Media distribution from central location

rampantbunny

Hi all.. electrician is soon to start work on my house and I've neglected some details.
I want to centralize my media equipment in attic but not sure how to go about it.
Current wiring plan is to run four CAT6 to the TV location, and four WF100. I don't mind putting extra cable in even if it is never used.

A basic first question; how do I route sound from my TV to my ceiling speakers (I don't want to distribute the sound around the house if that simplifies it any).

What I 'think': run the TV sound output to a wall plate behind TV. From wall plate wire to attic, through an amp, and then back down to my ceiling speakers. Is this OK? What sort of connection/cabling would I need (no TV bought yet) from TV to attic?

Also, if I may have a media PC and others in attic. The audio out from these can go to the amp and to speakers as above but how is the video from all these devices distributed? Is this the job of an audio video receiver, and will this do the job of an amp also?

Finally, depending on the cable/connections from/to the TV, can you get a single wall plate to suit.

Luck100

An AVR (audio video receiver) does audio/video switching, decoding, and also functions as an audio amp. Everything in your system (cable/satellite box, bluray player, TV, speakers, etc) needs to be wired up to the AVR which means you're making things very complicated by putting the AVR in the attic. You'll need to run more cables to the attic (HDMI for digital audio/video, speaker wire for amplified audio to the speakers, and possibly analog line-level audio). And you'll need something to relay infrared from the AVR remote control up to the attic, so you can actually use it! Even then, you won't be able to see the display on the AVR (which shows you volume level, which source is active, is it on/off, etc).


It's way simpler to have the AVR with the TV and cable/satellite box as everything can be hooked together directly and no issues with using the remote. With the right stand they will all fit together nicely and the wiring can be (mostly) hidden. You can still have the speaker wires for your in-ceiling speakers run to a wall plate with banana plugs and then just plug the amplified audio outputs of the receiver into that wall plate.

akaSol

On a modern AVR the amp can be controlled via network (no need for an IR blaster) - the TV can be connected to the amp via cat 6 (with an hdmi adaptor) the sound can pass back through the hdmi for local content.
Wireing surround sound to ceiling speakers can lead to noise imbalance, ideally the front three should be placed about the TV for fuller audio.
If it's only stereo you're looking and just ceiling speakers a Sonos amp with a parallel speaker switch would be more effective.
But as Luck 100 said it's far more convenient putting the hardware locally and hiding the cabels and easier to fix if something stops working.

>Sol

rampantbunny

Thanks for the responses folks.

The TV location/space won't change, therefore centrally locating equipment in the attic (just overhead) is where I'm at.
There will be surround sound with the front speakers at the TV area, but the rears will be ceiling mounted - it is not the optimum, but it's good enough.

OK. Back to the attic is possible even if not what's preferred.


Luck - can you clarify...you said that it won't be possible to see the display on the AVR therefore I won't know what source is selected. Will the AVR not display this on the TV at all?

Follow up question for you Sol; can you explain what you mean by "the sound can pass back through the hdmi for local content. "


And finally; what cables should I run in addition to the 4 x CAT6 and 4 x WF100 coax?

akaSol

rampantbunny wrote: »

Thanks for the responses folks.

The TV location/space won't change, therefore centrally locating equipment in the attic (just overhead) is where I'm at.
There will be surround sound with the front speakers at the TV area, but the rears will be ceiling mounted - it is not the optimum, but it's good enough.

OK. Back to the attic is possible even if not what's preferred.


Luck - can you clarify...you said that it won't be possible to see the display on the AVR therefore I won't know what source is selected. Will the AVR not display this on the TV at all?

Follow up question for you Sol; can you explain what you mean by "the sound can pass back through the hdmi for local content. "


And finally; what cables should I run in addition to the 4 x CAT6 and 4 x WF100 coax?

You are still going to need a TV speaker for center channel or all vocals will be over your head when people speak - be warned.
The wf / coaxial is useless unless you are going to have the sat boxes / upc / sky boxes in the same room. The only reason for one of them is for Saiorview.
You need 1 cat6/7 for each Hdmi local source : PlayStation 4/ blueray player etc and one for the back of the TV.
Hdmi audio can back track the audio from say Netflix back to the av amp ( it's called ARC)

Modern AVR have onscreen displays above a price point. But using a tablet phone you it will show you what's on.

The surround needs speaker cable to each speaker point and one additional cable to wire the sub

>Sol

rampantbunny

akaSol wrote: »

You are still going to need a TV speaker for center channel or all vocals will be over your head when people speak - be warned.

rampantbunny wrote: »

Thanks for the responses folks.
There will be surround sound with the front speakers at the TV area, but the rears will be ceiling mounted - it is not the optimum, but it's good enough.

When I say at the TV area, I mean mounted where the TV is, not on the ceiling i.e. rear speakers only on ceiling.

akaSol wrote: »

The wf / coaxial is useless unless you are going to have the sat boxes / upc / sky boxes in the same room. The only reason for one of them is for Saiorview.

I understand Sol, but not having the cables could mean inflexibility later. I don't mind having extra cable even if some are never used. Technically, I'm sure I could get rid of all cables except for maybe 2 CAT6 and get all video (regardless of source onto those cables), but again, no flexibility for addition of local equipment.

Would you say, that a run of HDMI to/from attic is not essential?

akaSol

rampantbunny wrote: »

When I say at the TV area, I mean mounted where the TV is, not on the ceiling i.e. rear speakers only on ceiling.



I understand Sol, but not having the cables could mean inflexibility later. I don't mind having extra cable even if some are never used. Technically, I'm sure I could get rid of all cables except for maybe 2 CAT6 and get all video (regardless of source onto those cables), but again, no flexibility for addition of local equipment.

Would you say, that a run of HDMI to/from attic is not essential?

Sorry I misread the speakers.
Long run long cables, when they break, are pain in the rear end to fish them out. A cat converter is easier ( some what more expensive) which leaves only a short 1m/0.5m cable to replace.
You will need a network cable for the TV + player /console for data ( so minimum 4)
Just thinking one of the WF cables would be better suited for the sub connection.

>Sol

rampantbunny

Good idea re. coax for sub..but does the sub need to be at TV location?
Again, space around TV is finite..I was considering locating it behind couch.

akaSol

rampantbunny wrote: »

Good idea re. coax for sub..but does the sub need to be at TV location?
Again, space around TV is finite..I was considering locating it behind couch.

Not if you use Link the wire the sub to the socket. There are wireless subs but again not exactly cheap.

>Sol