I need a "good idea" for electrical connections (HT setup)

[SunnyD]

Quick backstory - just bought a 46" LCD a couple weeks ago and got a mount for it on the livingroom wall. I'll take care of the cables hanging down using some wiring conduit - not a big deal.

Now the annoying part is what to do about the electrical connections. For the time being I'm only using two outlets - one for the TV and one for the DirecTV box. Eventually, I'm going to have a BR player and probably HT speaker setup as well.

As it stands, I'm already using a power strip simply because of the offset locations of the two nearest electrical outlets. I'd prefer to keep everything as neat and orderly as possible, as well as kind of hidden. This is where I'm at a loss.

So I'm looking for suggestions, preferably the kind where I won't need an electrician.

Here's what I've got so far (pardon the crappy cell phone pic)

 

[ImpulsE69]

I have one of these..but it might be overkill for you currently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If0m-GCRooA

They are pretty nice.

A friend of mine did something interesting in his apartment where he put a curtain rod above the TV, and some dark red drapes on the sides. It gives a "theatrical" affect, and hides the cables. Might seem a bit girly at first thought, but doesn't look bad at all and is a cheap "fix"

 

[jtvang125]

A wider tv stand can hide the 2 outlets but you still have to deal with the visible cables to the tv. A heavily shielded hdmi cable might allow you to run it along side the power in a single conduit.

 

[jhansman]

This is why I am not wall mounting my LR TV of the future. It will instead sit on a nice piece of furniture that will hide all cabling and power sources. Kinda hard to see where your strip is plugged in, and that TV looks lost on that wall. I vote for furniture.

 

[jtvang125]

This is why I am not wall mounting my LR TV of the future. It will instead sit on a nice piece of furniture that will hide all cabling and power sources. Kinda hard to see where your strip is plugged in, and that TV looks lost on that wall. I vote for furniture.

I mounted mine because I needed the top of my tv stand for the center. The shelves beneath placed it below ear level. IMO there's just something about the way a nicely wall mounted tv looks when done right.

 

[Gillbot]

Run it in the wall, you can skip the plates if you don't want to be fancy.

Cheap plates are on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-gang-pull...674?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f063c8af2

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Check out Ikea "floating" cabinets, they go well with all mounted TVs and do a pretty good job of hiding things.

 

[Modelworks]

Other than power strips there really is nothing else you can use. The NEC rules are consumer items have to be plugged in and cannot be direct connected unless they came from the factory designed for that, NEC is only interested about safety not looks , they want you to be able to pull a plug if something starts to smoke. It can be hard to find good quality power strips anymore with all the Chinese imports. You can easily make very good ones by going to a hardware store, buying an outlet box or boxes and installing wall outlets in those powered from a suitable sized cord. It is what I do for my aquarium setups and the outlets are going to be superior to anything else you find because they are real wall outlets.

 

[SunnyD]

Other than power strips there really is nothing else you can use. The NEC rules are consumer items have to be plugged in and cannot be direct connected unless they came from the factory designed for that, NEC is only interested about safety not looks , they want you to be able to pull a plug if something starts to smoke. It can be hard to find good quality power strips anymore with all the Chinese imports. You can easily make very good ones by going to a hardware store, buying an outlet box or boxes and installing wall outlets in those powered from a suitable sized cord. It is what I do for my aquarium setups and the outlets are going to be superior to anything else you find because they are real wall outlets.

lol, I'm not talking about hardwiring my AV stuff. I'm talking about the setup in the pic - you can see where the two outlets are on either side of the bench. I'm trying to figure out a "clean" way to get power "hidden" behind whatever we put there.

 

[bobdole369]

I'd prefer to keep everything as neat and orderly as possible, as well as kind of hidden. This is where I'm at a loss.

Use a larger power strip with longer cord?

http://www.wayfair.com/Middle-Atlan...GPA49-DF2013&gclid=CKj2q9-pm64CFQFY7Aodw2knNQ

Add some wire management above and below, or maybe even bury the strip itself inside some wire channel?

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/american/catalog/open-slot-duct-100mm-100mm-pieces-p-752.php

 

[frowertr]

I ran all my cables through the inside of the wall EXCEPT for power. For that, I just tapped onto the power outlet that was already near the floor directly under where I wanted my TV mounted and ran a piece of Romex up the inside of the wall to where I was mounting the TV and installed a dedicated outlet just for it there.

I hate wires so and seem a little OCD about them... Sorry for the crooked pics. Damn cell phone

Your setup would be a little more tricky as there are probably studs between each outlet and your TV (wall studs run vertical every 16"). So you would have to do some drilling (spade bits cut through 2x4 in seconds) in order to fish Romex to directly under your TV(from either the left or right outlet) and then straight up to behind it in order to do what I did.

 

[sivart]

Try something like this.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs..._mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D27X-_-202548624

Shouldn't require an electrician...does require cutting into your drywall.

 

[sdifox]

If you are willing to do some drywall work, you can splice wire from existing socket and add another receptable behind cabinet.

the splicing is just screwing 2 wires to the existing socket (parallel connection), not a big deal, just remember to turn power off.

And since you are going to do wire work and drywall, add 2 conduits to vertical so you can add a socket behind the tv and the other conduit is for source. User larger calibre conduit for the source.

Alternatively, you can add a socket bar across.