[aggallim]

Ok so I bought a house in the middle of the credit crunch, so what! I may be in negative equity already but you can beat a bit of retail therapy.

I moved in at the beginning of August and swiftly decided I wanted the TV on the wall. The main reason for this is that my lounge has two doors/walkways and I didn’t want to traipse cable along the floor or under a mat. A dramatic approach to solve a small thing I know but then I thought ‘proper job!’.

I have to admit this forum gave me some great inspiration and ideas. And so it began. I already had a big 40” TV and didn’t want to get another just yet so planned on just upgrading the speakers. Here’s the kit:

TV: Samsung 40” LCD LE40N73BD
AMP: Denon AVR-3808
Speaker: KEF KHT2005.3
Other: Xbox360, Xbox (media center) and Sky+

Here’s how it started. I didn’t know what the walls were like so I did a little test patch:

My existing kit (with old speakers), on the wrong side of the room:

Thankfully my dad’s an installation engineer and so has plenty o’ tools I could borrow, one of them being a meaty chaser. I did intend on using conduit in the walls (probably 16x16mm for the rear channels) however when I started chasing it became apparent I wasn’t going to be able to fit it in on top of the brick. My dad thought I’d be able to chase some more of the brick out but when I tried it just wasn’t going to happen.

After what was probably half a day’s work I’d finished the channels. Of course I carefully planned where all the speakers were going to go before hand . Those of you with a bit of nous will notice a fundamental issue with my cable routing. I’ll give you a hint: I intended on having the center speaker directly below the TV. From left to right:

Did you spot it? I’d run the channel from the TV point down to the floor directly instead of putting it to one side.
Even after I’d finished I hadn’t realised either, it wasn’t till the day before the plasterer was coming did I think about it, how stoopid am I!

Anyhow… I decided if I was going to get some nice new speakers I’d get some half decent cable to put into the wall. I got Chord Carnival Classic for the rears for about £3.30 a meter and Carnival silver screen for the center and fronts for £5.10. The nice people at Cables and accessories for Hi-Fi and AV - divinecables.co.uk price matched the cables for me (and updated their website within an hour) so thanks to them! In total the cables came to £170 with banana plugs.

I wasn’t going to pay for termination as I’m a whizz with a soldering iron plus I got all the heat shrink to make it look as good as a professionals work. Here’s my first one and after an evenings work the whole lot terminated:

So the next step was to get the TV mount and stick the TV on the wall. I didn’t really have a clue what was best mount to use, I just knew I wanted to have the TV flush to the wall and didn’t want to spend a fortune on a uber swish one. After looking about I decided on an imount. I got one off ebay for £18. I cant tell you how pleased I am with it, its super rigid and comes with all the mounting bolts too (which I didn’t expect).
LCD TV Wall Bracket : Multi Monitor Desktop Mount : Flatscreen TV Stand : Imount.co.uk

Again I went to the dad for tools and borrowed his resin gun. I got some M8 bolts from B&Q and drilled the holes directly into the brick. Filled the holes half way with resin and then poked in the bolts. I put the mount on straight after putting the bolts in to make sure they were all in the right place. An hr or so later after it had dried and they were never coming out!
Of course I levelled the mount up and everything before hand but that goes without saying.

That evening I put the TV on the wall to see what it looked like….. brilliant!

So I’m about a day away from a week off work and 3 or 4 days off the plasterer coming. I needed to get all the cables in ready for him coming this week, today in fact! I started with rear cables, they went in ok but I was having trouble getting the cleats to hold the cable in the dodgy mortar, I persevered.

This is the point where I realised, oh no! I haven’t got the speakers and I haven’t thought about where the center is going to be mounted. As panic set in I thought the best thing to do was try and get hold of some speakers so I could make sure they cables and mounts were all ready. One call to Sevenoaks and no luck, best they could do was delivery in 4 days, next call was to Richer Sounds, yes! They had 1 set of 2005.3’s left and I was deteremined to have them. Sods law they were already reserved for someother guy . Luckily they had a set on display so I went down in the hope I could remember what the mounting bracket was like so I could drill the holes ready. The uber nice man at Sheffield Richer Sounds (Richard the manager) then proceeded to a) take my hard earned for an ordered set and b) lend me a KEF egg to take home and measure up! I can’t thank him enough, he helped dig myself out of a hole! I even took some pictures in store so I could make some form of template when I got home. I know some people might be interested to see the bracket also as I searched all over the net!

So the day came where I needed to run the cables. I’d spent the week previous to this purchasing every type of cable under the sun for the TV to AMP run, here’s what I ran:
HDMI
Scart
S-Video
VGA
Kettle Lead
Optical
Ethernet (I fancy a series 7 or 8 Samsung next)
RF cable (satellite or aerial cable)

And this is what It looked like in a big fat loom:

My cleats weren’t holding fast in the crappy mortar so I needed to come up with a method of holding them down. After searching through the junk in the shed (both left by the previous owner) I found an aluminium carpet tred, you know the one which you would use in the door ways between carpeted rooms. I cut it into 3 or 4 inch lengths to make miniature battons, which I screwed with rawl plugs into the mortar, this held them all very firm

I used the egg from richer sounds to make a template which I could use to drill the speaker mounts. I used some medium weight use rawl plugs and screws with small heads for the mounts, these are solid as a rock. The only one I had issues with of course is the one directly below the TV where all the cables run. I managed to drill holes in between the cables and glued in the plugs, the screws are just sitting out ready for the plaster to go round them, wasn’t sure the plasterer would be ok with that?

To finish where the speakers were exiting I got a brushed steel letter box exit from Screwfix:
Brush Letter Plates Silver Effect 335 x 75mm - Screwfix.com, Where the Trade Buys

Here’s it all finished and waiting for the plasterer, you can see the center speaker screws just poking out.

[aggallim]

So the plasterer is here as I type. Oh my god! I didn’t realise how messy plastering is, I should have taped up my cables some more, oh well. Here’s some piccys now the bonding is on:

And my center mounts look to be holding up:

Left front exit:

I’ll post again probably tomorrow when I’ve stopped crying at the mess!

[albriscoe]

Not wanting to sound cynical here but I hope he gets a better finish for you than the pics are showing. Also their really shouldn`t have been a lot of mess, unless you have a messy plasterer. They do seem to think they can come into your home and destroy it though don`t they

Also are you sure that the plaster won`t eat into the cables after a while, I`d have covered with trunking first to protect them. Its only a few pence per 2 mtr length as well.

Sorry to be a downer mate

[Dr Force]

Originally Posted by albriscoe

Not wanting to sound cynical here but I hope he gets a better finish for you than the pics are showing. Also their really shouldn`t have been a lot of mess, unless you have a messy plasterer. They do seem to think they can come into your home and destroy it though don`t they

Also are you sure that the plaster won`t eat into the cables after a while, I`d have covered with trunking first to protect them. Its only a few pence per 2 mtr length as well.

Sorry to be a downer mate

I was actually thinking the same thing Al.

seems to be lacking a smooth finish at the moment, but nothing a bit of super smooth sanding could not sort out.

I agree entirely with the comments about the cables, I would have definately put them through conduit or trunking. For the sake of cutting in a deeper channel it would have given a lifetime's worth of protection for the cable.

Also gives them all a bit of mechanical protection as it is easy to forget where all the cables are once its been painted.

Aslong as the OP is happy with it then that's great, but always good to pass on our own exerience

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by Dr Force

I was actually thinking the same thing Al.

seems to be lacking a smooth finish at the moment, but nothing a bit of super smooth sanding could not sort out.

I agree entirely with the comments about the cables, I would have definately put them through conduit or trunking. For the sake of cutting in a deeper channel it would have given a lifetime's worth of protection for the cable.

Also gives them all a bit of mechanical protection as it is easy to forget where all the cables are once its been painted.

Aslong as the OP is happy with it then that's great, but always good to pass on our own exerience

Hi appreciate the comments. I probably wasnt clear but that was just the bonding, he's putting the finish on and polishing up as I type . More piccys to follow.

I would have like to have put the cables in conduit but there was no way I could have got the channel deeper with the plaster and brick as they are. I decided that in 4/5 years time if it does go wrong i can fix it or i wont be in this house (dont fancy 1hr commute for 5 years )

[daniel_owen_uk]

No having it in conduit stops you pulling any other cables through though

Looking forward to seeing the finished article mind.

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by daniel_owen_uk

Not having it in conduit stops you pulling any other cables through though

Looking forward to seeing the finished article mind.

I know exactly what you mean. So i flooded it with every connector i could think of! My Amp scales everything to HDMI anyhow so in theory I should only need that for now. Sods law i'll have forgotten something

[aggallim]

Right so the plasterer has finished. He told me i could play/paint it in about 4 days. I'll probably leave it for a few days before making that decision.

Not sure you can see the finish or not on this next photo:

The plaster is pretty shallow but what do people think is a good time to leave it?

Meanwhile I'm dying to get my speaker out of the box!

[Dr Force]

Originally Posted by aggallim

Hi appreciate the comments. I probably wasnt clear but that was just the bonding, he's putting the finish on and polishing up as I type . More piccys to follow.

I would have like to have put the cables in conduit but there was no way I could have got the channel deeper with the plaster and brick as they are. I decided that in 4/5 years time if it does go wrong i can fix it or i wont be in this house (dont fancy 1hr commute for 5 years )

Hi aggallim.

Thanks for the update. The plastering is alot clearer now, I think we all thought that was the finish. Anyway, it looks alot better

If your plans are not long term then there will not be any problems, I am sure.

Keep updating us and thanks for sharing

Dave

[albriscoe]

Thank god for that

[aggallim]

So finally the plaster dried but i couldn't wait so i put the tv and speakers up! I just need to get some longer screws for the center mount, at the min its just sat nicely on my stand.

getting a sander for christmas so going to wait till after that to destroy the room again.

I'm please with the speakers, they sound great. The sub is way better than my gale storm 10 I had before.

[akewt]

looks good mate. you couldnt wait to put it all up eh? maybe give the walls a bit of a sponge down eh??!!

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by akewt

looks good mate. you couldnt wait to put it all up eh? maybe give the walls a bit of a sponge down eh??!!

nope, couldn't wait. Plaster was a bit slap dash with the PVA bonding so it wont just sponge off. I have to sand the whole thing down! arrrghh

[watpoae]

thanks for sharing mate. Im thinking and hoping of doing the same sort of thing with the cables tucked away in the walls and want to do plenty of research on how it works etc. You've given me tons of help, along with the other posters in this thread. Make sure you put some pics up when its fully completed. It will look the nuts!

[nacmacfeegle]

"I have to sand the whole thing down! arrrghh"

I'd get a couple of those spongy sanding blocks from the usual DIY outlets, and use them wet. It will keep what us Scots call 'The Stoor' down to manageable level.

In my experience if you put power tools anywhere near plaster you will spend more time cleaning up than actually doing the job.

Progress looks great.

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by nacmacfeegle

"I have to sand the whole thing down! arrrghh"

I'd get a couple of those spongy sanding blocks from the usual DIY outlets, and use them wet. It will keep what us Scots call 'The Stoor' down to manageable level.

In my experience if you put power tools anywhere near plaster you will spend more time cleaning up than actually doing the job.

Progress looks great.

you mean like these:
Sanding Blocks for Hand Sanding

you might be right. i just love power tools

[nacmacfeegle]

"you mean like these:
Sanding Blocks for Hand Sanding

you might be right. i just love power tools "

Those are the ones, I've used the green ones from Oakley, they do gunge up, but just soak and squeeze and they are good to go again.

I agree on the power tools bit too...I'm never happier than when I'm chasing the bairns around the garden with my rip saw

[aggallim]

woohoo, got a sander for christmas, week off work and a willing and able SWIMBO to help, should make some progress this week!

[av addict]

looking forward to some more pictures then after you have finished sanding down those walls

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by nacmacfeegle

"
In my experience if you put power tools anywhere near plaster you will spend more time cleaning up than actually doing the job.

Progress looks great.

I've got to be honest, you couldn't be any closer to the truth. Started sanding this morning (with power sander) and 5 minutes later this is what it looked like, you cant hardly see the radiator tuther side of the room!:

[aggallim]

so my aim this weekend when it started was to have at least a few coats of paint on.

Finished sanding, took best part of 5 hours but I was being thorough.

I used the sander I got for christmas, got it from screw fix:
Titan SF290E ½ Sheet Sander - Screwfix.com, Where the Trade Buys

Its great and i'd recommend it to anyone, its a great size. unfortunately the hoover adapter didnt work with the dyson so had to bosh some masking tape round it to hold it on

Once I spent another hour or so cleaning up the dust I got the mrs to help wash the walls down to get rid of all the dust, here's the proof :

here's it all finished and ready for painting in the morning. Got a mate who for some unknown reason likes painting, he's coming to help us paint tomorrow.

I'll try and get some more piccy's done after the painting.

[d3m0n]

Originally Posted by aggallim

Got a mate who for some unknown reason likes painting, he's coming to help us paint tomorrow.

Send him round mine when your finished the missus wants the hallway, stairs and landing painting in the next couple of weeks

Good job so far, keep up the good work!

[aggallim]

well. We've been painting all day, did two coats of white on the walls, two coats on the ceiling coving, two coats on the ceiling and two coats of gloss on the skirting and door frame.

we were going to paint the walls cream but when we did a tester it looked too dark. With the room not having any windows (just a walkthrough to the kitchen) we thought we'd leave it white for a while to see how we get on.

Here's us doing the painting mob handed:

I should have the TV on the wall and speakers back up tomorrow night. Will post some piccys then hopefully.

I need to get a TV stand, thinking of a black/brown one of these from IKEA:
IKEA | Storage furniture | Bookcases | LACK | Shelving unit

What do people think? I've seen a few threads on here using it horizontally as a TV stand.

[aggallim]

Almost there. I spent the evening putting the TV back on the wall and the speakers back up, even the center this time.

I'm still thinking of getting the LACK unit from Ikea, but for the time being this will do . I'm going to get a longer flat power strip so all the wires etc will be hidden nicely.

And here it is:

Crap photo angle but it shows you the rear right:

and from the other side (blurry sorry):

I was really pleased with the center in the end, its bang in the middle

In the end I quite like the white walls. Our lamp shade is cream so it tones it down a bit.

After a few months of what was harder work than I imagined I'm thankful I can kick back and watch some films and enjoy my first AV install.

[Dony]

Looks great....hope you enjoy

[DANRB]

Can I make a suggestion to anyone thinking of channeling your walls to get your rear speaker wires to the back...

Run them straight up the wall in a channel then run them behind the coving and back down to where you need them, saves a lot of extra effort.

To do it easily you will need a set of cabling rods but trust me it will save you so much work.

In saying that, your setup does look very clean.

Regards

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by DANRB

Can I make a suggestion to anyone thinking of channeling your walls to get your rear speaker wires to the back...

Run them straight up the wall in a channel then run them behind the coving and back down to where you need them, saves a lot of extra effort.

To do it easily you will need a set of cabling rods but trust me it will save you so much work.

In saying that, your setup does look very clean.

Regards

Good idea, I hadn't thought of that. I'm pleased with how its turned out but no doubt there were plenty of other ways I could have done it.

I was actually surprised how much work it required in the end, I thought it was going to be a much easier job. People shouldnt be put off by this though, you should just plan and try to be very realistic, lol.

[Lemon_Sherbert]

Nice setup, looks very neat.

Have you checked that your amp will fit into the Ikea Lack range? Only ask cos i ended up buying the Argos Minsk ones cos my amp is on the large side and didnt fit, course that doesnt matter if you are putting it on the top

[DrWise]

luvly

[aggallim]

Originally Posted by Lemon_Sherbert

Nice setup, looks very neat.

Have you checked that your amp will fit into the Ikea Lack range? Only ask cos i ended up buying the Argos Minsk ones cos my amp is on the large side and didnt fit, course that doesnt matter if you are putting it on the top

very good point. I cant find the internal dimensions so perhaps I should ask one of the members who I know has one.

Height of my amp, 17.1cm, outside height of cabinet 35cm. So i'm guessing the thickness of wood is less than 9cm (i hope)

Edit: I found this post which has the internal dimensions:
White LACK type Unit required - suggestions?

so 8cm clearance. plenty o room right??