Needing advice on setup and in wall wiring (1 Viewer)

[Mugen]

Hey all, hoping someone cam help with some advice on best wiring and or converters in setting up my system. I moved into a new place and Im wanting to hang my TV, but before hand Id like to run all the wires in wall. At this point I have the TV, receiver, gaming system, speakers, subs, and Id like to add a transducer down the line. Im an old school basshead so I have 3 powered subs that I want to add. What the best way for me to start to give you so you can advise me? Photos of hook ups? Trying to keep install costs on the lower side of things ( if possible ). I suppose mainly at this point what I am asking, is what wiring do I need to purchase, so its an ease of install and everything gets hooked up. Thank you

 

[JohnRice]

Just a basic comment, that in-wall wiring and ease are pretty much contradictory concepts. Running wires through walls is just not a simple thing to do.

 

[Curious Skip]

I'm new here, and certainly no expert. However I have read that your electrical wires can't be inside the walls, or behind your drywall. I'm not sure about any of the other wires. You just need an outlet behind the TV.

I have all my speaker wires inside the wall, but I did that as the house was being built, before the drywall went up. I also put in a short piece of 2" PVC with elbows at each end, to act as a conduit for all the other cables between the TV and the receiver.

 

[Mugen]

Oh that Im not worried about, Im handy when it comes to that, dont have a problem crawling around the attic ( plenty of space up there ). I mainly meant with ease as far as having the necessary HDMI, Optical, USB, RCA thru the walls already.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hopefully won’t make the common mistake of mounting the TV too high. It should be at eye level when you’re seated. Thus, it makes more sense to just set it on the equipment cabinet, assuming it will be under the TV.

Ideally, all your sources should connect to your AVR. That way a single HDMI cable is all that’s needed between it and the TV.

A company called Power Bridge makes cable-managing kits for wall mounting. It includes a recessed outlet up top, and a recessed receptacle at the bottom of the wall, with a built-in male plug. To power the TV, you simply plug an extension cord into the bottom inlet.

Their website shows signal cables and electrical in the same box. However, AFAIK it is against code to run high-voltage and low-voltage cabling in the same wall cavity. Thus, separate boxes should be used for the two, with a wall stud between them.

Speaker cabling, and any others, should be rated for in-wall use. In-wall speaker cable is typically designated as CL-2.

You can find a “how to” guide for in-wall wiring in my signature.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mugen]

But I would still need wiring for the gaming system, computer, dvd player etc. Thats what I am referring to. I suppose I could just run wires for what ever the TV has slots for, because I wouldnt be able to expand on that, meaning if I have 4 HDMI slots, I couldnt connect more than 4 HDMI devices because you cant run 2 sources off of one input, right?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

It's best to connect source components to the AVR and let it do the switching between them. That way only a single HDMI cable is needed between the AVR and the TV.

Regards, Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mugen]

Wayne, oh so youre saying that the computer, game console, dvd player, stream device, etc.. go to the back of the AVR alone? Am I sure my AVR is capable of doing so?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

You'll have to cmake sure the AVR has the correct inputs for the outputs your components have. Most everything made in the last 10 years or so uses HDMI connections.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pfllughaupt

 

[Mugen]

Thats the AVR back. So it looks like the HDMI are on the left, bottom goes to TV ( like you are advising me to do ) the other 2 I can use for components and then Id have to use either RCA or Digital Output. Sound right? And then yes it would be 1 sole HDMI in the wall, like youre advising?

 

[JohnRice]

That's a very old receiver. It appears to be first generation hdmi. If at all possible, I'd get a new(er) one before planning wiring. Unfortunately, it's just not going to be compatible with much of any current gear.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I’ll second John’s recommendation. From what I can find, the RX-V1700 will upconvert video signals to HDMI, but only to a low rez 480p.

Alternately, you could use your TV as the switching point. But that will mean running lots of cables in the wall between your components and the TV. If a cable fails, it will be a hassle to replace it. And they do fail, especially HDMI. Plus, I don’t know if your TV will send a 5.1 signal back to the AVR.

Really, your best bet is to replace the AVR. Doesn’t have to be expensive, if you get a used one. You should be able to get something comparable to the 1700 (which was a nice mid-line unit) that’s 4-5 years old for the price of something new and bottom-of-the-line.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, probably time to consider upgrading to a more recent AVR (w/ more, more-up-to-date HDMI inputs), especially if going thru that much trouble w/ in-wall wiring, etc -- doesn't have to be current model year (to save some $).

IF you absolutely cannot upgrade the AVR for now (but really should plan for future), I guess you could consider trying adding an HDMI switcher to allow handling more devices using HDMI, but switchers are often not that reliable (and probably adds delay to switching). You can also try the analog inputs on the AVR, but it will probably convert them to digital, which adds a layer of complexity (w/ potential issues) -- and I'm guessing it probably doesn't upconvert to 1080p.

But if you're gonna need to handle a computer and streaming device on top of gaming console, disc player (is it really just DVD w/ analog component output, not Blu-ray?) and whatever else, sounds like you really do need more than 2 HDMI connections. But do you really need to connect your computer (and only get say 1920x1080 rez for that)?

Anyway, yeah, best to upgrade the AVR (even to something several years old that might still handle 4K well w/ plenty of HDMI inputs, but just not the latest iteration/version of HDMI)...

Don't know if it makes enough sense for you, but your old AVR also has 7.1 multichannel audio inputs, so I guess it might also be worthwhile considering a used 4K prepro like Emotiva MC-700 instead to keep using the AVR mainly as power amp (and then eventually upgrade to an external amp instead, if that has ever been a desire for you).

_Man_

 

[DaveF]

Having recently done some home theater cabling upgrades, here’s some practical hardware tips.

For exploring wall interiors to figure out if and how you can run cabling, a cheap digital endoscope is worth its weight in gold.
DEPSTECH 5.5mm Industrial Endoscope, 1080P Digital Borescope Inspection Camera with 4.3" Screen, IP67 Waterproof Snake Camera with Lights,16.5FT Semi-Rigid Cable, 32GB Card &Photo Capture (Orange)

Amazon.com

These type wall brackets are easy to install.
VCE Low Voltage Mounting Bracket...

Amazon.com

For long run HDMI, get active cables.
phoossno Certified 8K HDMI 2.1 Fiber Optical Cable, 10K Ultra High Speed HDMI 5m 16.5ft 48Gbps 4K120Hz 8K120Hz 10K120Hz,eARC Dolby Vision Atmos HDR10 RTX 3080 3090 4090 PS5 Xbox Sony LG C9/B9

Amazon.com

“Reverse Nose” plates are convenient for running cables through walls, and skipping the extra work of terminating cables inside and outside the walls. I recommend considering them for subwoofer and HDMI cables. They’re paintable so you can match them to your existing decor.
Monoprice Reverse Nose Decora Plate - Holds Up to 6 Cables, White

Amazon.com

 

[DaveF]

If you’re running audio-video, consider running data along with it. Connect your devices by Ethernet to your internet router and get them off of wifi.

 

[DaveF]

Great comments on gear in general. To summarize (and since I enjoy spending other people’s money )

Upgrade all media devices to recent models with HDMI out.

Upgrade AVR to recent model with HDMI in/out.

Connect all players to AVR by HDMI. Connect AVR to TV by HDMI.
When not possible, like with retro-gaming or VHS or Vinyl, continue to use old-school analog connections.

In-wall cable is foremost for getting cables across the room to where direct wiring is not possible (ie speaker cables to rear speakers if gear is in front of room, and Ethernet cable out to network router in a different room of the home).

Secondarily, in-wall for aesthetics. If you don’t want visible cables along the floorboards of the front wall. Or you don’t want to see an HDMI cable running up the wall between AVR and TV.

I can share some photos and basic floor plan from my home setup if that is of interest.