Pre-Wiring a Basement

[BrendonR]

Hi Folks,

I've been roaming these boards for awhile now, and this is officially post # 1! Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

My g/f and I are in the process of buying a house (if I have my way, w/ an unfinished - rectangle basement). I'm planning to install a home theater down there, and want to prewire everything before I drywall.

Now my question is - what cables should I be putting in the walls? I'm picturing the mass of cable at the designated A/V Rack spot would include 7 speaker wires (initially a 5.1 setup, however leave room to expand to 7.1), a Subwoofer Cable (maybe 2 to expand to a dual sub system), and two HDMI cables (one to the front for the current LCD - one to the ceiling for a future projector).

Do I need anything else in there? suggestions? Will an HDMI cable survive behind a wall for 20 years? Will I need to install anything else to future proof?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Brendon.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by BrendonR

Hi Folks,

I've been roaming these boards for awhile now, and this is officially post # 1! Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

My g/f and I are in the process of buying a house (if I have my way, w/ an unfinished - rectangle basement). I'm planning to install a home theater down there, and want to prewire everything before I drywall.

Now my question is - what cables should I be putting in the walls? I'm picturing the mass of cable at the designated A/V Rack spot would include 7 speaker wires (initially a 5.1 setup, however leave room to expand to 7.1), a Subwoofer Cable (maybe 2 to expand to a dual sub system), and two HDMI cables (one to the front for the current LCD - one to the ceiling for a future projector).

Do I need anything else in there? suggestions? Will an HDMI cable survive behind a wall for 20 years? Will I need to install anything else to future proof?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Brendon.

If it were me, id add more than 2 HDMI's. For example in the future you may want to upgrade to have a bluray player, cable box with hdmi, and possibly other things that may come up. Just my opinion if you thinking of the future..

[Beta Man]

Few things.....

1) run the proper cables that are rated for "In-Wall" so you pass code.

2) Run some lines of kite-string etc, so if you need to add anything in the future, you just connect to the new cable, and pull it through the other side.

#1 is the most important though. If you're decent at dry-wall finishing, you can ALWAYS upgrade

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

1) run the proper cables that are rated for "In-Wall" so you pass code.

[Sabian576]

Originally Posted by BrendonR

Hi Folks,

I've been roaming these boards for awhile now, and this is officially post # 1! Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

My g/f and I are in the process of buying a house (if I have my way, w/ an unfinished - rectangle basement). I'm planning to install a home theater down there, and want to prewire everything before I drywall.

Now my question is - what cables should I be putting in the walls? I'm picturing the mass of cable at the designated A/V Rack spot would include 7 speaker wires (initially a 5.1 setup, however leave room to expand to 7.1), a Subwoofer Cable (maybe 2 to expand to a dual sub system), and two HDMI cables (one to the front for the current LCD - one to the ceiling for a future projector).

Do I need anything else in there? suggestions? Will an HDMI cable survive behind a wall for 20 years? Will I need to install anything else to future proof?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Brendon.

A cable or wire will survive better in the wall than out. Inside the wall there is nothing really to hurt it, outside there are people pulling and stepping on them and stuff, so don't worry much about that, but DO follow code.

I would reccomend running a second sub cable if you think you will upgrade sometime.

Also get some REALLY strong string, maybe even a nylon based cord or something and run it through with your main runs, so if HDMI gets outdated/replaced withsomething else you can tape the new one to the string/cord and fish it through. You could also fish using the old cable. Pull it out while pulling the new one through, but w/ the string/cord if you aren't removing an old cable, you can still easily fish a new on through. also if you do, tie on another string/cord.

hope this helps and good luck with it all.




EDIT: Beta Man beat me to the string thing...oh well i type slow.

[1Fish2FishRedFishBlu]

Nothing lasts 20 years, so I doubt you will be able to "future proof" anything that the average lifespan is less then 5 years.

I built a home in 2000 and put state of the art cabling through the entire place and it was outdated in 2 years. CAT5 cable was replaced twice in that that timeframe and no longer was the standard, especially for video. Think how quickly we went from RCA to Optical to HDMI1, 1.1 and 1.3.

My only recommendation to allow you to upgrade as needed is build in a system for pulling new cable runs so you dont have to destroy your drywall when you finally have to pull new runs. This obviously means dont anchor the cables you run today so they can be pulled out w/o much damage to the room.

[jw]

Conduit is your friend, run the wires through the conduit and use the string option so you can do future installs. Conduit will make it easy for wire pulls. Also a drop ceiling might be a good idea as well as it insulates and allows you to easily access plumbling, electrical, etc, plus you can run wires easily as well.

[BrendonR]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

If it were me, id add more than 2 HDMI's. For example in the future you may want to upgrade to have a bluray player, cable box with hdmi, and possibly other things that may come up. Just my opinion if you thinking of the future..

I never thought of that really - as I was planning on running it all through the receiver - then into the display. Is there something I'm missing here?

Another question while I'm on that note - If i'm simply watching Television - through a digital cable box.... and don't require Surroud Sound or anything 'fancy'; If I have the Cable box plugged into the Receiver (whether through HDMI or A/V or Whatever Cable).... does the receiver have to be ON to transmit the sound through to the television?

[Brian Cash]

i just finished my addition to my home for a dedicated home theater and these are some of the stuff i used that looks really good

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2 2 of them since they didnt have a 7.1

also i bought my inwall 12g speaker wire from them as well

for me i only really needed 2 hdmi cables actually just one is being used i have a hdmi to my projector from my receiver and then everything in my equipment rack to my receiver another thing i would recoment is looking into wall panneling for the best sound its a little pricey but its well worth it

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by BrendonR

I never thought of that really - as I was planning on running it all through the receiver - then into the display. Is there something I'm missing here?

Another question while I'm on that note - If i'm simply watching Television - through a digital cable box.... and don't require Surroud Sound or anything 'fancy'; If I have the Cable box plugged into the Receiver (whether through HDMI or A/V or Whatever Cable).... does the receiver have to be ON to transmit the sound through to the television?

Sorry, maybe I misunderstood how you are setting up your system. the answer is yes, if you run anything through your receiver, you have to have the receiver on to process the info through. Also, if you have the cable box plugged in to the receiver, why would sound go to the tv??

[Woody]

I would run CAT5, it is cheap and can be used for many uses like 12v triggers, IR repeaters etc in the future.

Also make sure you have RG6 run to your rack location to be sure there is something to hook the cable box to. Sounds silly, but it is easy to overlook.

I would also run an ethernet cable to your rack location (CAT5) and give yourself 5-10ft of slack, so that if you need to do FW updates to receivers or BR players you are all set.

The "in-wall" rating is called "CL rated".

The "smurf tubes" and fish lines are also good recommendations.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by BrendonR

I never thought of that really - as I was planning on running it all through the receiver - then into the display. Is there something I'm missing here?

Another question while I'm on that note - If i'm simply watching Television - through a digital cable box.... and don't require Surroud Sound or anything 'fancy'; If I have the Cable box plugged into the Receiver (whether through HDMI or A/V or Whatever Cable).... does the receiver have to be ON to transmit the sound through to the television?

You are going to be in a dicey situation if you want to be able to watch TV without having your receiver on in your current configuration. If you REALLY want that capability, I would run a seperate component video cable and a seperate l/r audio cable to the LCD location. You will be required to change the input on the TV when doing this though, so there is good and bad.

I would recommend leaving all of the switching to the receiver and just use it while watching TV. Even at lower volume levels any center speaker is going to sound better (clearer dialog etc)than your TV speakers.

[RUR]

Make sure you plan sufficient and appropriately located 20A wallplugs. When I had my 2ch room built, I made sure I had plenty of dedicated (and properly grounded) circuits, both for my then-current system and for future needs. I've been very glad I did.

Slightly OT: Did the same before I dry-walled my garage and had a sub-box and ~40 plugs installed. When I'm woodworking, I never have to worry if I'll have power nearby.

[Brian Cash]

i dont know what receiver your using but i also would run a cat 5 like previous post mentioned mine has built in wifi but but i runned the cable for a better connection

[gearyt]

Lots of conduit, phone, and a s*it load of seperate circuits for power
you may want the power for your projector ( future ) to go to your equip stack location for a power conditioner. Stuff is cheap prior to the walls going up
extra speaker feeds for expansion to other zones...

[kingofgrills]

All great recommendations. Just keep in mind that if there's something you're even thinking about now as a possibility to install later - run it! There's nothing more demotivating than thinking about tearing into a wall to add something you missed the first time around.

Plus, installing future cable pathways now will motivate you to finish the upgrades in the future.

[Brian Cash]

another amazing thing for a theater which this was my final touch and mand does it look amazing and worth the money is one of these for the whole ceiling

http://www.ccl-light.com/docs/indoor...els/index.html


this website has alot of amazing stuff for theaters when it comes to cosmetics i got my light fixtures from them my ceiling and my led lights for the seating area there pretty reasonable as well

[Psiweaver]

To the projector I would run a 2" Plastic Carlon Conduit also known as smurf Tube. In addition i would have a 220/20amp circuit put there in addition to a 110/20amp circuit. This way your covered for just about any projector you can get.

I would run multiple runs of 12/2 and Line Level to each sub location and I would probably pick 4 sub locations in the front and a couple in the sides/rears. This will allow you full flexability.

I would run 2 CAT6's to the row of seating that you'll be sitting in most so that you can use a phone/data location there because if your in there you won't hear anything else going on and that could be a problem from time to time.

In addition at the seating locations I would put some infloor plugs for power so that if you end up getting motorized seats you won't be SOL.

For the front wall you'll want a few extra 110 circuits for curtains, and any screen masking system you might put on on the future.

I would sheetrock the entire thing with quiet rock it isn't much more expensive but does a good job of adding sound isolation.

I would run 12 gauge to the speaker positions and I would suggest putting everything in walls behind fabric panels.

At the rack I would make sure you had 4 20 amp circuits, enough room for a full height middle atlantic rack. 2 CAT6's so that you can add a switch here and if one of them gets bent you'd be okay.