2. home-theater
  3. 984298406

Anybody else wanna pull their hair out ?

I just got done trying to "re-plumb" my HT system. How i pity professional installers of this stuff. It is PATHETIC what one has to do to get all of this stuff hooked up "right". I am an electronics tech by trade and even i get confused as to what goes where !!! The two worst things that i realized is that there is really no standardization of jacks ( audio RCA's, Balanced, S-Video, Component Level video, Composite Video, 75 ohm digital, toslink, spades, banana's, etc....). Between the 3 trillion different types of connectors, you also have to worry about what length of each type of cable you need where.... It's enough to drive you crazy. On top of that, you should pray to God that you never loose power once you get all of that crap programmed !!! Some of this stuff will "reset" at the drop of a hat. Take my advice people. Keep your HT system as simple as possible !!! You'll enjoy it more when you watch a good movie rather than remembering all of the hassle that you had to go through just to get the damn thing to work. I would do things VERY differently if i knew then what i know now. Sean
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sean
pcc
150 posts
 
Hifiho, I think it may just be you. Unfortunately I don't have to many spare cables. Don't get me wrong, I do have spares but the best ones are on the system. I don't own an open rack because at the time of system purchases I had a 1 1/2 yr old who thought the vcr tape in was for putting pencils and anything else she could find away. So I opted for a big closed rack to house about 10 separate components. Which when I need to get into I have to move the entire MONSTER. But this will be fixed when I design my next audio room.
gerry_c
6 posts
 
Like almost everything worth doing, documentation is the key to simplicity and repeatability. But I must say, playing and reconfiguring can be a lot of fun.

Gerry
sean OP
6,231 posts
 
Hifiho ( GOTTA luv the name...), i'm talking about taking everything out of the rack, wiping down the components and rack, re-installing all of the components, cleaning all of the jacks and cables, routing all of the audio and video cables into the tv and processor, etc... Then you get to reset all of the digital input levels, surround levels, etc.. Basically starting from scratch with a VERY large system. As i've mentioned in other threads, i have multiple thousands of watts (rms) in this set-up, so that might give you some idea as to what i'm talking about in terms of being "slightly involved". If you can do ALL of the above in 10 minutes, YOU must have a "wal-mart system" or are a FAR better man than myself and a few others here. Either way, i could use some help since you must have a lot of "free time" being as fast as you are.... : ) Sean
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adamanteus
80 posts
 

Funny, that's a problem facing me now. Just got some new toys and find the old cabinet, beautifully built, has a somewhat restricted access for connections. Wish I had a trained elf to go back there and make the hookups, but such are scarce. Have decided to go with open shelves and am considering Billy Bags or Sanus. What I don't like about Mr. McCready's designs are the ambitious prices he asks. (I'd prefer he make his BMW payments from someone else's business.) But very good quality, though.

I have a snake's nest of cabling and am doing my best to simplify it. Had a TV tech in recently who commented that mine was the most complicated arrangement he'd ever seen. Not sure that was meant as a compliment.

Anyone here have any thoughts on B Bags vs Sanus? All opinions welcome and appreciated.
pcc
150 posts
 
Sean, maybe he has an "S" on his chest. Sean go to rad shack and pick up some of those labels. They do work great, for us incompetent people. I to have many components and all separate amps so I know what your talking about sean. As for hifiho maybe he has a one of those AV receivers with the built in amps or he could just own a Bose system.
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