Anybody else wanna pull their hair out ?

I too had to re plumb not long ago. I have a HT system and was adding 2channel to it. Well when I started to audition some new pre amps for the 2ch I realized I had removed a couple of cables.. oops Well one of my friends who is into electronics had these sticky numbers 0-9/letters A-Z.. I remembered this and when I figured I would be doing this all over again I went to radio shack and picked up 2 packs of labels for electronics. The labels had long and thin for around cable and small square label for tight area. For instance the #1 would go on both ends of the cable and the square #1 would go on the "out" of one component to the "in" of the other component. Now its easy when I audition new cables or components. Just look at the # or the letter.. Good luck Cost $2.00 radio shack

Or you could do like me and have a different brand of IC for each component. LOL. Actually true however, unfortunately. Side effect of buying used on web. So far I've been too cheap to buy new (except for T-14 speaker cable. Now I think I'm going to change my whole 2 ch over to Homegrown, at least for ICs (but that shifts the MIT, Straightwire, etc over to the HT, which still allows me to differentiate ICs based on wire type. However, my HT speaker set up consists of NHT superzeros with sub for LCR and a separate sub for LFE (all with same speaker wire) so that's enough of a nightmare. Pcc great idea for the labels.

I'm selling my house the 20th of this month and moving into my next one on the 30th! At last count I have 23 components and 7 speakers in my main system and 7 components and 2 speakers in my bedroom system. I'd like to thank you all for reminding me just how fun this hobby is! THANKS A LOT GUYS! Later...

Sounds like compared to some of you, my system was simple. With a bit of planning and one of those nifty handheld label makers, plus about 5 trips to the store to get the missing pieces of cable, I now have everything marked and working. End result is well worth it. I too pulled some hair out, but I am glad I did; especially component video was worth all the hassle.

Hmmm... I guess I've just got a knack for it. The little labels on the back side of your components: You know? The ones that say: "in, out, left, right, center, left surround, right surround, pre out, aux in, cd, video 1/2/3, etc"). Or is it just MY components that come with all the jacks labeled?

These products are for people who understand the benefits as well as the difficulties of owning SEPARATE components. If it's too much of a chore for you, maybe you should go to WalMart for your "all in one" system. Plug-n-play as I understand it. They don't sound good, but then again, you won't have to spend a full day setting it up when you re-arrange your living room.

If it's not worth the hassle of setting the system up right, maybe you should consider a lesser system. No hair loss here. I have an open rack, with just enough room to climb behind it. A flashlight and a pile of cables just within arm's reach, and I can change out everything from my HT preamp in about 10 minutes. And THAT's probably the most difficult one to "plumb". It doesn't hurt to have lots of spare cables. But I'd guess anyone who's truly passionate about this hobby has a fistfull of every length and every connection option out there sitting in the closet in addition to what is already hooked up to their system. Then again, maybe it's just me.