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Home theater wiring Since virtually every single home theater ever
set up has different audio/video components as part of the
entire system, you might want to check out the support page for links to hookup diagrams, tech support, and home theater installation services, especially if you are not 100% sure about the exact
types of cables you need to buy or how to properly hook up the entire home entertainment system.
For the best
possible performance from your entire home theater, we recommend
that you connect each of your A/V components, HDTV or projector, and speakers
& subwoofer with decent quality yet affordable cables, always with the mantra of "digital trumps analog". Notice we didn't say
that you should purchase the most expensive home theater cables, but also
don't let cheapo cables or an inferior analog connection be the weakest part of the signal chain.
HDMI / video cables The
best quality and simplest digital AV interface found on most of
today's home theater receivers, Blu-ray Disc / (HD) DVD players,
HDTV receivers, HD DVRs, video game consoles, high definition TVs,
and home theater projectors is HDMI, which stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface. Because HDMI cable can carry both uncompressed
7.1 channel digital audio and Full HD 1080p digital video through a single A/V cable, you'll enjoy having less cable clutter to deal with compared to any other type of connection.
If both your home theater receiver and HDTV / projector feature HDMI connectivity, you should definitely connect
them to each other using an HDMI cable. Any A/V source components with an HDMI output should be connected to a home theater receiver with
multiple HDMI inputs and switching using HDMI cables.
Blu-ray Disc players with BD-Live and Network streaming video capabilities also need to be connected to the network using Ethernet cable to experience all the "extra" entertainment possibilities.
If the home theater receiver features basic 1080p HDMI pass-through
inputs/switching, you will need to connect HDMI source components to the receiver using both HDMI cable and digital audio
cable -- see next column.
If you'll be
setting up a 5.1 home theater system (perhaps one that features
a surround receiver with integrated Blu-ray Disc/DVD player)
which lacks HDMI inputs and/or video switching, you may
instead need to rely on the video switching capabilities of your
HDTV. You'll need to connect each of your A/V source components
to the HDTV and send a single digital audio cable from the
output on the back of the HDTV to an input on the back of the
Blu-ray/DVD receiver. |
No HDMI? The minimum type of video connection cable that can be used to transmit HD video is the red/green/blue component video cable. Because component video cables can only carry a high definition video signal, you will need to separately run digital audio cables from your AV sources.
Digital audio cables There are two main types of digital audio interfaces and cable used on today's home theater gear - optical and coaxial.
Speaker wires For 5.1 and 7.1 channel home theater systems, you will need to run speaker wire from the back of the A/V receiver to each of five to seven surround sound speakers, plus a separate subwoofer cable from the sub pre-out on your A/V receiver to your powered subwoofer.
If you are setting up a home theater in a box system with "wireless" rear speakers, or a 2.1 or 1.1 virtual surround sound system, you obviously won't need to purchase speaker wire for rear surround speakers.
If you plan of hiding any speaker wires inside the walls, ceiling, or floor, you should go with in-wall speaker wire. You will most likely need to buy 100 feet or more of speaker cable, depending upon the size of your home theater room.
Don't forget to calculate for going around any corners in your room or audio video furniture, and also be sure to leave enough slack in all wires for easier access to the back side of your surround sound receiver in the future as you add new A/V sources to, or upgrade the source components of, your home theater.
Home theater surge suppressor Never plug the electrical power cords of your audio video equipment directly into an outlet! You should always run AC power, as well as any incoming cable, satellite, outdoor antenna, and phone lines through a home theater surge protector to protect your entire home theater system.
Stores To Shop For
Home Theater
Cables
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Where To Buy Besides Amazon.com, you can also shop for quality A/V cables and speaker wire at Better Cables, CSN Cables, Parts Express, and Smart Home. |
