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thatitalian's house build thread - PICS (and loving the new forum!)

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thatitalian:
Well, as you may or may not know I have been quite busy recently.

My partner and I are moving into our new home a making a few (by that I mean a lot) of changes.

We are starting with a complete refurb and restoration of a Victorian house. There is a host of original features that we are trying to restore as well as adding a hint of a modern touch to the place.

First of all is the living room, which is a part I need advice on.

I am planning on having 5.1 surround sound (Acoustic Energy Neo's) in there. The drawing below outlines where everything will go.



The TV point is the hub of the whole thing. It will house the amp, blu-ray, xbox, server and centre speaker.

I plan on running speaker cable under the floor boards and having wall plates at each speaker/sub point so that speakers can be connected to the wall plates. At the TV point there will be a 5.1 plate that will hook up to the amp.

Now, is it a good idea to use wall plates? I have heard mixed reviews. TBH I want the neatness. Which wall plate is better, banana plug or binding post?

I also plan on getting Virgin media. Ideally I would like to install a wall plate at the TV point for that also. Is this a good idea?

Sky+ was at the house before and as a result the wires are still there. I would like to keep them just in case and plan on using a wall plate for this too.

Ideally I would like to use one wall plate for Virgin, Sky and for the digital aerial. Is this possible? Effectively I want to have one TV point.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Just so you know what the house looked like, some photos are attached. You can see where the 80's came into play and all the original skirting, etc was replaced with 50mm planks!

Dexter:
In relation to the speaker posts, you can use either. Just make sure that they're gold plated. More important is that you use decent speaker wire both in-wall and from posts to speaker. You'd be surprised at how many people use cheap wire in-wall and then buy a couple of meters of expensive cable from socket to speaker, which defeats the purpose.

I'm currently putting all of my cabling in-wall for my own home cinema, including hdmi and power cabling. Pain in the arse but will be well worth the effort.

orion:
There is nothing wrong with using wall plates, they make life easier when you can use them. Looking at your diagram though, I do have to say that the speaker placement in relation to the TV, doesn't look all that great. If I had to install a system in that room, I would recommend placing an LCD or plasma above the fireplace, and then using in ceiling speakers so you can place them more appropriately in relation to the position of the TV and the room layout. Of course I say this without an inkling as to what your budget is, or what challenges there are for you in that house for running cable.

saint:
I had the same concern. Either you won't be centered on your TV visually, or you won't be centered between your speakers audibly. I believe with a good receiver you can tweak it to adjust for the off-center placement, but I'm not an audiophile...

orion:
Actually, if possible I think that this would be a better layout for the room.

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