Wiring

Wiring is a big freaking mess when dealing with modern component and AV systems.

Our Onkyo amp does switching, so all you have to run is a HDMI cable. I ran extra cables between the TV and amp, including a component bundle (RGB +LR audio for five total RCAs) and a few extra RCA cables for SD video and audio.

The DVD player was pretty easy. We only have an old Sony DVD player, so it has RCA for video and anlog audio, as well as optical for digital audio. That runs directly to the amp.

Wiring the DVR was not bad either. It had HDMI out, so that runs to the amp. Optical for digital audio also runs to the amp. The Onkyo receiver cannot send digital audio to zone 2 (kitchen/deck) so we also ran RCAs for analog audio to the amp.

The Wii connection was also quite easy to put in. Just run three RCAs for video and audio to the amp.

We recently go a slingbox AV, so I ran analog video and audio from the DVR to the slingbox. I actually had to get some RCA splitters so the audio could run to both the slingbox and the analog amp input (for zone 2 in the kitchen or deck). The slingbox takes S video inputs as well, so I ran that from the Tivo too.

The Wii gave us trouble using our wireless (dropping out a lot) so I go a 10/100 wired USB adapter for it. No troubles. With so many internet boxes (Tivo, Slingbox, Wii) we also had to add a ethernet switch.

We wanted speakers on the deck and in the Kitchen, so we also had to get a speaker switch box.

So the stack of equipment includes (from the bottom):

• Sony DVD player
  
• Onkyo amp
  
• Tivo HD (was SA 8300 HD PVR)
  
• Left side:
  
• Speaker switch box
  
• Slingbox AV
  
• Linksys 10/100 Switch
  
• Right Side:
  
• Wii
• Leapfrog with wireless keyboard
  

Instead of running exposed wires, we spent a long time running cables in our crawl space and attic. I also had to put in a new power outlet for all the components. The wiring into the wall includes:

• HDMI cable (35 foot to TV, online for ~$75)
  
• 7 speaker wires (R, L, Center, Sur L&R, Back L&R)
  
• 1 RCA for sub
  
• 2 Coaxial for cable (1 unused)
  
• 1 Ethernet
  
• 2 speaker wires for deck
  
• 2 speaker wires for kitchen
  
• 2 RCA for audio from TV to amp (hooked in, never used)
  
• 2 RCA for backup video from amp to TV (hooked in, only used for amp setup)
  
• 5 RCA for HD to TV (RGB+RL, never used, not hooked up now)

For a grand total of 25 wires going into a little 2 inch hole in the wall. Some go up into the attic, some go down into the basement. After spending a few weekends last year doing this project with my wife, I am proud that we are not divorced after completing this task. It looks very nice now, IMHO and it is a nice project to stand back and look at. If you pay someone to install your wires in the wall, whatever you pay is insufficient. This is a terrible job to have to do.

We ran the amp-tv cables down to the crawl space and up the wall to the alcove over the fireplace. Luckily, the original room wiring showed me where to run wires near the fireplace. We bought a stiff fiberglass rod for poking and pulling wires, this helped a lot. The flexible snake was useless. We devised a system where we would run a nylon rope up with a knot. One person would tie a cable onto the rope then the other would pull the rope up. We did this repeatedly as needed and left the ropes in place in case we ever needed to pull more cable.

Speaker wires and Cat 5 Ethernet went up into the attic area. Some speaker wires (rear surround, sub) went into the craw space along with the coax for cable. Once the holes in the framing were cut and the rope was run, running the cable was easy. Figuring out where to cut the holes in the floor and wall was the scary part. Luckily, we did not have any disasters (yet). Wires run into the wall in a nice fashion and I put a big plate on. You could put pro plates on, but with 25 connections it would take a lot of plates. As it is now, 25 wires go through a plate into the wall. Power is nearby as well.

Note, exterior walls are difficult to deal with. They have insulation, so we avoided using them completely. This made running a rear surround wire difficult in one case.

Here is an old picture of the wiring from the side:



Update 12/31/07: We decided to try and run Cat5 from the switch to the bedroom through the crawlspace, so we had to pull a cable up from the crawl space. That actually went very well, but my splicing of the existing cat5 cable was not so good...