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[Dragon]

Hey guys,

So I'm sort of remodeling my place and I have a couple of questions. I'm going to buy a new TV. The Panasonic mid-level plasmas seem to hit the sweet spot as far as price, although I've heard they've had some green tint problems? I'd say my budget would be not more than 1500 dollars (I'd like to spend 1000-1200). I'm not set on plasma but it seems to be better priced at bigger sizes (I can't go bigger than 55 inches based on my wall space).

Also with mounting the TV I want wires to be almost unnoticeable. But I also want two rear speakers to get that surround setup. I've looked around and I've come to two conclusions. I could either use plastic tracking or flat speaker wire to make the wires less noticeable. Has anyone used either/both, what do people recommend? Note: I don't have access to the floor above me as I live in a condo and I'm on the middle floor.

Also do you guys recommend wallplates to hide the component/HDMI cables or how do people go about doing that with wall mounted TVs?

I know I should post this on avsforum but I thought I'd post it here first, mostly because it's more of a general question and GAF is much faster moving than avsforum.

 

[CrankyJay]

Raistlin will be by shortly to help. LOL.

 

[SapientWolf]

I hid all my speaker wires under an area rug. I furnished my living room around my home theater setup instead of the other way around.

 

[Raistlin]

Let me finish watching Chuck and I'll get back to ya

 

[Dragon]

I hid all my speaker wires under an area rug. I furnished my living room around my home theater setup instead of the other way around.

I would like them to be mounted to the ceiling and tilted downward (not sure if this gives the best sound quality or it would be better to be ear level?).

Let me finish watching Chuck and I'll get back to ya

Thanks!

 

[jason10mm]

You guys are doing it wrong. Speaker cables running across the floor and over doors is the hallmark of a mans room! Go to av123 and get the best speakers you can afford. Mate that with the best receiver you can afford. Get the cables you need from mono price. Once your lady hears the sweet notes of quality sound from good speakers and a subwoofer weighing more than she does the complaints about visible speaker wires, nests of cables, and unsightly black speakers clashing with the cream and strawberry decor will cease!

edit: just saw that av123 went under last year! Totally sucks because their stuff was awesome. Well, I'm sure other companies have replaced them, but for the price they were hard to beat. Anyway,saw the pics just posted. Unless you own the condo and can do some serious installation, maybe (though I am loath to say it)a wireless Bose style setup may be the best choice. Especially if you have neighbors sharing walls that will limit he volume you can push.

 

[SapientWolf]

I would like them to be mounted to the ceiling and tilted downward (not sure if this gives the best sound quality or it would be better to be ear level?).



Thanks!

You typically want them ear level.

Sound is going to bounce off the walls since you're mounting the speakers, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on the acoustics of your room. After a lot of trial and error I ended up placing all my floor standing speakers near a wall. I ended up parking my subwoofer behind the couch. I don't know if that arrangement is up to audiophile standards but I'm picky and it's the way I like it.

 

[Dragon]

Some pics to give you an idea of what I'm working with (ignore the fact that one part of the wall is painted a different color than the rest, the previous owner was not very detail oriented).

Also my current setup is all over the place, hence trying to make things look a lot cleaner. Forgive my horrible GIMP skills. Cab is where I'm planning to put all my components, 360, PS3, Boxee Box, Receiver and anything else. Haven't thought up what that's going to be, but ideally I wouldn't have wires running over the mantle or anything. And yeah I'm giving up on using the fireplace as the way I currently have it set up is awful and blocks most of my deck.

 

[Oppo]

Hey OP, I had the same requirements as you. Bought a Panasonic Viera G25 plasma, a Pioneer VSX-920 receiver, and some Polk Audio surround speakers w/an active sub. Very happy with it. Just keep in mind that you'll want a fairly dark room for plasma.

For the speaker wires I did the plastic cowling that they use sometimes in older houses to run wiring, it's fine and was pretty easy to use. I actually am unfamiliar with flat speaker wiring though, that sounds intriguing.

 

[Raistlin]

You guys are doing it wrong. Speaker cables running across the floor and over doors is the hallmark of a mans room! Go to av123 and get the best speakers you can afford. Mate that with the best receiver you can afford. Get the cables you need from mono price. Once your lady hears the sweet notes of quality sound from good speakers and a subwoofer weighing more than she does the complaints about visible speaker wires, nests of cables, and unsightly black speakers clashing with the cream and strawberry decor will cease!

edit: just saw that av123 went under last year! Totally sucks because their stuff was awesome. Well, I'm sure other companies have replaced them, but for the price they were hard to beat. Anyway,saw the pics just posted. Unless you own the condo and can do some serious installation, maybe (though I am loath to say it)a wireless Bose style setup may be the best choice. Especially if you have neighbors sharing walls that will limit he volume you can push.

They went under because their owner is a criminal

 

[Raistlin]

Hey guys,

So I'm sort of remodeling my place and I have a couple of questions. I'm going to buy a new TV. The Panasonic mid-level plasmas seem to hit the sweet spot as far as price, although I've heard they've had some green tint problems? I'd say my budget would be not more than 1500 dollars (I'd like to spend 1000-1200). I'm not set on plasma but it seems to be better priced at bigger sizes (I can't go bigger than 55 inches based on my wall space).

I haven't looked at the current models, but in general I suspect that a Plasma would do the best in that price range. I recommend checking avsforum regarding specific models you're looking into, and making sure the cons are something you can live with. No TV is perfect, you just need to weigh what's most important to you.

Just remember you may need to move around lighting depending where it's positioned now. Then again a number of newer LCD's have gloss screens anyway ... so that may be necessary either way.

Also with mounting the TV I want wires to be almost unnoticeable. But I also want two rear speakers to get that surround setup. I've looked around and I've come to two conclusions. I could either use plastic tracking or flat speaker wire to make the wires less noticeable. Has anyone used either/both, what do people recommend? Note: I don't have access to the floor above me as I live in a condo and I'm on the middle floor.

My usual recommendation is to build a false wall. After seeing the pictures though, that's obviously a problem given the fireplace. This may not be easy. Do you know how much space there is behind the wall? Is the drywall flush against stone, or is there a gap between the chimney and the drywall? If there is a gap with 2x4's, you could always wire behind it (you'll need to tear down the dry wall, wire things, then re-drywall) ... if not, you're kind of screwed. Not just because of wiring, but if there aren't studs to secure the TV mount ... you simply can't mount your TV at all.

If there are studs, but they're thin you shouldn't have to worry about putting channels for cabling (they aren't load bearing if they're thin) ... but you have to worry about the channel weakening it too much to handle the TV mount. Unfortunately it's not an optimal set up ... or at least it may not be. Without knowing what's behind it, it's kind of hard to answer.


As to hiding wire, certainly one option is plastic or wood tracking/molding on the floor. But another thing to consider is crown molding. Depending on where everything will be located, that may work better?

Also do you guys recommend wallplates to hide the component/HDMI cables or how do people go about doing that with wall mounted TVs?

Without a fireplace, I'd do a false wall and have mounting plates maybe 18" off the floor or so with the assumption of some sort of AV cabinet/stand in front (I'm partial to modern, horizontal A/V cabinets/TV stands). Or if one is in a hurry, they would simply leave an opening since the stand/cabinet would be blocking the view anyway.

In your case if you are able to get access behind the wall, I'd set up a plate in your cabinet. Basically on the left wall of it (where it recesses). Or simply an access hole with the wire coming out if it can be done out of sight.

 

[Raistlin]

I would like them to be mounted to the ceiling and tilted downward (not sure if this gives the best sound quality or it would be better to be ear level?).

Typically that isn't going to provide the best acoustics, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

However, you could consider getting Mirage speakers from their OMD line (given the size of the room). They are omnipolar and are meant to either reflect much of the sound off the ceiling (if they are facing up) or the floor if they are upside down (ceiling mounted).

http://search.vanns.com/sitesearch/search?q=mirage+omd

A pair of OMD5's in the front with an OMDC1 center, along with a pair of OMD5's (or Mirage Omnisat OS3-SAT if you need something smaller) for the rears. Though I'd go with OMD5's if at all possible.



One caution, the speakers are a bit power hungry. Not insanely so but you definitely need a decent receiver. I actually caused mine to shut down last week (first time) listening just below reference level on a particularly crazy soundtrack scene. Regardless, you definitely don't want to skimp on a receiver anyway since you don't know if you may change locations or speakers at some point. You can never have too much powa.

 

[Dragon]

I haven't looked at the current models, but in general I suspect that a Plasma would do the best in that price range. I recommend checking avsforum regarding specific models you're looking into, and making sure the cons are something you can live with. No TV is perfect, you just need to weigh what's most important to you.

Just remember you may need to move around lighting depending where it's positioned now. Then again a number of newer LCD's have gloss screens anyway ... so that may be necessary either way.

Yeah I'm going to end up getting better lighting in that room anyway. Might want to run a ceiling fan with lighting depending on how annoying that is.

My usual recommendation is to build a false wall. After seeing the pictures though, that's obviously a problem given the fireplace. This may not be easy. Do you know how much space there is behind the wall? Is the drywall flush against stone, or is there a gap between the chimney and the drywall? If there is a gap with 2x4's, you could always wire behind it (you'll need to tear down the dry wall, wire things, then re-drywall) ... if not, you're kind of screwed. Not just because of wiring, but if there aren't studs to secure the TV mount ... you simply can't mount your TV at all.

Yeah I'll have to investigate further as it seems like this may not be viable at all. Depending on the model and its depth I may be able to just use the stand and secure it somehow without having it mounted. Obviously not ideal but that may work. But I'd still run into the problems with not having anything to work with to hide the wires. It'd really only be an HDMI cable and a component cable. But still want it to look as good as possible.

As to hiding wire, certainly one option is plastic or wood tracking/molding on the floor. But another thing to consider is crown molding. Depending on where everything will be located, that may work better?

I looked up crown molding and it seems to be the best bet. They even make some with wire channels built-in. Seems like they also make some that make it appear to be part of the existing molding.

In your case if you are able to get access behind the wall, I'd set up a plate in your cabinet. Basically on the left wall of it (where it recesses). Or simply an access hole with the wire coming out if it can be done out of sight.

That was my first inclination also. Thanks for your help. Basically everything hinges on how much room, if any, I have within that fireplace recess. I kinda wish my place didn't have a fireplace now haha!

Typically that isn't going to provide the best acoustics, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

However, you could consider getting Mirage speakers from their OMD line (given the size of the room). They are omnipolar and are meant to either reflect much of the sound off the ceiling (if they are facing up) or the floor if they are upside down (ceiling mounted).

http://search.vanns.com/sitesearch/search?q=mirage+omd

A pair of OMD5's in the front with an OMDC1 center, along with a pair of OMD5's (or Mirage Omnisat OS3-SAT if you need something smaller) for the rears. Though I'd go with OMD5's if at all possible.

One caution, the speakers are a bit power hungry. Not insanely so but you definitely need a decent receiver. I actually caused mine to shut down last week (first time) listening just below reference level on a particularly crazy soundtrack scene. Regardless, you definitely don't want to skimp on a receiver anyway since you don't know if you may change locations or speakers at some point. You can never have too much powa.

I have this Pioneer receiver, it's about five years old at this point but has decent power, it just doesn't have HDMI switching. Which means I might upgrade.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-1015TX

I'll take a look at those speakers, thanks for the suggestion!

My current five speakers are from: http://www.athenaspeakers.com/products/point-5-series/ that I bought at the same time as the receiver. I actually don't have a sub at all. So not sure if I should repurpose those for the bedroom or not.

 

[CrankyJay]

I haven't looked at the current models, but in general I suspect that a Plasma would do the best in that price range. I recommend checking avsforum regarding specific models you're looking into, and making sure the cons are something you can live with. No TV is perfect, you just need to weigh what's most important to you.

Just remember you may need to move around lighting depending where it's positioned now. Then again a number of newer LCD's have gloss screens anyway ... so that may be necessary either way.


My usual recommendation is to build a false wall. After seeing the pictures though, that's obviously a problem given the fireplace. This may not be easy. Do you know how much space there is behind the wall? Is the drywall flush against stone, or is there a gap between the chimney and the drywall? If there is a gap with 2x4's, you could always wire behind it (you'll need to tear down the dry wall, wire things, then re-drywall) ... if not, you're kind of screwed. Not just because of wiring, but if there aren't studs to secure the TV mount ... you simply can't mount your TV at all.

If there are studs, but they're thin you shouldn't have to worry about putting channels for cabling (they aren't load bearing if they're thin) ... but you have to worry about the channel weakening it too much to handle the TV mount. Unfortunately it's not an optimal set up ... or at least it may not be. Without knowing what's behind it, it's kind of hard to answer.


As to hiding wire, certainly one option is plastic or wood tracking/molding on the floor. But another thing to consider is crown molding. Depending on where everything will be located, that may work better?


Without a fireplace, I'd do a false wall and have mounting plates maybe 18" off the floor or so with the assumption of some sort of AV cabinet/stand in front (I'm partial to modern, horizontal A/V cabinets/TV stands). Or if one is in a hurry, they would simply leave an opening since the stand/cabinet would be blocking the view anyway.

In your case if you are able to get access behind the wall, I'd set up a plate in your cabinet. Basically on the left wall of it (where it recesses). Or simply an access hole with the wire coming out if it can be done out of sight.

Don't know where the OP lives, but I'm going to guess the fireplace is on an exterior wall and therefore anything he tears down will probably have insulation in it. Will make running cables a bitch.

 

[Dragon]

So a local Charlotte place will do the mounting for me, including the mount for 199 bucks. I'm not sure why I wouldn't let them do it, since I'd do a much worse job and it seems like they do them all the time.

 

[Raistlin]

Don't know where the OP lives, but I'm going to guess the fireplace is on an exterior wall and therefore anything he tears down will probably have insulation in it. Will make running cables a bitch.

Interesting. Hadn't thought of that. I didn't realize it was common to insulate chimneys.

So a local Charlotte place will do the mounting for me, including the mount for 199 bucks. I'm not sure why I wouldn't let them do it, since I'd do a much worse job and it seems like they do them all the time.

May as well.

You could also ask them for some recommendations for wiring, or at least what they suspect is behind the wall, while they're doing the installation. Obviously they don't really 'owe' you the information, and it may not necessarily be accurate ... but it's worth a shot.

 

[Dragon]

So the guy came yesterday, mounted the TV in an hour and a half. Pretty impressive, just cut a short area of dry wall and used those hooks to run the HDMI, coaxial (over the air), and what I thought was component cables through the wall.

Two things, one the component cables are really composite as far as I can tell. And looking online they run at a different rate than components. Am I going to get signal degradation from using them? And two he left those cables so short that I have to buy a female to female coupler so I can extend them. Will that have an effect on the signal as well? I think I'm going to have to call him back here and have him put in actual component cables that are a proper length. Hopefully he won't charge me.

 

[Stinkles]

So the guy came yesterday, mounted the TV in an hour and a half. Pretty impressive, just cut a short area of dry wall and used those hooks to run the HDMI, coaxial (over the air), and what I thought was component cables through the wall.

Two things, one the component cables are really composite as far as I can tell. And looking online they run at a different rate than components. Am I going to get signal degradation from using them? And two he left those cables so short that I have to buy a female to female coupler so I can extend them. Will that have an effect on the signal as well? I think I'm going to have to call him back here and have him put in actual component cables that are a proper length. Hopefully he won't charge me.

Component cable is regular RCA-style cable. Identical in form and function to Composite. They are just cables. Metal wires in plastic. The only difference is color coded labels on the ends of the cables to tell you where they plug in: (YPbPr) The shortness is a legit complaint, but I have several Composite cables sitting in place of components, all over my house. I use Yellow video, red stereo, white stereo mapped to their component equivalents (with white as blue) just so I can remember what's attached to what. For the Audio I use a red and white again.

 

[Dragon]

Okay so the Female to Female coupler I bought on Amazon should function nicely then. I just saw some talk about it not being able to convert successfully.

Phew. I really didn't want have him come back and have to do any more work. Thanks!

 

[Stinkles]

Okay so the Female to Female coupler I bought on Amazon should function nicely then. I just saw some talk about it not being able to convert successfully.

Phew. I really didn't want have him come back and have to do any more work. Thanks!

Yes it will work just fine. Unless you're seeing any noticeable degradation of your image (fuzz, static) you're fine. Also, it is a job you could do yourself. Buy some cables from Amazon basics or monoprice.com for a couple of bucks. If you do buy them, at that point you might as well use "real" component for the useful color coding.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Going to piggy-back this thread, is this Amazon DotD a good speaker system?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=tsm_1_tw_ad_ALI7G5N3DXKKQ