Home Theater Wiring Installation Tips

A few minutes reviewing the Home Theater Wiring Installation Tips will help to avoid headaches later. Common announces such as audio buzzing or humming and slow scrolling video lines are easily preventable.

Incorrect home theater wiring can lead to endless frustrations, if you are currently experiencing problems or are in the process of doing some wiring and looking for a home theater wiring how to guide, you have come to the right place. Below you will find home theater wiring installation tips which address the common problems found in media room installations.

In addition to the information on this page, you may also find the following home theater wiring and installation articles to be helpful.

Home Theater Video Connections – Video is rapidly changing from analog to digital and the digital world has different requirements then the analog of old. Therefore understanding which cable and connections are right for you is important.

Home Theater Audio Connections – Similar to the video area, audio connections are moving rapidly from analog to digital. And in some cases such as (HDMI) being combined with the video.

Professional Home Theater Installation – If you determine that some or all of the wiring is not something you would like to do yourself, here are some details around finding a professional to do the home theater installation with you.

Understand Wire Gauges – If you are not familiar with what wire gauges are all about, it is worth taking a minute and reading up on them.

Wireless Home Theater Installation - Skip the wiring, go wireless. Tired of the wires and ready to go state of the art? Wireless options have come a long way in the last few year, you will be surprised.

Keep your high voltage and low voltage wire separated
This is commonly done when wiring inside walls, but also must be done when running extension cords and cables along the walls or behind your equipment. Especially do not run them in parallel within 12 inches of each other. If your low and high voltage wires must cross do this in a perpendicular manner. This will limit interference in the low voltage line.

Avoid using wire longer then required
Measure how much wire you need to neatly make the corners and route around the high voltage cords. Excess wire causes degrade in signal and therefore lesser quality. Some of this degrade can be made up with more expensive higher quality cables, but this will only help to a certain extent, best to limit the length if you can. NOTE: Cables that are too short can also cause problems. Cables should not be bent more than 60 degrees and you do not want to cause tension on the connectors.

Place your Plasma or LCD television on a separate electrical circuit
Many people with LCD or Plasma Televisions report a slow scrolling video bar on the television. This is almost always caused by interference. Due to this many electricians will recommend a separate electrical circuit for your TV. This means a separate circuit breaker in the breaker box with nothing on the circuit but the TV. Reason for this is that noise is created in the circuit by other items sharing the circuit. Common items are fluorescent lights, dryers, microwaves but just about anything can do it. If a separate circuit is not easily installed, at least try plugging the TV into different outlets.

Long distances cable runs require special attention
Distances over 15 feet, especially for the new digital cables such as HDMI and DVI, require better quality cables and or amplifiers and repeaters. For quality cables at a reasonable price, we recommend BetterCables.com.

Eliminate the hum or buzzing in you subwoofers or tactical shakers
One common issue with subwoofers and tactical shakers is that they produce a buzzing sound. The reason for this that they operate at low frequencies and high frequencies cause the buzzing. The solution is to remove the high frequencies that are sent to them which can easily be done in of two ways. The easiest way is to purchase a $10 ground loop isolator. This device connects between your receiver and subwoofer to remove the hum. The other option is to use a amplifier that has a subwoofer output which essentially does the same thing as the ground loop isolator for you.

Humming or buzzing in the audio system that is not subwoofer or tactical shaker
Although this is most commonly seen as a problem with subwoofers it is at times seen in other areas of sound systems. Most of the time this is caused by high voltage wires running closely in parallel with low voltage wire such as speaker wire. Also can be caused by poor wire connections to the amplifier or speaker(s). Long distances over low quality wire is another potential cause.

Use surge protectors
These are often found on found on power strips but can also be purchased separately. Spend the money for a good surge protector as one surge can damage all your electronic equipment.

Use wire ties to neaten up the wires
Wire ties work well to keep wires in place and keep them from moving when cleaning is done or equipment is moved. Take care not to over tighten the ties. They should hold the wire but not pinch it or squeeze it to where a noticeable variation is shown on the wire.

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