The 'Wot no wires ?' install

DarkKnight

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.... Well not quite... There was cabling mayhem in this install.

When I started this project, there were a few things I wanted to acheive :

  • Full 5.1 surround sound AV installation with no wires showing - not even conduit
  • Minimal DIY disruption - so no dust and leaving skirting intact
  • Pre-wiring for multi room Audio, Video, Telephone, Home Automation and Gigabit Network connectivity to Node 0 (http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2&page=12)
  • No wireless option should be considered. I'm not a fan of wireless and in my existing world of DECT phones, baby monitors, bluetooth keyboard and mouse and microwave interference, I wanted to keep everything wireline
I don't have much in the way of AV kit and hope you could give me some pointers on receiver and speaker combinations. See my list of planned purchases below.

Here's what I have :

Node 0 (Understair cupboard) :
  • Netgear 384PN Broadband Router
  • Synology DS-101g+ NAS server with 500GB SATA internal disk + 500GB external USB Lacie drive... Intended to be used as a whole house Multimedia server
  • Aviosys CCTV server - Both lounges and drive have been pre-cabled with RG59 and alarm cable for camera hook up.
  • Comfort Ultra 1 - Alarm and Home Automation system
Node 1 (Main lounge - Media Hub) :
  • Pioneer 436 XDE Plasma TV with side speakers
  • Sky VTX-... Sky digibiox
  • Hi-grade DMS-3000 Media Center (MCE) PC
  • A very old Wharfdale DVD player....desperatly in need of upgrading (not shown in pics)
  • Xantech touchscreen
  • Harmony 895 Remote control
  • QED Silver Anniversary XT front speaker cables
  • QED Silver Mico rear speaker cables
  • QED Quontour MSR-SW Sub cable
  • IXOS AV interconnects
Node 2 (Main lounge - HiFi system) :
  • Audio Innovations Alto Amp & Receiver
  • Audio Innovations Alto CD Player
  • QED Interconnects
  • KEF egg speakers

Others (Various points around the house) :
  • Bedroom - Samsung 26" R74 HDTV with built in Freeview
  • Second lounge - Sony 32" KV32FQ75 Standard Def CRT TV
  • Second lounge - Netgem iPlayer+ Freeview digibox and Media Player
  • 2 x Harmony 680 remote controls
  • Various CCTV cams integrated with Node0 CCTV Server
  • Various X10 2nd generation modules integrated with Node0 Comfort and Node1 Xantech touchscreen (check out my article here : http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1685)

Planned purchases :
  • BT Vision IPTV digibox (available in Autumn)
  • Denon 4306 AV-Receiver
  • Anthony Gallo A'Diva Ti's (http://www.anthonygallo.co.uk/adiva-ti/a-diva.php) or Audica CS-2 speakers
  • MCE Vista PC with twin analogue tuner and HDMI out (no specific brand available 2007)
  • Pixelmagic HD Mediabox MB200 for bedroom HD TV, using Node0 NAS server
  • Better interconnects - Planning on replacing IXOS with Chord / QED's

This install has been in planning for over 2 years (yes, before I had bought the house!) and in total it took me 4 weeks from start to finish. I know what it's like for newbies embarking on a new DIY install so I've tried to narrate the pictures as much as I can.

We've lived in this house for just over a year and had not decorated it, so please forgive the pink and green lounge walls and the gammy carpet!

Apart from the plastering, I did all of the work myself.

I hope you like it...

My lounge layout
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The vision!
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Wall brackets installed
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Rear bracket put up
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Floorboards lifted... oh balls... they're huge! (It's the extended part of the house). Couldn't pick up the ones next to wall as they're stuck under the skirting.
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First 'fishing' hole behind the skirting
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Drill bit showing through below the floor
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Second hole drilled into floor board
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Holes lined up and string pulled through! To fish this string took 1.5 hours!
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String pulled through to opened floorboard
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All front wall 'fishing' cables installed. It took 2 days to get this far!
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...and the same for the rear wall....
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Mini tent built around each channeling point to minimise the dust
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Room sealed off with massive peices of cardboard
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Can you see any of them ?

I've posted about 40 now...

They're being hosted by Picasaweb, but because of the length of the URL, I'm re-directing via tinyurl.

I can see them fine on a fresh browser page...

Are you still experiencing problems ?
 
I still can't, may be it is my browser though,

Do you want to post an individaul pic on a post, and see if that helps?

Ricky
 
Would do but I've got about 160 pics to share!

(It's taken me ages to get this far!)

I'll see what I can do...

Try clicking refresh, because it may be something to do with the way tinyurl images are re-directed.
 
no pics
 
Pictures look fine to me ,looking good reminds me of when i did mine.
 
The problem I've had is with Google's new Picasaweb photo hosting service.

The URL to the images are too long to be recognised in <IMG> tags on this forum. The only way I could get them interpretted was via tinyurl.

I guess that for some of you the tinyurl re-direct is not working.

Could any recommend a direct linking photo service which will allow an unlimited number of hits ?

I'm thinking of using photobucket.

Imagevenue only supplies thumbnail links.
Imageshack is generally known to suck.

Could any one vouch for photobucket (or any other ?)

Thanks for your patience guys. Hopefully, everything will be up and running by this evening.

Cheers
 
really looking forward to seeing these (not working for me at present) as this is exactly the kind of thing I'll be looking to do when/if we eventually move.
 

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All of the cables - Notice the AV ones come out of the wall and all others come out of the floor

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In total I had cabled for : (unless mentioned otherwise everyhting is going to Node 0 - under the stairs)
  • Power for Plasma and isolation switch (so it can be turned off from the mains without dismounting it from the wall)
  • 1 x Low voltage Plasma back lighting
  • 5.1 sound - QED Silver Anniversary XT's
  • 3 x Sky cable for future multi room
  • 2 x Alarm cable for low voltage control - possibly for curtain control
  • 4 x CAT6 for Media Cener PC and audio / video multi-room distribution
  • 1 x CAT6 extender for work dial in
  • 1 x CAT6 for Node 2 Hifi (possibly for hookup to Squeezebox using Linux on Node 0 NAS)
  • 2 x Telephone cable
  • 10m SVGA to sofa
  • 10m USB extender to sofa
  • 10m Headphone extender to sofa
  • High power IR blinker for touchscreen control to devices which have line of sight
  • 10m twin RCA for future kitchen TV
  • 10m S-Video for future kitchen TV
  • 10m Scart for future kitchen TV
  • 10m digital optical for Media Center link to Node 2 (Audio Innovations Amp)

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I had to build an extension lead to connect the low voltage cabling. You can see it with a polarity tester dangling off the end
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Face plate added for wall cables
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High powered IR Emitter channeled in
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The plasterer's arrived!
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Ready to be painted.... I can't wait to get rid of these pink and green walls
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Thanks dude.

I did consider SkyHD but I'm not big on football and I think it's over priced for the number of HD channels you can get, at the moment.

I'll consider SkyHD in the future, but in the meantime I'm content with downloading HD content from the states and playing it back on my Media Center PC.
 
Can't wait to see this finished,keep the pics coming m8.:thumbsup:
 
First coat of paint applied
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View along side the plastered wall
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Primer applied to Plastered wall (emulsion and water mix)
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Rear wall painted
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Painting finished!
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Wall bracket installed on painted wall
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Floorboards lifted again. Although AV cables are ready all other cables need to be connected to Node 0 - Under the stairs
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Trying to organise the cabling mayhem
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Floorboards on opposite side of lounge lifted
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Cables had got stuck whilst being pulled so the new previous side had to be lifted again. Clamps used to hold up the ply boards wihlst the carpet was still down.
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Managed to fish the cables through
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