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Speaker Cables
You will need to install stereo pair speaker cables for six speakers:
- Front right and left
- Front centre
- Rear right and left
- Rear centre
At this stage you will need to decide whether you will install conventional speakers or flush mounted wall/ceiling speakers.
Flush mounted speakers like those shown on the left fit directly onto the wall or ceiling are best suited where you have plaster board with a void behind. We use theses with our own home cinema and they are capable of handling powerful amplifiers (e.g. 100w per channel) and delivering high quality. Once installed they avoid the clutter of conventional free standing speakers. We are able to supply flush mounting speakers from a US company, Sonance. You can see their range by clicking
here.
If you go instead for conventional speakers then you need to decide how you are going to terminate the cables. One option is to have cables emerging from holes in the wall or ceiling but this is never attractive and our preference is to use special wall outlets as shown on the left. All you then require is a short 1ft jumper lead to connect from the outlet to the terminals on the loudspeaker. At the other end of the cable near the AV amplifier you would install a bank of similar outlets for the 6 speakers. We can supply outlets that handle all 6 speakers. The outlets can be purchased from
here
Our most popular speaker cable for home cinema installations is QED Silver Anniversary. This cable achieves a good balance between performance and value. If your budget is tight then one option is to economise on cable for the rear speakers. The rears will often be further from the AV amplifier, requiring longer cables. Since the rears are less critical than the front you could choose to use QED Original for the 3 rear speakers. You can purchase the QED cable from
here
Controlling the system
We think that you should ideally hide you equipment from view and also avoid the traditional pile of remote controls for the system. This is possible using two different products. Firstly the QED Roomlink system which enables a bank remote equipment to controlled from a single wall mounted Infra Red sensor. The Roomlink system then sends infra red signals to each piece of equipment using an emitter located near to the device. You can purchase the Roomlink system
here
To avoid multiple remote controls there are a number of programmable products available that can be set up to manage all of your equipment from a single handset. We use the Phillips Pronto, however, similar devices are available from manufacturers such as Harmon Kandon.