[dmrfresh]

Sweating the details....

Been working on finishing the basement for several months now, and drywall time is imminent.

Now i'm getting nervous about where i've placed everything.

The plan was to do a 5.1 setup in the "tv area".

Leaning towards a 75" samsung 6350 for the TV.

Very uncertain about the speakers - was strongly considering the mirage OMD 15s for the fronts, OMD 5s for the rears, and the OMDC1 for the center.

Im planning on putting many of the electronics under the staircase closet (behind that pool table tv wall). Keeping a few components near the main TV for ease of use. Plan was to run a cat 6 and coax to any place that the TV & electronics might be to allow for network and video - probably adding another cat 6 for HDbaseT video (since that seems to be the dominant distribution type these days.

I'm getting paranoid about where everything is and how much cabling to pre-wire.

So, any general thoughts or advice?

 

[weaselfest]

two CatX cables to each display should give you a reasonable amount of flexibility, especially since many HDBaseT solutions will piggyback Ethernet along with your digital audio, video and possibly IR and RS232.
How far is it from your under stair AV rack and the TV and source gear locations? If no more than 50', take a look at the Monoprice redmere cables. Value priced, solid performance. Test before installing.
If you are really paranoid about future proofing and still have the time and resources available, I would seriously considering installing some 1.25-1.5" flexible conduit ("smurf tube", although the good stuff from Carlon is orange) between the AV rack and the display & source gear.

 

[dmrfresh]

I guess i'm more paranoid about cables/implementation going bad. HDMI over long runs needs these "redmere" chips, which seems like they are bound to fail over time.

The HDBaseT looks like it would be sweet, but reading lots of the reviews of the devices doesn't instill confidence that the products are well implemented. Lots of complaints about Ethernet issues, HDMI issues, IR issues, etc...

I really wish there were more HDMI over coax, which is a more robust and higher bandwidth cable compared to cat6.

That, or a "soldi" HD(MI) over lan with reasonable compression to mpegXX.

If I found a good HD over lan product that didn't cost 1k or over coax, I might be less concerned.

I did buy some redmere cables - the total run would be about 50 ft, so I actually bought 2 30 footers, and planned on access in the middle where I have a closet. I might be able to do 2 runs of conduit in and out of that closet to give me future access.

 

[dmrfresh]

Back to the speaker setup...I've been leaning towards getting the OMD15's and matching center and surrounds off amazon ~2200.

I've also got these KSP-300s from back in my college days. They are decent speakers, but they are LARGE, so they don't make for the most attractive setup. They also have the 60Hz hum issue with the amps that was apparently an issue with those powered subs.

So, I'm not sure what to do with the KSP's. I could repair the amp, and sell them, or use them in another room. Another thought I had was to pull out the subs and build my own DIY setup (in wall/in box, tbd). Not sure if its worth going that route or not. If I did pull out the subs, i might be able to convert the floorstanders into bookshelves to make them more useful in other rooms of the house?

I do need to figure out the best sub placement in my new room - I haven't come up with a "good" idea yet.

Ideas?

 

[dmrfresh]

One other thing - I keep fighting the urge to buy the AV equipment now - telling myself it will just sit in the box until I can actually install it.

Can I come up with a rational reason to buy my electronics & speakers now?

It might better help align the mounting points and LV box placement for the speakers and TV, for example?

 

[dmrfresh]

Man, this forum is dangerous.

Now I'm looking at what I should do for subwoofer design/placement.

Wondering if it would be a good idea to try to build a set if IB subs "in wall" at the front of the room. Maybe a pair flanking the TV, and a pair on the side walls.

I still haven't wrapped my head around exactly how much volume is needed. if each box was 1 ft deep by 7 feet tall, 16" wide, that would seem to be enough volume for a single IB woofer ? They'd still be open to the stud wall behind them, so its actually more volume available.

I like the idea of building the subs into the wall to hide them - big boxes in the room won't make the wife happy (WAF? == wife approval factor??).

In wall could be nicely integrated into the decor.

This is part of the reason I was permitted to buy the OMD 15 floorstanders - I wanted the floor speakers, but I needed the unique look and rosewood finish to sell them as "good looking". And yes, I went ahead and bought the speakers and TV before I even had drywall up (feeling guilty).

 

[weaselfest]

I guess i'm more paranoid about cables/implementation going bad. HDMI over long runs needs these "redmere" chips, which seems like they are bound to fail over time.
All the more reason to install a conduit. Covers you for all possibilities.
By the way, intentionally planning to have a splice in your HDMI cabling is an incredibly bad idea. A single cable of appropriate length would be far less of a risk.
While you may have a point with your observation of the Redmere cables having a higher potential for failure than a passive cable, but since you are in the situation of needing an active solution regardless, it seems to be the less risky of your options.
HDMI over LAN is wrought with many more risks than any HDBaseT solution, especially since you are adding another active device to the system (data switch). Add to that the cost of a managed switch to do the most efficient job of distributing the video traffic to only the devices that need to see it, and you start running into way more expense and headache. Unless you are trying to feed multiple displays throughout the house, I'd stick to a non-networked CatX solution.
The second and third generation HDBaseT products are more reliable than earlier versions. Pay careful attention to what chipset the transmitter has to assure it is capable of the lengths you want to cover. Use a shielded Cat6 as recommended by most manufacturers and you should be fine.

 

[dmrfresh]

I guess i'm more paranoid about cables/implementation going bad. HDMI over long runs needs these "redmere" chips, which seems like they are bound to fail over time.
All the more reason to install a conduit. Covers you for all possibilities.
By the way, intentionally planning to have a splice in your HDMI cabling is an incredibly bad idea. A single cable of appropriate length would be far less of a risk.
While you may have a point with your observation of the Redmere cables having a higher potential for failure than a passive cable, but since you are in the situation of needing an active solution regardless, it seems to be the less risky of your options.
HDMI over LAN is wrought with many more risks than any HDBaseT solution, especially since you are adding another active device to the system (data switch). Add to that the cost of a managed switch to do the most efficient job of distributing the video traffic to only the devices that need to see it, and you start running into way more expense and headache. Unless you are trying to feed multiple displays throughout the house, I'd stick to a non-networked CatX solution.
The second and third generation HDBaseT products are more reliable than earlier versions. Pay careful attention to what chipset the transmitter has to assure it is capable of the lengths you want to cover. Use a shielded Cat6 as recommended by most manufacturers and you should be fine.

The "HDMI splice" would have been more of an HDMI repeater, where I had access to the repeater, but I also am liking that idea less and less.

HDMI over LAN ought to be the "best" solution (save for compressed video), as you could integrate it into your already existing home network. I'm already purchasing a managed switch for my home network, anyways - switch configuration is something I'm very familiar with.

I'm thinking I'll wire for HDBaseT in the basement and see how that goes. Later, when I try to integrate the house's sources to a single location, maybe I'll try the HD over LAN.

Any issues with bend radii of conduit? I have space for PVC in the ceiling joists still - but are 90 deg turns manageable when threading wire over 60 feet? Seems like I'd need reasonable access every 20 feet or so, anyways.

 

[weaselfest]

your big concern with pulling cable through conduit is the number of bends, more than the overall distance. If you have to have more than three 90 degree bends, you will need to have a break out box before any 4th and additional bends. Your bends need to be installed with 90 or 45 degree sweep inserts, or, if using flexible conduit, executed with a bend radius no smaller than 4 times the diameter of your conduit, with both ends of the curved portion of conduit solidly anchored in place.

 

[dmrfresh]

I'm punting on the conduit. 2 cat 6 1 coax 1 hdmi per drop. If that ends up not covering it, I'll just bust up some drywall.

 

[dmrfresh]

So which hdbaset implementations are known good. Reviews I've read seem mixed across the board.

 

[EricBurns]

Man, this forum is dangerous.

Now I'm looking at what I should do for subwoofer design/placement.

Wondering if it would be a good idea to try to build a set if IB subs "in wall" at the front of the room. Maybe a pair flanking the TV, and a pair on the side walls.

I still haven't wrapped my head around exactly how much volume is needed. if each box was 1 ft deep by 7 feet tall, 16" wide, that would seem to be enough volume for a single IB woofer ? They'd still be open to the stud wall behind them, so its actually more volume available.

If you're looking into an IB sub, the minimum volume needed per sub is 10 times the Vas of that sub. Generally, 15" or larger subs are used in multiples of 2.

When I was looking into them, I found this website
http://www.ibsubwoofers.com/, which is very helpful.

 

[dmrfresh]

Pics before insulation and drywall.

https://plus.google.com/photos/109253482498321463729/albums/6132207675457885121

 

[dmrfresh]

Some toys have arrived

 

[dmrfresh]

Making progress. Need to finish doors and trim, get the cabinets and bar in place, and hang that tv.

 

[dmrfresh]

Some pics of mostly finished product:



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