Nothing beats a home theater experience when the sound is set up properly with speakers strategically placed through out the room. Getting the perfect sound isn’t just about have the right speakers, it is in having the speakers set up in just the right locations. Having done this you are rewarded with great sound and annoying speaker cables strung about the room.
It is frustrating, annoying, and ugly to have speaker cables sprawled about the floor. Not only that, it is a dangerous safety hazard both to the person tripping over the cable and to the components that might be yanked and crashed onto the floor. Luckily there are a few ways to deal with the speaker cable problem.
The most common method of handling the cable problems is to use the ‘hide’ method whereby one runs the cable under the carpet and along the baseboard to keep it from view. In some cases this works pretty well and the cable is hardly noticeable. Other times, especially when a door is involved, it doesn’t work so well.
The ‘hide’ technique can be refined by utilizing flat speaker cable. The flat cables lie flat under carpeting so they don’t leave the little hump that gives away regular cables. They are also paintable so they can be blended into the walls and baseboards.
Another idea is to use wireless speakers. This will completely get rid of the need for cables all together. Or you can combine the methods and use wireless speakers for the ones that are the farthest away or the hardest to run cable to.
Wireless systems may not have the same quality as speakers with regular cables plus they are more expensive so using them in places not suitable for cables works out pretty well when you use regular speakers elsewhere.
If you are committed to the placement of the speakers you can choose another option and that is having the speakers built into the walls and ceiling. That way the cables are totally hidden. This makes for a great sound system both in appearance and sound quality but is not practical for a lot of people.
You can use a similar method to the above by running the speaker cables through the walls only and leave the speakers outside the walls. This takes quite a bit of effort and doesn’t allow for changing the location of the speakers on a whim.
If you are sure you have the optimal location for your speakers, using this method is a good choice for keeping the wires out of sight.
Any of the solutions above, from the simplest to the most complex will work and the one you choose will depend on the amount of effort you want to invest. Using the simple ‘hide’ method will work quite nicely, so don’t put off getting a home theater set up because you are dreading the cable problem.
Jason Allen is a staff writer at Flatscreen TV Expert and is an occasional contributor to several other websites, including Wireless Times. |
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