No matter how hard I try, it always ends up looking like a rat's nest behind the TV. My TV stand is the typical black glass kind, so how do you make things look neat? I have tried spiral wrap but you can never wrap everything as some cables end up being shorter than others or having to split out the wrap to get where they need to be.
How do you cable manage behind the TV?
- Thread starter PiKe
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Soldato
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I gave up a long time ago, as long it's not a trip hazard can't be bothered. If you think wiring is messy, when you go full on seperates it's 10x worse.
Don't have a glass unit, so it's a bit easier for us.
Got an Ikea Besta TV unit on wheels and we've used some of the 3m command picture hanging sticky things holding a mains strip on the back and the cables are bundled using cable ties and these things. Although the cable ties we've got a reasonably pricey ones with squeeze release so can be loosened to add or change cables easily. We have tried to keep the excess cable length to a minimum though.
Biggest advantage there is all the cables are off the ground and the units on wheels so any adjustments are very easy. Wheel it forward on a couple of feet, fiddles with the cables and wheel back.
Got an Ikea Besta TV unit on wheels and we've used some of the 3m command picture hanging sticky things holding a mains strip on the back and the cables are bundled using cable ties and these things. Although the cable ties we've got a reasonably pricey ones with squeeze release so can be loosened to add or change cables easily. We have tried to keep the excess cable length to a minimum though.
Biggest advantage there is all the cables are off the ground and the units on wheels so any adjustments are very easy. Wheel it forward on a couple of feet, fiddles with the cables and wheel back.
I just always make sure the unit is sufficiently opaque to hide the mass of cables, which when you have
TV
PS4
PS3
Wii U and Pad
XBox One
Amp with 5.1 speakers
Harmony remote charger
LED Light strip
8 port Switch
Sky box
and add up all the cables they all need is going to be a nightmare no matter how hard you try to make it look good.
TV
PS4
PS3
Wii U and Pad
XBox One
Amp with 5.1 speakers
Harmony remote charger
LED Light strip
8 port Switch
Sky box
and add up all the cables they all need is going to be a nightmare no matter how hard you try to make it look good.
Soldato
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Don't have a glass unit, so it's a bit easier for us.
Got an Ikea Besta TV unit on wheels and we've used some of the 3m command picture hanging sticky things holding a mains strip on the back and the cables are bundled using cable ties and these things. Although the cable ties we've got a reasonably pricey ones with squeeze release so can be loosened to add or change cables easily. We have tried to keep the excess cable length to a minimum though.
Biggest advantage there is all the cables are off the ground and the units on wheels so any adjustments are very easy. Wheel it forward on a couple of feet, fiddles with the cables and wheel back.
Are the castors visible from the front?
I try and keep mains cables together, and apart from the others, and for others, keep any analog (deck / cd) with some space around them.
Keep meaning to get some right angle hdmi conenctors to reduce strain and improve routing to the back of the tv, but they often seem very cheap and of questionable quality.
Keep meaning to get some right angle hdmi conenctors to reduce strain and improve routing to the back of the tv, but they often seem very cheap and of questionable quality.
Currently yes, but there will be a matching white strip added around the front and sides when the weather improves and I can get outside and cut the board down and paint it. Just thin 3mm MDF and will have a small gap at the bottom to allow easy movement.
We're using the mounting points for the legs as there were threaded inserts in there already so no need to drill new holes or screw into other points. Turns out Ikea use a normal thread.
Was surprisingly painless to locate a M8 threaded set of castors with rubber wheels.
Soldato
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Can't stand seeing cables, so I have zero cables visible on my setup in the living room, even cables for rear speakers are hidden.
Just don't pear over and look behind the TV unit
Once I took my AV gear apart, the stack of cables were about 3'-4' in height. You're not going to get neatly around the back without seeing them.
Guess if you have a soundbar, single HDMI cable yeah but they're crap.
I have a soundbar for the desktop PC and it's excellent, harder to hide cables for the PC, unfortunately, but I do try.
5.1 setup (currently) for the living room, having the advantage of routing cables when it was bare brick whilst doing the house up help.
You wont see a single cable
Soldato
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spiral wrap is the best method to actually tidying cables, as opposed to hiding them . It takes a bit of skill and there are a few tricks to make it work, but a properly wrapped system looks really neat. The problems like when the wires are too short and having to split out etc is not a problem when you know how to deal with it. The only issue with it is once you do it you can't really adjust it. It's a semi permanent install kind of thing.
Used Spiral Wrap in the home office on the quest of making the cables from the monitor down to the PC a bit more presentable. It's not bad once you get going, and looks a lot better imo.
Velcro cable ties
One of my best little purchases lately. Use them to bunch a load of cables together, tie them to other loops, loosen them off to thread additional cables through later, etc. Not a cable in sight with my once messy setup (tv, ps4, Wii, 5.1 wired surround, sky box, broadband hub, 2x led light strips, phone line, roomba vac).
One of my best little purchases lately. Use them to bunch a load of cables together, tie them to other loops, loosen them off to thread additional cables through later, etc. Not a cable in sight with my once messy setup (tv, ps4, Wii, 5.1 wired surround, sky box, broadband hub, 2x led light strips, phone line, roomba vac).
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Soldato
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Smoked glass fronted Besta unit with a 3" gap from the wall. All cables shoved down the gap.
All the leads from the TV to the Besta unit are enclosed within a piece of 50mm semi-circular trunking that matches the rear wall so it blends in.
Make use of copious amounts of box trunking from Screwfix to route all other cables around the living room.
All the leads from the TV to the Besta unit are enclosed within a piece of 50mm semi-circular trunking that matches the rear wall so it blends in.
Make use of copious amounts of box trunking from Screwfix to route all other cables around the living room.