Mounting screens on walls and their cables

Hi All,

I've had a few people come to me recently. They've put the screen up on the wall, put all the wires in to the wall and plastered over them. Fantastic idea!

Problem is, and why they've come to me, is that they've bought something new and want to add this to the system. But they don't want to add any more wires as it means taking down the wall. There's no easy solution to this as you do need extra cabling, even just power.

So, if you're considering this, here's my tips.

1. Use trunking of some sort. Put a tube in the wall rather than the leads. This allows you to remove and add extra cables when you need to. Try B&Q.

2. Put two of them in! One for signal lines, and another at a small distance away for power. This helps reduce coupling between the them, and ultimately helps picture quality.

3. Try to mount the screen's bracket on to the studs in the wall, not the drywall. Studs are much stronger. If in doubt, get someone in the trade to do it for you.

4. The difference in following these tips when your putting the screen on the wall is measured in pounds, later it's in hundreds of pounds. Try to be flexible.

All the best,

Dr John Sim.

PS - Can anyone add some more tips?

 

Hi,I have not yet got my plasma, but if I do wall mount it, I wont channel into the wall for a month or so after Ive finished installing it and setting it up.

Yes I wll have to take it all down again to plaster it, but at least Im happy that its all operational.....

No more changes required before I do the drastic deed. But Ishall follow the oher tips, esp the trunking


Adrian

 

I put all my cables down the cavity and left a piece of string in as well so i can add extra cables if needed.

 

I thought long and hard about this and also chose not to channel into the wall. What I have done is hidden the wires in pipes. You can buy decorative finished clothes rails (for the inside of wardrobes) in B&Q. I bought a couple of lengths of brushed steel tubing and removed a quarter of the tube along its entire length so i can slot the wires in the back. These are then bracketed to the wall under the wall mounted Plasma at equal distances. If anything they look like they could be the legs of a stand but they are not.

 

I've asked this in another thread with no reply, but this one seems more relevant so I'll ask again -

What do you do with the wires at the point where they enter/exit the wall? Just cut a hole and poke them through? Use wallplates with the relevant connections so you can unplug things easier? Second option is more expensive and complex, but it makes things easier to move about. However, an extra 2 connections on each signal path can't do anything but make it worse, although probably unnoticable with suitable quality connections soldered on.

Andrew

 

HI,

I have not done this yet, but my thoughts on the subject have been:

1, Use trunking or pipe in the wall. plastered up etc. If you use trunking, you can secure the trunking in the wall with pollyfiller or soemthing. If you use the 'open style trunking', youcan then put in situ the cables, before you place & secure the 'fourthside'. and then pollyfiller/plaster this in.

2. Use as large as trunking as possible. It would then be possible (probably) to feed througn phonos and S-video style connections. Obviously tou will need to have a sufficient size hole for youto feed these cables in/out, but they will be out of view, behind the screen or AV rack.

Hope this heps

Adrian

 

My point is to use a large bore tube to route your cables in. That way, you can pass the cables directly from your source up to the screen, without the need for connection plates etc.

You could use connection plates, but it's more complex, and how many cables should you embed in the wall and what type? Better to have a tube where you can add whatever is required whenever (as Shakira would say Whenever, Wherever...).

AV Freak:
Excellent idea.

All the best,

Dr John Sim.

 

I took a slightly different route.

I decided that there was little point in adding additional sources if they wouldn't handle an RGB or Component interface.

The only acception to this might be a PC, but my wife is unlikely to let that happen, it is confined to the study...

Therefore, I use John's component box, never have to change the input on the plasma, and I have run a high quality component cable in the wall.

If (when ) I upgrade my amp, I will make component switching a necessity. Until then everything is RGB loopthrough:

PS2 and NTL cable into the Tivo into the Sony DVD into the RGB -> Component box

It works really well!

 

What do you do with the wires at the point where they enter/exit the wall? Just cut a hole and poke them through? Use wallplates with the relevant connections so you can unplug things easier?

I fitted a short section of "brush" draught excluder at the top and bottom of the hole, you know the stuff you get from B&Q for the bottom of doors. It worked perfectly

 

I used a electrical blanking plate and back box , I drilled a hole in the blanking plate just big enough for my leads to pass through , it finishes it off nicely.

 

installer09, I was thinking the same thing, although I would suggest (if you haven't done it), you use a rubber grommit round the hole to protect the cables from the edge of the plastic. Of course they only come in some standard sizes so it may be too late if your hole is too big already...

Cheers, Andrew

 

The hole cutter i used made a very clean hole with no sharp edges so the cables being damaged was not a problem, the back boxes i used are plasterboard boxes which are also plastic.