Another question for solarpowered

18 years ago

Because you've been so forthcoming with advice about code-compliant wiring, I've got another question I'd be grateful for your opinion on:

As part of our kitchen remodel, we're mounting a 40-inch LCD television on a full-extension articulating bracket. It will be centered on and 18 inches above a 60-inch wide x 15-inch deep counter-height cabinet and will be surrounded on top and sides by narrow 9-inch deep open shelves that will serve as display units as well as to hide the wires and cables that come out of the back of the television. The DVD player and cable box will be on shelves in the base cabinet, and a faux surround-sound speaker unit will be on top of the top display shelf.

Here's the question: Because the display shelving and base cabinet will be attached to the wall, we need to run the wires and cables that travel between all these components (speakers/TV/cable box and DVD player) through the wall and have them come out where necessary through grommets inserted in the drywall. Our builder says he can create a conduit for the wires and cables before he closes up the drywall. He's an experienced builder, and all our work will be done with permits. I just wondered whether our scenario sounds code-compliant to you?

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Comments (7)

solarpowered
18 years ago
Maydl,

I'm getting a bit out of my element here, because I haven't dug into how to properly do a flat-panel setup.

Generally, what you can do with signal wiring is pretty relaxed. The conduit setup your contractor is suggesting sounds like a good way to go.

There's this voice in the back of my brain that is nagging me about speaker wiring. I believe I've seen discussion about needing specific listed cable for speakers if you're going to run the speaker wiring in the walls. I think the problem is that some audio amplifiers put out enough power that the speaker wires don't really count as "power-limited signal wiring."

The power cord for the TV can not be run through the walls. I've heard of various solutions to that problem. Some people have used a "clock outlet", which is an outlet which is recessed into the wall; they used to be supplied for clocks, before most wall clocks became battery-powered. I've also heard a building a drywall niche in the wall for the outlet. (Think of a niche to hold a statue, only smaller.) And I believe I've heard of someone making a recessed outlet specifically for this purpose--you might want to check out some high-end video magazines/stores/web sites for this sort of thing.

I know that I've stumbled across some detailed information about this. But we "killed the TV" about 10 years ago, so I don't pay much attention to TV/Home Theater stuff. (I do have an old TV set up with a DVD player in the gym--I get to watch DVDs while I'm working out. :D )
solarpowered
18 years ago
One more thing. HDMI connectors are pretty big. Make sure that whatever you do is big enough that you can feed an HDMI cable, with connector, through it.
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solarpowered
18 years ago
A did a little looking around, and found this. It looks pretty cool. I don't have a recommendation, pro or con, about it. It's the second thing I ran into in Google, so there might well be better products out there.

Here is a link that might be useful: TV Box
solarpowered
18 years ago
And here's a clock outlet. (Again, a Google hit, so I don't have a recommendation about the vendor.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Clock outlet
maydl
Original Author
18 years ago
Solarpowered, you are amazing for your considerate response and the links. I'm such a dunce about AV equipment, I don't even know what kind of wires and cables are illustrated in that TV box advertisement. (Wait a minute--I can recognize the power cord!) But I've printed out the information and will show it to a TV installer to see if it will help in our application. Thanks again!
mungo
18 years ago
There is indeed 'in-wall rated' speaker wire. Actually I think all of the video/audio cables in this might need to be in-wall rated -- including HDMI.

Buy from Monoprice and you won't get hosed.

Which faux-surround speaker are you planning? Many of those kits include a subwoofer unit as well, so you may need to consider placing that as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: great place to buy cables
maydl
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for weighing in, mungo; we will look into having all the TV and speaker wiring and cables to be in-wall rated.

The faux surround-sound component is a ZVOX 415, and it is a single unit. We won't buy until the TV is installed and the need for better sound is determined, but we'll still have to prepare the TV wall during construction to accommodate its wiring and cables.