Setting it up.

[kaillum]

ok guys.. just bought a new house, and before we completed I went and bought meself a new little system for the front room... It was delivered yesterday, and i've got 1 MAJOR stumbling block now...

i've got the KV32LS36 Sony 32" Telly... realy nice shape prefer it to the 'square' ones... and it was cheaper than anything else I liked...



but i bought the Sony DAVS550 combined DVD player & surround sound coz I liked the shape of the speakers over the tall ones...(yeah I know, going for asthetics instead of the specs)



now.. the house has got laminate flooring all the way through, and I though I could just pull up the beading and slip the cabling underneath.. NOT SO.. the beading has been 'corked' underneath, which means theres no little channel for the wires to run down, and the missus is getting a little upset at the thought of having wires running along the top of the skirting board to the rear speakers..

so ideas needed folks...
a couple i've come up with are
1) white shrink wrap the pairs of wires (front & back) and glueing the cabling to the top of the skirting board

2)(dont know if this exists) but a wire -> wireless converter to enable me to put the rears on wireless and leave the fronts wired...

also, does anyone know of any cheap nice looking stands for surround satellites? the Sony brand ones are £80 a pair!!! and i've just blown 1k on the tv & dvd player... dont wanna blow another £160 on stands.. the missus would withdraw all 'favours' for a long time...

please help.. I'm totally lost in this home entertainment thingy mabob... and I like my telly & dvd player.. just want to keep in with the missus

[Howard]

For hiding the wires around the room for rear speakers use plastic conduit / trunking stuff available from most DIY stores. it's like a plastic "rail" thing that you can put above the skirting, put the wires inside and then close up. It looks attractive once finished
Incase you're wondering what the hell it is, here's a pic:




As for stands, Argos have a few stands designed for satellite speakers in the latest catalogue.

[fondie]

i found that decent stands are pretty expensive, at least for 'bookshelf' style speakers, which is mostly the reason why i went for the all floorstanding approach.

i checked out argos that howard mentioned, link here --> http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/st...d=8289&top=N&C they look a bit tacky to me, those £30 goodman ones might be alright, though is hard to tell without seeing them in the flesh, maybe best see if they've got any at a local store?

if they are hideous, then the sony stands may well be your best bet, you can get them for £60 inc p&p here --> http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/warehouse/...id=SONWSFV10CS

i have to wonder how you could ever make that plastic conduit look attractive howard!!

wireless transmitter / reciever systems do exist --> http://www.x10.com/products/x10_vk59a.htm i don't know about their quality though, and then you have to think about hiding that black box!!

[Bindibadgi]

go to ikea and get some cable tiding split loom (or plastic conduit like above but corrogated and round).

Ive still yet to buy some

[kaillum]

looked at the Goodmans stands in the shop and they were pretty naff, but the beech and silver ones at £50 wernt to bad and you get a set of front wall mounts for you dough... these ones
.... thanks for the info Howard...

i've also checked the local B&Q for the trunking/conduit and non of it is small enough to look neat, so I think i'm gonna go with the heat shrink tubing and cover the pair of cables and hot glue them to the skirting board... only thing is the missus wants the skirting board painting before I glue the heat shrink on so its gonna be a busy weekend !!!!

[Barakka]

My mum's just got the DAVS550 DVD/speaker combo (different telly though - the KV32FX68) - Very nice DVD player... she just got two stands for the rears, but they were about £60 a pair from Comet, apparently the wall mounts are £40 a pair... eeek

As for the speaker wire, hmmm, only thing I think is to get some of the flat stuff...
or
, paint it white, lift the bottom inch of wallpaper where it meets the sk-board, stick the cable to the wall (touching the board) and stick the paper back down.

Barakka

[kaillum]

Originally posted by Barakka
As for the speaker wire, hmmm, only thing I think is to get some of the flat stuff... paint it white, lift the bottom inch of wallpaper where it meets the sk-board, stick the cable to the wall (touching the board) and stick the paper back down.

problem being that its painted plasterboard walls... no chance of getting the cabling hidden...

need to actually hide the cabling...

[Bindibadgi]

you're gonna have to tell the missus that its impossible, you can tidy it but you cant make it disappear without extensive excavation of your floor or walls. Its tough titty, she'll get over it... one day.

heatshrinking doesnt look that neat imo, and cant be undone without cutting it off the wires.

[Barakka]

B*lls ! you don't fancy wallpapering then ? LOL !

Only things I can think of next then are:
1) rip up the laminate flooring, run it under the floorboards and put the laminate back again.
2) run it up inside the wall cavity, rip up the floorboards in the room above, run accross the room and down the wall cavity - probably one for a Sparky...
or 3) depending on the connections for the speakers, get a set of cordless RF speakers and plug them in... e.g.

They won't match or be amazing audiophile quality, but if they're just for the rear channels... ?

Barakka

[kaillum]

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
you're gonna have to tell the missus that its impossible, you can tidy it but you cant make it disappear without extensive excavation of your floor or walls.

Pah... You try telling that to her!!! If I said that she'd be wearing my danglies as earings for a long time!!!!

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
Its tough titty, she'll get over it... one day

and until that day comes i'll have earache!!!

I'm not givin up yet... theres gotta be a way of getting my surround sound up and running without ruining my sex life!!!!

[Bindibadgi]

Originally posted by kaillum
theres gotta be a way of getting my surround sound up and running without ruining my sex life!!!!

LMAO!

Ask her what she wants todo with the wires perhaps?

[Howard]

You don't want wireless.
The conduit that I mentioned is the best for cabling by far because it's self adhesive to stick above the skirting. Virtually un-noticeable, and if it does get noticed, it's very tidy.

Just about any satellite stand will do for the speakers, they're hardly heavy, Lol.

[kaillum]

Originally posted by Barakka
B*lls ! you don't fancy wallpapering then ? LOL !

That would be a no.. I can picture her face now!!
"Darling... i'm gonna have to put this wallpaper up to hide the speaker wires..."
"U%(*)%)($T)(??><)(*%&)(&%)(&)(*&)(&£$)£_£*!!!!!!!"

i'll deffo be placing that one in the maybe not pile

[kaillum]

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
Ask her what she wants todo with the wires perhaps?

her reply... without even asking her....

" I didnt want the bl**dy surround sound ANYWAY!!! and I dont want to see the bl**dy wires!!!"

and who says we dont understand women

[kaillum]

Originally posted by Howard
Just about any satellite stand will do for the speakers, they're hardly heavy, Lol.

yeah... but think we're gonna go with the Sony ones... spoken to her at lunch.. and it went something along the lines of

Me: "I've found some cheaper speaker stands..."
Her: "Are they Sony?"
Me: "No... but...."
Her: "You've spent over a grand on a TV and Surround Sound setup.. your not having cheap speakers stands!!!"
Me: "Ummmmmm... Ok... erm... Whats for dinner?"

but at least she admitted that its worth spending the money on.. so thats a bonus... I think..

[fondie]

well the sony one's from that link i posted ^^ are only a tenner more than the argos ones, i think wifey is getting the idea of this home entertainment lark though