Whats the best way to hide home theater speaker wires?

Wiremold CMK40 Cornermate Cord Organizer Kit for Home Theater and Entertainment System

• For hiding cords that go along walls and corners
• Ideal for surround signal, speaker cables, video cables, power cords
• Simple, peel and press installation
• White, paintable

hide cables by running them along a corner of a room * includes four 30″ corner cord channels and four paintable channel covers * features four transition pieces for connecting other Wiremold products, like the CableMate and the CordMate® II * interior dimensions of channel: 1-1/4″W x 1/2″H *

List Price: $ 27.99

Price: $ 14.79

by Jeremy Toeman

I have a home theater system and I want to hang some speakers on the walls but the conundrum is, is that the speaker wires hang from the bottom and I have a white wall. It looks hideous like if ACTUALL wires were lynching out of the walls. What would be the best way to hide the wires?
Also, I CANNOT PUT FURNITURE TO COVER UP THE WIRES.

PS: I already bought the home speaker set for a ton of cash, and I’m sure not as hell plotting to return or buy some different set.

Answer by watch out for those noobacabras
you should try by trim, like they have on the bottom of walls. look for one that has a groove in it, then just place it on the wall in the corner and run the wires through the groove and into the carpet seam.
( and no need to emphasize actual, how would it look like fake wires were lynching out.)

Answer by sporregar
You can get paintable wire tunnels (or whatever they’re called) that will hide the wires moreso than letting them just hang.

If your walls are reachable you may be able to string them through the walls themselves.

Answer by Jacko
If the area is carpeted and there are baseboards you can stuff the wire in the gap between the carpet and the baseboard. I did this with a screwdriver. Watch out for the tack strip cuz the nails are sharp!

Answer by hangfire
If you have drywall you can drill holes and feed the wires behind the wall. You can use nice mounting plates (like they do for tv antennas) so it looks professional.

If you can’t get behind the wall then you are a bit limited. If you buy special flat cable in a color to contest the wall, then you can fix it so it isn’t very noticeable.

Or you can mount on the ceiling or on floor stands, so that you don’t have to run cables up or down the wall.

This is a major thing with home theater installations. People seem to pretend that it isn’t a conundrum, but to me it’s always the first thing I worry about!

Let us know what you choose.

Answer by Bubba
I place my surrounds on the floor facing up on either side of the couch. It’s nice because they mostly just do environmental effects as it is, and this way their sounds reflect off the ceiling back down on the listener. It’s also nice because then you wouldn’t have wires running up the walls.

If you don’t have a wall to run the wires through you can toss a couple of area rugs/toss rugs on top of the wires.

Give your answer to this question below!

Desktop Audio Upgrade


Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept
I needed some new speakers for my desktop computer system at home. I’ve been tolerating JBL creature 2.1 system for a couple of being now and I’d finally had enough. The JBLs suffered from a depressing lack of critical midrange detail. This, coupled with the fact that the kids now hog the main system in the front room, means that I can’t get access to my iTunes library readily.

A few being ago I was doing some research into speakers and I came crosswise the Quad 11l actives. They were very well reviewed in a couple of Australian and New Zealand hi-fi publications. From what I could gather at the time they were not widely available in the UK. When I did eventually track them down their price tag was £600 for a pair. Prohibitively expensive for a desktop audio system. These things are marketed as pro-level near field monitors. They have their own build in amps. Two per speaker. 60W for the bass driver and 40W for the treble driver.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I chose to have a casual squint at eBay and see if I could pick up a second hand pair at a vastly reduced price. There were none available. One seller was promotion individual speakers new for £250. apiece. Still too expensive. Crestfallen, I gave up. A couple of days later I had another look. Another seller was offering a pair of Quad actives for £229. Stunned, I had a closer look. Apart from a different badge, Quad Industrial, these looked like peas in a pod to the Quad 11l actives. Plus, they were groundbreaking new, in unopened boxes.

After a few hours of research I learned that IAG, Quad’s parent company, has an Industrial division that promote audio equipment for hotels, conference centres, address theatres, and the like. Hence the different branding. The speaker also goes by another name, the Quad QPM1. Other than that it is like peas in a pod in each way to the Quad 11l active monitor.

This was a game changer. Prior to this I was considering the Audioengine 2 model as my desktop speaker replacement. I phoned the supplier to check that there was no mistake in their pricing in the advert. They confirmed that they were on sale for £229 for the pair. I placed my order immediately.

I was very excited to hear these speakers given the reviews I’d read. I’m also a huge fan of the Quad signal. My front room consists of the Quad 12l2s as main speakers in my 5.1 kit, Quad Centre, Quad l-ite satellites for rear and Quad l-ite subwoofer. Now I could have the Quad signal as part of my desktop system at a part of the price.

Quad speakers are renowned for being extremely neutral. In other words they take nothing away from or add anything to the original recording or source. Although my Quads were all very well reviewed at the time of their release, around 2004-2007, there are other fantastic speakers out there. For me I liked the standing associated with being a Quad title-holder. I clearly liked the signal and most importantly I got all the kit at bargain prices. Most of it was ex-dem so I saved at least 20% on the normal retail price. Another vital factor was matching the speakers crosswise the whole 5.1 kit. All of them should work well together. The 5.1 kit is driven by an Arcam AVR 300 that again was ex-dem. The front speakers are bi-amped and bi-wired. This affords them 120 watts per channel and per driver.

Being a hi-fi enthusiast makes you a bit picky about what you'll listen to. So how do the Quad actives signal? Well place it this way… I’ve not stopped playing them since the minute they at home in the house. I’ve terrified everything at them. From Led Zepp to Beethoven. Alison Krauss through to Prokofiev. Unbelievable! If anything the Quad actives may signal better than the 12l2s in my front room due to the fact that their bi-amp design is impeccably matched to the drivers in a way that any other amp would struggle to better. There is plenty of power and the signal path is not compromised by additional cabling and junction points. So the signal could be characterised as being clean, clear with tight bass control and a surprising quantity of depth considering the cabinet size. Though being nearfield monitors they are very revealing! If the recording is poor it sounds poor through these. You are very conscious of it. Also after a few days I became very aware of the deficiencies of the iMac’s signal card. There was a constant low hum and other nasties such as buzzing and clicks. Hissing too. Another issue was that I wanted to run an ancient radio tuner through these. All I could lay my hands on at small notice was a phono switchbox. This worked but it was trying to control the volume of the tuner other than messing around at the back of the monitors. Not really ideal.

I realised I need to look for some kind of preamp. Nothing suitable for desktop audio seemed immediately available. Initially I started looking at pro audio solutions. Mixers and the like. Not only were these really expensive but they also took up a lot of desk space. The other thing that seemed clear was that some kind of external signal processing solution would improve on the signal the iMac was competent of producing. Looked like a DAC was vital. This took me into a whole new ballpark. It came down to two companies in the end. Cambridge Audio's Dacmagic or NuForce's uDac or Icon products. Necessarily it came down to my need to switch sources easily and the ability to control volume at the turn of a dial or via an installed remote app on an iPhone. The Dacmagic looked very tempting but there was no preamp function or headphone amplifier. This left me with the NuForce products.

NuForce's website information is confusing. Being new to the world of DACs and desktop audio I knew small about by USB as a means of feeding an external digital to analogue converter with a digital signal. I was familiar with toslink optical links from the Arcam processor but USB was new to me. So I started reading about jitter and the degrading effect is has on signal quality and the technology used by NuForce to take right these issues. I also read some astonishing reviews on their uDac, Icon 2 and Icon HDP products. Turns out NuForce are an American company that specialises in really high end digital amplifiers and DACs. We're talking thousands of pounds. Their 'desktop' range is much more affordable though. The uDac was offered to me for £55 for example. In the end I got a fantastic deal on the Icon HDP. I had to make a couple of phone calls at this point. I can't say how much I saved but I got a better bargain on this than I got on the Quads! The Icon HDP is a combined class A headphone, preamp and top quality DAC rolled into one. Perfect for my needs.

Now we have the combined effect of the iMac and its ability to feed a decently digital signal from iTunes or Spotify Premium to the NuForce Icon HDP via USB and then onto the Quad QPMs. The effect the Icon HDP had on the system was staggering. This truly is a phenomenal product. Undoubtedly the most accomplished, best sounding and most helpful piece of hi-fi equipment I've ever bought. The whole soundstage opened right up. Subtle nuances present in the recordings were revealed in extraordinary detail. A truly three dimensional space is open to the listener. Given I'm used to the full Quad/Arcam experience in the front room it's incredible how lifelike and articulate my bargain desktop audio solution really is. The Quads in themselves are remarkable for the price but the Icon HDP is literally a revelation.

As you'll see from the photos I've experimented with this system in all sorts of combinations. At one point I even hooked up the Quad sub to hear the difference it made. I concluded it's really not vital the system is already competent of producing nearly terrifying levels of deep controlled bass without it. Midrange too is superb. Treble crisp and smear free. I've been particularly enjoying the albums below. I've pretty much went into the backroom! All in all, a pretty excellent October week…

Trentemøller – The Very Last Resort
Mercan Dede – 800
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rachmaninov
Alison Krauss – Lonely Runs Both Ways
John Hiatt – Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?
Booka Shade – Memento
Avishai Cohen – Aurora

By the way the Quads are still available on eBay, last few remaining. Other speakers shown for comparison.

Home Theater Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

It might be the long shape at the theater, the .00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that’s now so readily available to the home promote. Whatever the reason, the home theater promote now is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes! It’s simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of their own so

List Price: $ 24.95

Price: $ 4.74

Desktop Audio Upgrade


Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept
I needed some new speakers for my desktop computer system at home. I’ve been tolerating JBL creature 2.1 system for a couple of being now and I’d finally had enough. The JBLs suffered from a depressing lack of critical midrange detail. This, coupled with the fact that the kids now hog the main system in the front room, means that I can’t get access to my iTunes library readily.

A few being ago I was doing some research into speakers and I came crosswise the Quad 11l actives. They were very well reviewed in a couple of Australian and New Zealand hi-fi publications. From what I could gather at the time they were not widely available in the UK. When I did eventually track them down their price tag was £600 for a pair. Prohibitively expensive for a desktop audio system. These things are marketed as pro-level near field monitors. They have their own build in amps. Two per speaker. 60W for the bass driver and 40W for the treble driver.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I chose to have a casual squint at eBay and see if I could pick up a second hand pair at a vastly reduced price. There were none available. One seller was promotion individual speakers new for £250. apiece. Still too expensive. Crestfallen, I gave up. A couple of days later I had another look. Another seller was offering a pair of Quad actives for £229. Stunned, I had a closer look. Apart from a different badge, Quad Industrial, these looked like peas in a pod to the Quad 11l actives. Plus, they were groundbreaking new, in unopened boxes.

After a few hours of research I learned that IAG, Quad’s parent company, has an Industrial division that promote audio equipment for hotels, conference centres, address theatres, and the like. Hence the different branding. The speaker also goes by another name, the Quad QPM1. Other than that it is like peas in a pod in each way to the Quad 11l active monitor.

This was a game changer. Prior to this I was considering the Audioengine 2 model as my desktop speaker replacement. I phoned the supplier to check that there was no mistake in their pricing in the advert. They confirmed that they were on sale for £229 for the pair. I placed my order immediately.

I was very excited to hear these speakers given the reviews I’d read. I’m also a huge fan of the Quad signal. My front room consists of the Quad 12l2s as main speakers in my 5.1 kit, Quad Centre, Quad l-ite satellites for rear and Quad l-ite subwoofer. Now I could have the Quad signal as part of my desktop system at a part of the price.

Quad speakers are renowned for being extremely neutral. In other words they take nothing away from or add anything to the original recording or source. Although my Quads were all very well reviewed at the time of their release, around 2004-2007, there are other fantastic speakers out there. For me I liked the standing associated with being a Quad title-holder. I clearly liked the signal and most importantly I got all the kit at bargain prices. Most of it was ex-dem so I saved at least 20% on the normal retail price. Another vital factor was matching the speakers crosswise the whole 5.1 kit. All of them should work well together. The 5.1 kit is driven by an Arcam AVR 300 that again was ex-dem. The front speakers are bi-amped and bi-wired. This affords them 120 watts per channel and per driver.

Being a hi-fi enthusiast makes you a bit picky about what you'll listen to. So how do the Quad actives signal? Well place it this way… I’ve not stopped playing them since the minute they at home in the house. I’ve terrified everything at them. From Led Zepp to Beethoven. Alison Krauss through to Prokofiev. Unbelievable! If anything the Quad actives may signal better than the 12l2s in my front room due to the fact that their bi-amp design is impeccably matched to the drivers in a way that any other amp would struggle to better. There is plenty of power and the signal path is not compromised by additional cabling and junction points. So the signal could be characterised as being clean, clear with tight bass control and a surprising quantity of depth considering the cabinet size. Though being nearfield monitors they are very revealing! If the recording is poor it sounds poor through these. You are very conscious of it. Also after a few days I became very aware of the deficiencies of the iMac’s signal card. There was a constant low hum and other nasties such as buzzing and clicks. Hissing too. Another issue was that I wanted to run an ancient radio tuner through these. All I could lay my hands on at small notice was a phono switchbox. This worked but it was trying to control the volume of the tuner other than messing around at the back of the monitors. Not really ideal.

I realised I need to look for some kind of preamp. Nothing suitable for desktop audio seemed immediately available. Initially I started looking at pro audio solutions. Mixers and the like. Not only were these really expensive but they also took up a lot of desk space. The other thing that seemed clear was that some kind of external signal processing solution would improve on the signal the iMac was competent of producing. Looked like a DAC was vital. This took me into a whole new ballpark. It came down to two companies in the end. Cambridge Audio's Dacmagic or NuForce's uDac or Icon products. Necessarily it came down to my need to switch sources easily and the ability to control volume at the turn of a dial or via an installed remote app on an iPhone. The Dacmagic looked very tempting but there was no preamp function or headphone amplifier. This left me with the NuForce products.

NuForce's website information is confusing. Being new to the world of DACs and desktop audio I knew small about by USB as a means of feeding an external digital to analogue converter with a digital signal. I was familiar with toslink optical links from the Arcam processor but USB was new to me. So I started reading about jitter and the degrading effect is has on signal quality and the technology used by NuForce to take right these issues. I also read some astonishing reviews on their uDac, Icon 2 and Icon HDP products. Turns out NuForce are an American company that specialises in really high end digital amplifiers and DACs. We're talking thousands of pounds. Their 'desktop' range is much more affordable though. The uDac was offered to me for £55 for example. In the end I got a fantastic deal on the Icon HDP. I had to make a couple of phone calls at this point. I can't say how much I saved but I got a better bargain on this than I got on the Quads! The Icon HDP is a combined class A headphone, preamp and top quality DAC rolled into one. Perfect for my needs.

Now we have the combined effect of the iMac and its ability to feed a decently digital signal from iTunes or Spotify Premium to the NuForce Icon HDP via USB and then onto the Quad QPMs. The effect the Icon HDP had on the system was staggering. This truly is a phenomenal product. Undoubtedly the most accomplished, best sounding and most helpful piece of hi-fi equipment I've ever bought. The whole soundstage opened right up. Subtle nuances present in the recordings were revealed in extraordinary detail. A truly three dimensional space is open to the listener. Given I'm used to the full Quad/Arcam experience in the front room it's incredible how lifelike and articulate my bargain desktop audio solution really is. The Quads in themselves are remarkable for the price but the Icon HDP is literally a revelation.

As you'll see from the photos I've experimented with this system in all sorts of combinations. At one point I even hooked up the Quad sub to hear the difference it made. I concluded it's really not vital the system is already competent of producing nearly terrifying levels of deep controlled bass without it. Midrange too is superb. Treble crisp and smear free. I've been particularly enjoying the albums below. I've pretty much went into the backroom! All in all, a pretty excellent October week…

Trentemøller – The Very Last Resort
Mercan Dede – 800
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rachmaninov
Alison Krauss – Lonely Runs Both Ways
John Hiatt – Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?
Booka Shade – Memento
Avishai Cohen – Aurora

By the way the Quads are still available on eBay, last few remaining. Other speakers shown for comparison.

I’m looking at the Onkyo SKS-HT870 Home Theater Speaker System for $ 294. I need it to go with my HDTV and I need it to plug into my desktop. Is this a excellent deal because my friend says he has a 2000 W collective speakers with aa 500W sub for $ 200

Answer by Robert
No home theater system in a box is a excellent home theater system. You get what you pay for. If you want your speakers to signal like tin cans on strings, then by all means, buy a $ 300 system out of a box. These systems are complete rip-offs.

For double the money you can easily get 10 times the signal quality and far more versatility. Seriously consider saving your money and getting a component system.

If your friend says he has a 2000W speaker system, then he is either a liar or a moron. Sorry if that was blunt, but that’s the simple certainty.

Answer by American Idle
Agree with the above proclamation about your friend. For $ 200 there is no way his system can be anything but rubbish. Excellent speakers aren’t cheap. Also the manufacturers lie through their teeth about the wattage of their systems. What they do is take the peak power of 1 channel (the max power the receiver can produce for an instant) on their receiver, and then multiply that by 5 for the 5 channels. Than they add on the peak power for the sub. At no point in time will the system ever place out that much power. Possibly 200-300 watts max. Look on the back of the receiver and you’ll see a wattage rating, which is the maximum digit of watts it will ever use. On ALL of the “1000+” watt HTIB setups I’ve seen that rating is much lower, like 300-600 watts. So how, after the electricity used to power the illumination, circuits, and the energy converted into heat, is it sending numerous hundred more watts to the speakers than what went into the receiver?

As far as HTIB’s go, Onkyo makes some of the best systems. Although saying you have the best HTIB is like saying you have the best of the sexually transmitted diseases. Here is what I would do instead. Start off with a excellent receiver, such as either of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-591-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B003H04Q8C/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1288064657&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-520-K-Home-Theater-Receiver/dp/B0039XQKXQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1288064657&sr=8-4

Then get a set of speakers. This has the largest impact on signal so should take up the leading part of your budget. I would recommend export from a brand that specializes in speakers and staying away from the huge box names like sony, samsung etc. because they make some of the worst speakers. They are all about the bottom line, promotion in volume, and place nothing into the quality of materials and engineering ( always paper and plastic drivers in poorly designed plastic enclosures with cheap crossovers and internal components and small or often no internal dampening to avoid resonance and distortion). If you just want a basic, affordable system, this is the one I would buy:

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-RM705-Theater-System/dp/B000WGJX5A/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1288064771&sr=1-2

It will ruin your friends system, as well as each other HTIB (including the $ 1000+ Bose systems).
If you can spend more, this is one of CNet’s best reviewed systems and doubtless the best value in home theater systems:

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Classic-Theater-System-Black/dp/B001202C44/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1288064879&sr=1-1

If you can still spend more, this is another step up:

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-HD-500-Compact-Theater/dp/B001XURGT4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1288064944&sr=1-1

Then if you can still afford more this is one of my favorite systems. It has an awesome sub, and some of the smallest, most striking looking speakers, but the signal is anything but small:

http://www.amazon.com/Mirage-MX-5-1-Channel-Minuscule-Theater/dp/B001IX5IZA/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1288064997&sr=1-4

This is the last system I’m going to recommend. The sky is the limit as far as price. I could keep recommending all the way up to systems that cost numerous hundred thousand. Paradigm is know for making fantastic speakers at an affordable price, and this is no exception:
http://www.amazon.com/Paradigm-Cinema-90-System-Silver/dp/B00291225O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1288065131&sr=1-1

Answer by Mistry
Obviously this one is the best home theater system.
Onkyo SKS-HT870 Home Theater Speaker System
Technical Details
* Front/Center/Surround/Surround Back 130 W max. input power
* Subwoofer 290 W Max. output power
* Dual-drive, floor-standing tallboy front speakers

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-SKS-HT870-Theater-Speaker-System/dp/B002C73WRW/?tag=knapaaai-20

@@@

What do you reckon? Answer below!