AV/TV/Cabling etc advice

[SoliD]

I've just moved into a new place, and I'm wanting to get the set up as right as I can for the house with minimal adjustment to the walls/floor/carpets, as the house doesn't need any work doing.

The house is a 3 floor town house, laid out as follows:
Front Rear
Ground Garage Kitchen
First Lounge Study
Second 2nd Bed Master

I currently have the phone line in the kitchen and have dual coax sky cables run to kitchen, Lounge and Master Bedroom

My current set up in the lounge is as follows:

TV - Panasonic Viera 42"
Amp - Onkyo 605
Speakers - Jamo AC102.5 - 5.1
Sky HD
PS3 for Bluray
HTPC
Van Damme Blue speaker cable all round


Now not a bad set up, but definitely one on a budget that has certainly done a good job over the past few years.

Ideally I would like to upgrade the speakers and TV, as the Amp does me just fine for now, and would be looking at something around 50" which seems to favour the current Sony W8 on offer at John Lewis with Soundbar.

I've also spotted these speakers

http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/product/5537/audica-cx-system-3-5-1-speaker-package/

Which do look pretty damn good, and would fit in well with my lounge, and look to get some good reviews for the original price, so at that discount seem like a really good buy. They don't have the out and out power of some systems, but look to provide enough for what I'm after. As you can do 0% finance I'm contemplating getting these ordered asap so I can get them plumbed into the house!

I've also started looking at plumbing network/AV around the house, and I'm thinking about running cat6 cable from the kitchen to the study and then from the study to both the lounge and master bedroom, would I need two cables to run hdmi over cat6? I'm fairly new to this area so still figuring it out. I could then use either Magic Eye or my phone/ipad to control the sky box, as this would be what I would mostly be watching in other rooms.

Thanks in advance for your help. If you feel you need some more information to better guide me please let me know.

SoliD

 

[lucid]

Thanks for all the detail. It's good to get a post that lays everything out upfront. The only thing that's really missing though is what you're actually asking.

Apart from the advice that any HDMI over Cat cable solution needs to be kept separate from the data network, what is it you think you need help with on the cabling?

 

[SoliD]

Thanks for all the detail. It's good to get a post that lays everything out upfront. The only thing that's really missing though is what you're actually asking.

Apart from the advice that any HDMI over Cat cable solution needs to be kept separate from the data network, what is it you think you need help with on the cabling?

To be honest that is it, just wanted to make sure I needed seperate lines for the HDMI stuff as wasn't entirely sure.

Also if you have any advice on alternative TV/Speakers or any other general advice from what I'm reading to sort of future proof myself would be appreciated.

 

[lucid]

Well, from the sound of it you're not putting any cables in-wall because you don't want the disruption. So if and when standards change you'll just swap out cables as required.

Cat6 should be good for the next 5-7 years. Let's face it, Cat5e is up to Gigabit for the sort of runs and distances used in a domestic property. But Cat6 is getting cheaper, so why not.

It's worth checking the satellite cable to make sure it's of reasonable grade and there's no water ingress now rather than fixing something when all the gear is in place. Twin WF100 is the best stuff to use without going bonkers. For shorter runs (>10m) Sky will run WF63 which is the thinner twin coax.

Ditto above with TV coax. Even though Sky is your main TV source, there are times in particularly bad weather when the dish signal craps out. Heavy rain will mess up the signal. Ice on the dish mesh too. It's nice to have a backup, even if there's not the range of channels. TV coax is single run WF100.

I suppose the only other consideration is how many devices need a network connection. A couple of network cables down and then a small Gigabit switch should take care of all your needs though I would have thought.

 

[SoliD]

Well, from the sound of it you're not putting any cables in-wall because you don't want the disruption. So if and when standards change you'll just swap out cables as required.

Cat6 should be good for the next 5-7 years. Let's face it, Cat5e is up to Gigabit for the sort of runs and distances used in a domestic property. But Cat6 is getting cheaper, so why not.

It's worth checking the satellite cable to make sure it's of reasonable grade and there's no water ingress now rather than fixing something when all the gear is in place. Twin WF100 is the best stuff to use without going bonkers. For shorter runs (>10m) Sky will run WF63 which is the thinner twin coax.

Ditto above with TV coax. Even though Sky is your main TV source, there are times in particularly bad weather when the dish signal craps out. Heavy rain will mess up the signal. Ice on the dish mesh too. It's nice to have a backup, even if there's not the range of channels. TV coax is single run WF100.

I suppose the only other consideration is how many devices need a network connection. A couple of network cables down and then a small Gigabit switch should take care of all your needs though I would have thought.

True, good to hear on the cabling, will get Cat6 in as at the end of the day it's not massively expensive. Satellite cable has only just been routed in so is all brand new (by sky so will be cheaper stuff) I have some existing coax boxes in some of the rooms, not used them yet to test them out, but will be able to use other material in worst case scenario if the Sky goes out, I don't think in the past 3 years, I've ever had an issue with sky in this area for longer than 5 minutes.

I'll probably just cable up for the initial install, then if I require a more resilient switch in future will upgrade it.

Just on the speakers, presume they look ok in specs, and for the money the Sony seems to be a good buy, although may not be getting just yet due to money coming out of my ears buying various stuff for the house.

 

[SoliD]

Went for the Audica CX-3 and stands for the rear speakers, they dropped another £100 from when I initially looked, seem a great buy for £500 and then £85 for the speaker stands.

Had to go pick them up from my old house where they were delivered to, was a bit of a tight squeeze!

Unboxed them today, absoutely fantasticly packaged, real attention to detail. Putting the speaker stands together wasn't the easiest job by myself, but got them together in the end.

Got some of my routing sorted but need a huge amount of trunking, thinking of getting some big white trunking for behind the TV at the front of the room and then the decorative trunking for where the laminate flooring meets the skirting board. Still quite a bit of a mess and excess cable, but will cut these all down once I get it all concealed.

Does anyone have suggestions for good quality trunking that will take a 2x Van Damme (2x2.5mm) and subwoofer cable for the skirting board, and then hdmi, van damme and satellite behind the telly/

I've currently got my Sub right behind my Sofa, but will have to play around with location to decide where it sounds best.

 

[SoliD]

Tidied up all my cabling by using d-line trunking and plug box over the weekend, much tidier and happier with my setup.

Have moved my sub slightly, which has increased its potency I feel! Just need to get a bigger TV now. Few bits of cable tidying to do now, but it's almost there!

Before Pictures

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_112140_zpsnl6zv3s7.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_112202_zpsz32a3d39.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_112154_zps4ft0ayqv.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141025_123107_zpshcvxtsm6.jpg

After Pictures

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_192050_zpsktu8fzd3.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_192026_zpsedvhazm3.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g...e Uploads/IMG_20141108_192009_zpsvbynghph.jpg

 

[SoliD]

Bit of a bump on this, I'm looking to get a new router as my Sky one isn't great, and looking to cover myself with HDMI streaming if possible over Wi Fi, has anyone got any advice, as I seriously can't be arsed to do the whole wire the house thing. So looking to get a good quality router and possibly some wi fi hdmi broadcasters.

Also looking at getting rid of my HTPC, as I would like to move the PC to my office and getting an Amazon Fire TV in to run Kodi, which looks to be fine over wifi.