Future proof wiring for 10 years (1 Viewer)

[DavidHuguet]

I'm remodelling my basement in my new house. Half of the great room will house my HT setup and the other half will be a cozy sitting area in front of a fire place.

While I currently have a 7.1 setup with a 36" HD tv set and am very satisfied with it. I won't have funds to devote to changing it until maybe 5-10 years down the road. I see that projectors are very popular, and have thought of running conduit for that, but was wondering if anyone would offer any thoughts as to what I might build in for 5-10 years down the road...do you think we'll hit 9 or 10.1 setups?

I want to plan for the future and build in things so that in the future if I upgrade it's only a matter of running new cable through existing conduits...

so right now I plan to run conduit for my 7.1 setup...should I run conduit for the projector to where it would probably go should I ever buy one?

any other ideas?

 

[Michael Whitney]

Yes, run to the projector, at least it could be a future disco ball, sound channel, etc... who knows.

Id say build as much flexibility as you can into the project. I have some water lines on outer top just under studs, I cant hide, so I will be building some soffits around them. I plan to build some access panels all along the length for future wire runs. I plan on running fattest conduit i can around perimeter and to the middle of the riser for future expansion work. Run some extra monofilament lines with labels so you can easily tie on and run new lines.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Since it’s impossible to predict what’s coming that far down the road, conduit would be your best bet. That way you can run what you need when the time comes.

Keep in mind for running conduit, you can’t have a lot of turns in it, or you’ll never get cable to pull later. Anything more than a single 90 is pushing it, so beyond that you need access points at the turns.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bryce_H]

I am finishing part of my basement into a dedicated HT. I have 2" conduit running to all the 7.1 speaker locations. I also have an insane amount of low-watt wiring terminating in my component closet. Here is the breakdown

- 4 coax in from the main structured wiring panel
- 4 Cat 5e in from the main structured wiring panel
- 4 coax out to potential sub locations (L/R main, right wall 1/3 way back, left wall 2/3 way back)
- 2 coax out to the front screen wall
- 2 Cat 5e out to the front screen wall
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire out to front screen wall for IR and other future control needs (drop down screen)
- 2 coax out to front of second row riser
- 2 cat 5e out to front of second row riser
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire to front of second row riser
- 2 4-conductor shielded 22ga wire to main light switch box

Some other things to consider since I would assume you are pre-drywall

+ decicated circuit to the component cabinet
+ exhuast/ vent for future projector hush box

Good luck.

In terms on teh conduit - you can have more bends if necessary, just use the lowest angle connectors you can. I connected a lot of my conduit using 22.5 degree connectors. when I needed to do a 90 degree I got a gentle sweep connector - ends up as 90 degrees but has a long gentle curve to it. But Wayne is right the fewer bends the better!

 

[Kevin Magee]

Run www.wiretracks.com

 

[Derek1]

Well I'll add my 2 cents, The coax for the sub locations is the wrong kind of wire. You should pull something more like shielded 18/2 with drain. Not that coax wont work but after all your sub is looking for a "audio" signal not 75 ohm video. And just to avoid any misplaced rants or flames...Yes I am fully aware that many people use coax, but that dosen't make it right.

Leave the coax there for possible use for a video out from the sub, such as on the Velodyne DD series units. (Onscreen EQ readout and adjustments)

 

[John_Stra]

I would run 16ga/4cond for ceiling speakers.

-J