September 19, 2014
So purchased most of my cables yesterday from monoprice.
The CAT6 cable is to have a network port at my desk which will be situated at the back of my basement (near the patio door). I picked up clear 12AWG cable for wiring my speakers to the wall mounts. I spent a lot of time debating on whether I should get a 14×4 or a 12×2 cable. In the end I bought 12×2. Since I’m running 30′ of HDMI cable, I went with monoprice’s redmere cable. I’m interested to see how it performs. I am expecting to get my permit to start construction this week. I’m also expecting my plumber to come in on Tue/Wed to start lowering my fire sprinkler heads.
I have decided to have the media rack under the stairs. I’ll make wooden shelves under the stairs to hold the equipment. I’m still a little undecided on the front of the rack though. Ideally I would have liked to display it, but since its so close to the screen I don’t want it to be distracting. Also, I’m thinking of options on how to conceal it: a wooden door, or non-reflecting glass.
Since I will have a drop ceiling, I am not running conduit all over the place. I will run conduit from the media rack to the top of the ceiling, and try as much as possible to run the low voltage cable along the sides of the drop ceiling. That way I should be able to access it in the future, if required.
I’ll be pre-wiring the speakers as follows: four outlets for the left and right channels – that way I can bi-amp in the future. Two outlets for the center, and two for the side surrounds. I’ll run speaker cable to the rear wall all the way to the ground, so I can place the rear speakers at any height. Lastly, I’ll have two runs of speaker cables to atmos ceiling speakers. I’ll most probably pick a receiver that 7 channels, I will prewire for a 7.4.2 setup even though that’s not on the cards for the considerable future (at least that’s what I am telling the wife).
geekytalkies 