Doing Cabling Right

It's easy to allow the cabling of your media room to become an afterthought.  "Run a few cables; some speaker, some av.  No big deal, right?"

Wrong!

Cabling requires research, planning, and needs to be based of off a clear vision for your room.  Otherwise, you will most likely throw away money, time, and end up fumbling for quick fixes at the end of your project.  Quick fixes are expensive and don't usually look as good.


But at some point, you just have to take the leap.  In my case, I have finished enough of my design to know where my cabling will end up.  So, let's get started!


Some cabling features I'm incorporating into my room:

• -Steve's Ultimate Jack Pack TM
• Built into the bookcases next to couch includes
• Most jack feature retracting connection to eliminate patch cables (like window blinds)
• connection for any SVideo/Yellow/Red/White Composite source including SNES and PS2
• 4 USB ports for PC peripherals
• VGA and headphone jack for visiting laptops
• 1/4" jack for using headphones for whatever you're watching
• 2 network jacks for internet connectivity
• 2 extra cat6 cables in the front, to Jack Pack, snack area, and projector provide expansion opportunity and easy fixes if cables go bad
• All cables run back to the media rack for clean setup

"Even more detail," you ask? Every cable run listed below:
FROM RACK TO THE FRONT WALL:
Speaker wire (four conductor) to fronts
Speaker wire (four conductor) to rears
1 x Cat6 Solid UTP (ir in)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (spare failover)
1 x subwoofer cable out
power

FROM RACK TO THE PROJECTOR:
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (hdmi out balun)
1 x Cat6 Solid UTP  (ir out)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP  (spare failover)
Power

FROM RACK TO SIDE JACK PACK:
1 x Composite AV cables
4 x Cat6 Solid UTP (usb in baluns)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (hdmi in balun)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (spare failover)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (network jack out)
1 x 1/4" headphone out
1 x VGA in
1 x 1/8" headphone in
1 x S-Video in
power

FROM RACK TO SNACK AREA:
1 x Cat6 Solid UTP (network jack out)
2 x Cat6 Solid UTP (spare future use)
power

FROM JACK PACK TO PROJECTOR
1 x VGA
FROM STORAGE CLOSET TO RACK
1 x Coaxial Cable


What is this going to cost?

JUST THE CABLES:
1000ft Cat6 Solid UTP($250)
100ft 14/4 speaker wire ($125)
50ft S-Video cable ($10)
50ft Composite (yellow/red/white) ($15)
50ft 1/4" stereo headphone cable ($15)
50ft 1/8" stereo headphone cable ($15)
25ft VGA cable ($50)
25ft Coaxial cable ($20)
25ft subwoofer cable ($15)
TOTAL: About $500

COST OF CONNECTORS, BALUNS, WALLPLATES, ETC:
I will include this cost in a future post when I estimate the cost of the media rack in its entirety.



As much as I'd like to start building my shelves, buying my screen/projector, or buying my rack, I need to lay the groundwork first.  If you have any suggestions for my cabling or features to add to the Jack Pack, please let me know in the comments.