a little more fill and they are nice and bright. I have a Yamaha receiver and a onkyo eq that I love and will never part with.



Most of this is 10+ years old, some of it pushing 15+ years

It's amazing how long some of this audio equipment will last. Over ten years ago, a friend gave me a pair of AR-4's by Acoustic Research. Near as I can tell, they were made in the 1960's, maybe early 70's. They appear to be all original, except someone tried to refinish the cabinets. They are stamped with a serial number, and each speaker is signed in ink by the individual doing the "testing" and "final inspection". These still sound great. I have them hooked up to an old Technics integrated amp out in my attached garage.



A neighbor scored some old Infinity 2000's with a crazy-looking Walsh super-tweeter. The dome tweeters were blown, but I ordered him some silk dome tweeters from Parts Express and put them in. They totally kick. These are pretty big. I think the woofers are at least 12". They were made back in the mid-70's.

I have an Infinity speaker setup, I love our speakers, I hope they last forever. 5 speakers and subwoofer, center front channel is larger than the 4 surrounds. Yamaha 7.1-capable receiver, just old enough to not have any HDMI. I've got all my video on component cables, audio on optical cables.



I don't have an attic (high ceiling up to 2nd floor "window", only space is the few inches between the sheetrock and plywood of the roof), and there's a floor below this one (2nd living area), and the flooring is hardwood. The only options of hiding wires in the wall are cutting out sheetrock and drilling through all the studs, or removing quarter round and baseboard, some sheetrock at the bottom, and shoving it all under there. But even then, I still have some spots that would be very difficult. We have a wood burning stove, set on tile, with tile on the wall behind it. I'd have to go around that tile somehow. Also immediately behind the center viewing spot is a sliding glass door, with wood trim around it. It'd be tough removing trim from around the tile and doorframe, and cutting channels into the sheetrock there. I don't really want to do that.



That's why I figured I'd go with the stick-on, paintable molding that holds the wires. Looking at pics, it doesn't look to unsightly (especially considering I've had just the wires stapled to the baseboard for years).



I've been searching more online, and have found some wiremold-type of stuff that comes flat, in a roll, but "unfolds" to a square-ish cross section, made of PVC. Much cheaper than wiremold-brand. Dunno if I'll go with that, though, still not sure.



I'll try to get some pics of the room tomorrow.

There is a product that is basically a flat 2-conductor wire that you can stick to the wall and paint over. This one is sold under the AR name by parts express. It's a tad pricey for wire, but might be just what you need. Shop around if you decide to get some, I've seen prices all over the place and I believe Amazon carries it.



http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=181-910

I'll keep it in mind, but I have ~100' of speaker wire available from a friend who bought way too much when he did his surround sound.

why cant you snake the wire through the space between the ceiling and the roof?

The ceiling is way freakin' high on the wall where the TV is mounted, goes up to the 2nd story/peak of the house. When the living room was painted, they had to use scaffolding. I don't even have a ladder tall enough to reach.



I think I'm probably going to tear up the baseboards and shove wire under there, and just buy a small amount of Wiremold to pass the areas where there isn't baseboard (around fireplace trim and doorframes).

sony strda3300es av receiver with 7.1 channel sony speakers



sounds great and was not that expensive

My receiver has 7.1 capabilities, but is anything in 7.1 sound yet? Is it worth it to buy 2 more speakers?

IMO not worth it. even a power full 2 channel home theater system well placed can sound awesome. i had a bose 3 channel system before and it was awesome.

I want to make the switch from component video to HDMI. I still want to maintain my single video cable to the TV (well, it's triple right now with RGB), and my receiver only accepts component video. I've been fine with it up till now, but we'll using a PS3 following Christmas, and I want to get the most out of Blu-Ray. I'm happy with my toslink/optical audio.



I'm thinking I'll go with this. I'll need to buy 4 HDMI cables (xbox, dish, ps3, and output to TV) as well. Then I'll have 3 cables to the splitter, one to the TV, and one toslink to the receiver.



This will cut down on my cable clutter a whole freakin' lot. Right now there are 4 cables for each component (3=RBG, and toslink audio). Also, it's compatible with my Logitech Harmony remote, so it'll fit in nicely with the "activity-based" programming it does (hit "watch TV" and it switches all appropriate inputs).



On another forum, I'm being told "a receiver with HDMI will give you access to lossless audio codecs & that sort of thing", so I guess I'm missing out on that. But I don't know what that is, so I'm not gonna worry about it. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...R#>/tongue.gif



What I need now is a cleaner way of dealing with power cables. Any suggestions? I need to plug in something like 7 items (receiver, dish, xbox, ps3, modem, router, hdmi switcher).

Your receiver probably has a few switched and/or unswitched outlets on the back? Other than that, spaghetti!

Zip ties are your friend haha

I think I'm going to ditch the power strip (doesn't have enough plugs anyway) and get one (or two?) of those squid-looking things. They're great at making room for those brick-sized ac adapters.



http://www.wedosites.com/LCL/images/power_squid.jpg



I've seen some boxes that intend to clean up wiring, apparently you just shove all your power cords into the box. I don't get it, and I think it would cause heat problems.

Yeah really I have my cables rolled & zip tied to help keep things from being a total disaster.

Holy crap, monoprice.com is awesome. The prices are not even in the same universe as off-the-shelf stuff (like speaker wire wall plates and HDMI cables).

I'm diggin' the squid, man. That thing is freaky lookin'!

Bluray and Ps3 support 7.1 channels

Turns out my receiver does 6.1 not 7.1, weird. I'll stick with 5.1 though.

Is it bad to stack components? Putting the dish receiver directly on top of the a/v receiver, xbox on top of that, etc. I've seen people do it, but I wasn't sure if that was something you should definitely NOT do, or if it's pretty much ok.



I still need a cabinet, and we already have a nice table that would work if I can stack the components. It's a table with single drawer, and a single shelf at the bottom between the 2 large, round legs. There are no shelves otherwise, and no simple way to mount more shelves on account of the round legs. However, there is room to stack everything on that bottom shelf.



I was thinking of stacking them in an order that would help the heat a bit, like placing the Xbox between the dish and a/v receivers (since those 2 run more than xbox/ps3 will).



Good idea? Bad idea?

I'm thinking I'll add a block/spacer between them to help dissipate heat, hopefully a fan won't be necessary.

Yeah, cable boxes run surprisingly hot. Not sure about dish receivers. Try to put the hottest item on the top of the stack (obviously). That may or may not turn out to be your receiver, depending on how often you run it at or near full crank. I would think if you kept the area open that natural convection would ventilate the stack well enough. Extra space between components would help, as would a small boxer fan. During parties, you could put a shelf over the A/V stack and use it as a food warmer.

mmmmm, food warmer. That's brilliant.



The Xbox probably won't get too much use after Christmas, and it cools through the back, so I think I'll put it between the av and the dish receivers (the 2 things that will get most use).



When playing a game, dish receiver goes to standby mode, so I'm not concerned with its heat. There might be a problem if I play Xbox though, since the av receiver vents out the top, so I may add space there.

We have a Lg flat screen, we only get one channel over air on it, as we are in the sticks. I purchased it to watch Hockey night in Canada on , on Saturdays.. How typically Canadian right?

We have a slingbox in Japan, we get about 80 channels streamed via satellite internet to us, which we watch on a large Imac. And thats about all we have, oh yeah, we have a WII.

Not a good idea for the 360 the red ring of death (rrod) is caused mainly by the system overheating I'd stack anything else though

Oh well, the stuff won't fit on the table I was talking about, not enough width. Guess I'll pick up something cheap from wal-mart (we don't have Ikea).

Just butcher some wood and make your own! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...R#>/tongue.gif

i have all my components separate. i would not recommending stacking on top of each for heat management reasons

I don't think my wife would approve of something that looked like a beaver made it (that's about the best I could do with what's available).

I built my own stand, since I wanted to stack 4 components plus the center channel. This way I could make each shelf the right size for the component.



It's just nice birch plywood with matching veneer trim on the sides. Home Depot will cut it to size for you and you apply the veneer tape with a clothes iron. Sand, assemble and stain and you're done.





https://www.nopistons.com/forums/gal...53_3296520.jpg





I ran the wires through the wall since it was accessible. The dark wall behind the tv is actually a sheet of the same plywood as the stand, since the wall had a step in it in that area this gave me a secure mounting point for the tv.



I also built 3 subwoofers and I'm designing matching speakers now to replace the Mission speakers in the photo.



This is why I have an RX-7 with no engine.

I also built this one for a friend, if you're looking for ideas. Also built from the same plywood, this was harder to build since I couldn't build it in her living room I had to build it in 2 pieces in my garage, assemble the pieces in her garage then install. Build it in place if you make something this size. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...1047683561.gif



http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5481135_n.jpg

Nice! The first one is exactly what I want, something no bigger than necessary. Are all the vertical segments separate? Or did you slot each shelf so all the pieces slid in together?

It's all screwed together with maple boards cut as legs. I was going to do metal legs but I bought the metal intending to borrow my buddy's lathe at his shop but never got around to it.



Solid sides with slots might not be a good idea if you're building the shelves tight around the components as you need some airflow in there. If you make it wide just do solid sides with strips of wood to rest the shelves on, slots are hard to do nicely unless you have a table saw or router.



I would screw it all together if I were you, since you have kids if you just stack shelves they can get knocked off. Leave a couple inches all around the receiver as it will make heat when playing music for long periods.

What I meant was, in your design, how is that put together? Are the shelve all solid, and the legs between each shelf separate pieces?

Yes





Each shelf is 24" by 24" and 4 legs per shelf are cut to the height you need for that shelf.



In my case I had to cover some holes I pre drilled for the metal legs. I think it would also look good if you did a single 'leg' on each side that was 12" wide in the center of the shelf front to back. this would be easier.

I did exactly this.



I started working on this Friday night. I carefully pulled up the shoe molding and baseboard, luckily I haven't cracked any yet. The sheetrock goes all the way to the subfloor, but there's plenty of gap between the hardwood floor and the wall.



I cut a hole in the sheetrock below where a speaker would be mounted, which would be covered by the baseboard. I then cut a hole for the speaker jack/box/whatever, and ran a fish tape down to the first hole. Pulled the wire through, installed the 2-post jack, and stuff the wire in the gap at the floor. Installed the baseboard with the help of a few additional finishing nails, and it looks great.



I've got 3 speaker jacks and the center one they all run back to installed, I just need to finish the last one. It requires running wire molding around the trim of a sliding glass door, but other than that it's the same as the others.



So far, it's gone way better than I could have expected. I was trepidatious about removing baseboards (they tend to crack and split) and about cutting into sheetrock in the middle of my living room wall, but luckily it's all been going very well. Hopefully when I wire up the speakers the sound comes out...



I've been taking pics of the process, I'll put some up once complete.



The Xbox got moved downstairs to be connected to the old TV, along with all the Guitar Hero/Rock Band peripherals.





Additionally, I took my "tower" unit that was housing all of my components, and made it shorter so it could sit under the TV. You see them in a lot of people's houses, black wood with glass shelves and a drawer on the bottom (I think it's from walmart). I cut the legs off to be 3' tall with a skil saw, which was horrible, the cuts were all slanted and wonky. But I bought some of those screw-adjustable feet, to make it sit level. It worked great. Drill a hole in each leg, hammer in the "sleeve" thing, then screw in the slider feet. Now I've got all my components on a compact, good-looking unit that fits where I want it, and it only cost me a few bucks for the feet (would have been less if I could measure and cut better).



Unfortunately, the HDMI splitter I got from Monoprice sucks. I've only used it a bit, but I've already had to unplug/plug back in to reset it after it wouldn't switch inputs properly (flashing screen/static picture, etc.). I chatted with monoprice this morning, and have a few things to try when I get home.