[archstenton]

Beginning prewire of house.


For whole house audio, I think it's much more aesthetically pleasing to share the same box as lighting/outlet in a couple of rooms like the bathroom where wall space is extremely limited.


Regardless of code approvals, have people found these boxes to actually work from a performance standpoint? Mainly, I'm looking at speaker controls in the same box.


Are these just another thing to sell or actually work as advertised?


Thanks

 

[jautor]

I don't know why you're calling it a "scam"... If Code says they have to be separate, that's the way to do it.


I used a number of the Arlington "TV Box" and related products to put power and low-volt in the same location. Definitely looks better than 2 or three separate cut outs.


Jeff

 

[archstenton]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor /forum/post/18229353


I don't know why you're calling it a "scam"... If Code says they have to be separate, that's the way to do it.


I used a number of the Arlington "TV Box" and related products to put power and low-volt in the same location. Definitely looks better than 2 or three separate cut outs.


Jeff

Code is addressing safety. I may be wrong, but I think NEC cares less about interference on one's stereo. What I'm interested in, not just code language for safety, but performance. Even if code tells you this is how to do it, but through experience, av performance still suffers, I don't want to do it and would do separate boxes regardless what's available on the market.


For your sharing installation, have you noticed any ill performance in your system?

 

[roddymcg]

We use the combo boxes on a regular basis, I have not noticed any degradation in audio or video performance. Make sure you bring your cables down the opposite sides of the bay, or even run the high and low voltage in separate bays until you need to bring the cables together.

 

[BradKas]

If you gang your volume control with your switches you won't be able to fit in a keypad should you choose to upgrade later.


I personally never gang anything together, even with limited space I mount volume controls or keypads much higher than switches.

 

[archstenton]

Thanks for the replies.


Actually, I was thinking keypad, when I mentioned volume control. For now, it's just prewire where I was going to run ethernet cable, speaker wire, and maybe IR to try to cover different brands.


Mounting higher than switches? That's interesting. If they're stacked vertically with a gap in between, that might look good.

 

[BradKas]

It looks good, and is more user friendly to scroll through your sources or any additional data at more near eye level.