My Audio/Video Experience - Page 3

Happy New Year to you also!

Thanks for the clarification! And thank you for the kind words.

Regards.

Thank you for the acknowledgement. I do love this stuff!

As far as the wiring concept is concerned, I'm just winging it! Hoping to achieve some semblance of order. It's requiring alot of wire ties and velcro strips. I just picked up 20 ft of plastic tubing also. The tubing will be used to route the audio and video cables from both racks to the AVR. That will be an adventure all by itself!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3174860...7610165549421/

Looks fun doesn't it?!!!!!

Regards.

Thanks.

At the risk of being abused by the Anti-Monster Cable Zealots, the majority of the cables used are as follows:

Monster Cable M-Series 350, 550, 850, and 1000/both audio and video versions
Monster Cable M-Series M1.4 speaker cables
Monster Cable THX Series 600, 1000
Monster Cable Data Link and Light Speed digital cables
AudioQuest Diamondbacks, Sidewinder, VDM-3, YIQ-X
Acoustic Research
Key Digital Python HDMI
Radio Shack Gold series
And a few miscellaneous types.

Most of the Monster stuff was purchased at least 8-10 years ago and still are very functional and effective. And the were purchased at a third of the retail price. I had a hook up at Bryn Mawr Stereo/Tweeter.
The rest were purchased off of eBay for the most part!


Regards.
Regards

And a Happy and prosperous New Year to you and your family also!

Regards.

Congrats. I saw the photos in your thread and it looks good! Great presentation. Glad I could help.

In response to the tubing,.... Absolutely! To tell you the truth, although it may look cool upfront, I've discovered that the location of the power centers are not conducive to proper cable/power cord isolation. Because of the position (the lower shelf of the tv stand), I'm forced to run the audio cables from the audio rack behind the Panamax boxes which puts the cables in close proximity to the power cords. For the most part, I have separated the cords and cables to the point where they aren't touching one another, but they're still too close in my opinion. So as you correctly observed, the tubing will serve a dual purpose ... organization and shielding. Ultimately, I hope to acquire a multichannel amp. That will be positioned where the power centers are and I will make room on the two tower racks for the power centers, removing the 5 discs dvd changer and cd changer. Unfortunately, that won't happen for a few months.... must recover from the depletion of available funds due to Christmas. You know....two daughters and all!!!!

Regards.

If you are talking about the blue ones coming from the Cambridge Audio CD Player, those are the AudioQuest Diamondback Interconnects.



If you are talking about the 6 blue cables coming from the Denon DVD2910 universal, those are Monster Cable THX600 Component Cables. I was told using component cables for multi-channel out was perfectly OK. So I tried it and Sha-zam! It worked!


If you look carefully, you will see that the gray one has been replaced by a longer black one.
Although I paid very little on the AudioQuest and Monster cables, Monoprice, BlueJeans, and HDTVSupply.com is where I will go for future purchases.

Thanks for asking.

BTW, how are you bringing in the New Year? The wife and my youngest daughter are going to watch WALL-E in blu ray of course!

Regards.

OK, it's not finished yet. I'm still experimenting. The tubing didn't work out as well as I thought it would. Instead of neat and organized, it still looks like a mess, but with tubing added! It just doesn't look finished, if you know what I mean.

The saga continues........











See what I mean, it just doesn't have a finished look.
Suggestions please!

Regards.

Thanks Dan. You're very kind.

The only way I can describe to the experience behind the system is.... it's a mini war! And the cables are still winning! I was behind there on and off for a good 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Not only that, my right surround speaker fell off the wall.

I was behind the TV rack and I heard this crash and the sound of DVDs hitting the adjacent bookshelf. I stood up looking to see what happened and there it was, my right Klipsch Reference RS35 dipole surround speaker hanging on by the speaker wire..... just hanging! When it fell, it hit the dvd rack below it and knocked all of the dvds off the top shelf and half of them off the second shelf! Figures! So I had to fix that issue, then get back to the tubing. BTW, the speaker was OK. No damage.

For tubing, I actually used a 1 7/8" x 10' ShopVac hose along with a couple of 1" x 5' hoses.
This time, I was able to truly isolate the power cords and audio/video cables.
My next goal is re-configure the cables that are routed thru the rear of the TV rack. I want to see if I can clean that up a little.

And good luck with your cable management endeavor. Once you start, you'll be forced to get it finished! You won't be able to help yourself!

Regards.

Hello Franin and A.G.

Thanks for the input and suggestions. Below I've attached photos showing the progress of my cable management project. It has given me a better perspective.

From the left:


From the right:




I will look into what you both suggested.
Thanks again.

Regards.

Hello Dan.

I apologize for my lack of activity on the WYSC section! I've been working ungodly hours and when I get home, I have every intention on posting but I'm so tired, I just do not have the energy (lack of brain power) to formulate a coherent and /or logical post!

Anyway, as far as the cable management quest goes, I'm at a stand still until the amp arrives and that's supposed to be this Thursday, Friday the latest. I have been trying to formulate a game plan regarding the arrangement of the components. My initial plan was to remove the 2 disc changers, in order to move the power centers to the lowest shelf on each audio rack and put the amp in the vacant spot by the AVR. (A major step to Cable management harmony ). But I do love my Disc changers and I really do not want to sacrifice them. So I was thinking, "Maybe I could move everything up one shelf! Meaning, the Cambridge Audio CDP and the cable box would be on the very top shelves. Of course the other components would follow suit moving up one. But it may look kind of funky that way! I will have to see. Unfortunately, it's really looking like the changers will be demoted to other rooms in the house!
Once the amp is in place, then I can improve the look of the "Invasion of the accordion-like tubing" in the back of my system.

As far as the house is concerned, the FBI is now on this guy's trail. It seems that he is wanted in several states. So the saga continues. Hopefully, they'll catch the bastard and he'll spend time in a 6' x 9' cell! soon to become someone's Bee-otch!

Thanks for asking!

My next goal is to get a modern AVR! I've been reading the Onkyo 805, 806 875/6 and the 905/6 threads! Boy, what an adventure! On paper, the are the most imposing AVR's on the market for the money. Specs for days!
But they seem to be very temperamental. Owner's either love them or hate them. I'm very interested in the Onkyo product, but my having cold feet is an understatement. Overall, how do you like your 805?!

Regards.

Hello Frank.

Thank you for the words of encouragement.
And as for the cable management, yeah I know, when you really look at it, visually, there's not that much of an improvement. But, the routing has been improved somewhat. After the amp arrives, the new location of the power centers will make isolating the power cords a lot easier and the whole area will look much more uniformed.

Thanks again.

Regards.

Hello Franin!

It's curtains courtesy of J.C. Penney's!
They serve three purposes! 1) It covers a window that allows too much light!
2) Absorption. Because of the thickness of the fabric, it lessens the reflection. 3) Aesthetics. You should have seen the area it covers before I installed the curtains!

Regards.

You are correct in your assessment, there is a ledge below the window that the curtains drape over. As a matter of fact, my modem sits on it. As far as possibility of hiding some of the cables, when I install the incoming multi-channel amp, I will attempt to use the curtains as camouflage to hide the speaker cables.

Regards.