Advice Surround Sound Systems

[Edmond]

I am having an extension on the back of my house atm, which is going to create a main lounge of about 5 meters square. i want to run cables around it to speaker sockets in the wall, and i want it to be as future proof as possible

Any of you guys done/have it. What do i need as i don't want to miss anything before its all plastered

I have all the network stuff sorted, although i currently use cat5 cable, should i run cat6?

Cheers

Ed (your booby master)

 

[SheepCow]

Fibre!

 

[Edmond]

Any thoughts on this as I am getting close to running the wiring before the room gets plastered

Thx

 

[TdC]

you could run cat6 if you're really really really picky abou being future proof, but tbh I don't see consumer products running 10GB any time soon. re speakers, I would use a shielded cable just cos I'm me. you can also actually get shielded ethernet cables but they're *much* heavier and less flexible than the regular types.

 

[Edmond]

Thx Teeds, yes T said not to worry about cat6, i want to install speaker sockets around the room too, but dont know how many and where to put them. is it 6.1 now, or more??

I last did this about 10yrs ago, so i am out of the loop

 

[TdC]

afaik consumer surround actually goes up to beyond 9.2 or something redic like that. after some googling I found this which seems legit.

 

[Edmond]

Ah, you're a bloody star sir

 

[Tom]

I wouldn't worry too much, wireless surround sound will negate the requirement for cabling everywhere. I've just done my back room, I ran two speaker cables for two rear channels and that was it. Just make sure there's plenty of mains sockets to use. I didn't even bother with internet or network cable - why would I, when most things have wireless connectivity?

 

[DaGaffer]

I wouldn't worry too much, wireless surround sound will negate the requirement for cabling everywhere. I've just done my back room, I ran two speaker cables for two rear channels and that was it. Just make sure there's plenty of mains sockets to use. I didn't even bother with internet or network cable - why would I, when most things have wireless connectivity?

Because ultimately, more connectivity is better, and while wireless is way better than it used to be, wired is still less subject to interference and packet loss etc. Plus, most people only have one wireless router in the house which is a single point of failure...

 

[Raven]

So is an amp.

The (tiny) risks of wireless far outweigh having ugly cabling or having to mess about with plastering.

 

[caLLous]

If it's a permanent installation I would much rather have a wired solution than a wireless one.

 

[Edmond]

I'm going wired, not wireless

 

[Yaka]

dolby will be planning on atmos hitting our living rooms in the next 5 or so years so you may want some cables in the cieling as well 2 prolly closer to the screen and 2 near the back. but this again depends if you will be installing high end gear initially

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Atmos

 

[Edmond]

I don't think I will need to go that extreme tbh, but I had thought of ceiling speakers

 

[soze]

I wouldn't worry too much, wireless surround sound will negate the requirement for cabling everywhere. I've just done my back room, I ran two speaker cables for two rear channels and that was it. Just make sure there's plenty of mains sockets to use. I didn't even bother with internet or network cable - why would I, when most things have wireless connectivity?

I have a high end wireless Access Point and a HTPC with wireless N but I still notice the odd freeze and jitter when watching 1080p files so for me in a room you are decorating running LAN next to your power sockets is a must.

 

[Edmond]

network is already in place, just trying to configure the speaker set up atm, sparky is kicking me up the arse to get it sorted