Home theater system setup...

[Samuel L. Jackson]

So.. my wonderful wife got me a Bose home theater system for my birthday Monday, and I am wondering the best way to hook it up...

Should I run the wires through the drywall/floorboards, or should I run them above the baseboards in some of those wiring channel thingys?

I think I could pull off the drywall/floorboard thing, but it might be more trouble than it's worth if I can do the channel things so they aren't too shitty looking...

I can't run them through the ceilings as our living room has a vaulted ceiling...

Our living room has one of those corner fireplaces where the top of it is a TV shelf... That's where our TV is and I was thinking of putting the front 3 speakers atop that shelf in front of and on either side of the TV, then just worrying about concealing the wires to the rear 2 speakers...

Better yet... Anyone near the Raleigh/Clayton area have experience doing these things that will just come and do it for me? hahaha

[Jase]

When I put down wood in my den, I ran the wires in the expansion gap beneath the baseboards, and drilled holes in the new baseboards just big enough to feed the wire through.

Excellent look. Seamless is definitely worth it, especially if you want to replace your baseboards anyway.

[j2sgam]

Negative on the Woremold (channel thingy). Carpet or hardwood? Carpet -pull up the edge of the carpet, tuck cables under baseboard, put carpet back down. Hardwood -pull off quarterround/ shoemoulding to hide the cables, replace moulding. Jase is right on point with his recommendation. How do you like the Bose?

[Samuel L. Jackson]

What I'd have to do to go seamless would be to install a main wire channel plate in the drywall behind the unit to run the 2 rear speaker cables through... then I'd have to go under the house and drill a large hole in the floorboard in between those 2 studs to fish the wires down through... That would be hard to do as I don't know how I'd get the exact location for that hole...

From there, if I made it that far, I'd have to drill 2 more holes in the floorboard between the studs that those rear 2 speakers would be mounted above and fish the wires back up... The problem there is that one of the walls is an exterior wall and probably has crossbeams and insulation, and I'd again have to pinpoint the exact location under the house somehow for those 2 holes...

We put down laminate flooring this past summer, and I'm wishing I had done all this then but I didn't have the system... The type of laminate we got is pretty much like steel and impossible to drill through with any type of normal bit, so I have to hit the floorboards right under the drywall...

As ugly as it might turn out, I'm thinking the best route to go right now is going to be the plastic channels along the top of the baseboard...

[Jase]

so speaker stands that conceal the wire are not an option for you I take it?

[Jeff L]

How do you like the Bose?

Not to thread jack but I love my Bose system! I have a Lifestyle system that I bought at an outlet mall in Pigeon Forge, TN about 10 years ago. Everything plugs into the subwoofer and then into my receiver.

The sound is great and Bose puts out a quality product in my opinion!

[Samuel L. Jackson]

I'll put up some pics of how our living room is setup to kind of show you where I am coming from... Maybe those will help someone give me some good ideas based on how it's setup... It's hard to describe in words.. lol

[Samuel L. Jackson]

The front of the living room (I sit on the couch to the left, wifey sits in the recliner in the center...) and the rear of the living room (transitions into the dining room)..

[Captroop]

The front of the living room (I sit on the couch to the left, wifey sits in the recliner in the center...) and the rear of the living room (transitions into the dining room)..

My goodness. Your house is gorgeous. I guess your wife did the decorating?

The only thing is does it get on your nerves having to look up at the TV over the fireplace?

[Samuel L. Jackson]

My goodness. Your house is gorgeous. I guess your wife did the decorating?

The only thing is does it get on your nerves having to look up at the TV over the fireplace?

haha thanks... I actually helped, just a little though... lol... She goes all out for Christmas decorations, which is funny because I'm a Scrooge this time of year and not even Christian... We did the tree last night right before I took those pics... The TV isn't bad at all being that height... We're about 15 feet away from it, and you hardly even notice the "looking up" part...

Anyways, I used my awesome MS Paint skills to kind of diagram how the Bose system will be setup... I think the RR (right rear) speaker will be run as I have it in the pic.. Down from the unit, over the fireplace, and along the baseboard on that side of the room (in the plastic wiring channel, of course)... I don't know what I'll do about the LR though... That's why I'm asking for opinions...

Also, does everyone think that the placement I will be putting the speakers at will be okay?

[Captroop]

I would probably put them up, mount them on top of the veranda. Putting them low seems like it will muffle the sound, and it will be absorbed by the material on your furniture. Mounting them higher will allow the sound to reflect off the ceiling and really fill the room; you've got that wide open space, use it.

[shinner]

Also, does everyone think that the placement I will be putting the speakers at will be okay?

Surrounds should either be at ear level or above (and pointed down), IMO....

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I think with a living room like that, and a Bose, I'd do whatever I had to in order to go seamless, even hiring a professional to do it for me.

And there is this option: http://www.neweggmall.com/Product/2010242910/product.html?cm_mmc=PCE-GoogleSearch-_-Personal-_-TV%2C%20Video%20%26%20Audio-_-2010242910

[southcakalac]

it would be so easy to get wires in the wall. better than drilling in your floor. well it would be easy for me i do this for a living. if you havent retro fitted wires before let someone who knows what they are doing do it