Cable Management?

[dicecca112]

How do you guys do it? I have a ton of cables, how do you know what's what and bundle them together?

Point and Case

[Skippman]

Well I guess I'm not sure I understand your question.

For a long time I was a big fan of zip ties and split loom. It does indeed look nice when it's finished but if you ever want to change something better have some cutters handy and a bunch of replacement zip ties.

When I built my basement theater I decided to use Velcro ties instead. They worked fantastically. They're easy to use, hold very well, and are reusable.


If you're asking how do you know which wires are ok to bundle together that's going to depend on a few variables. As a rule you don't want to bundle anything carrying power with anything carrying signal. In other words you don't want to bundle your component video and power cables together. If your power isn't clean you CAN induce 60hz hum on the signal wires. In audio this comes across as a huming. In video it comes across as a rolling line in the picture.

With optical cables like TOS/LINK you want to avoid kinking them at all costs and doing so can cause the fibers to break and stop carrying the signal. Make sure you leave enough slack to have a gentle bend in the wire as opposed to a sharp kink. Think of it like a water loop in your PC. You wouldn't want it to have a 90deg bend, would you?

Speaker wires are ok to bunch together. Just make sure the weight of the bunched together wiring isn't so heavy as to pull the cables out of the rear of the AVR. I've seen this happen with 7 channel systems and heavy gauge speaker wire. While we're on speaker wiring, I can't recommend banana plugs enough. When you start getting connection dense on the rear of your AVR with 5.1 and 7.1 systems using those little screw down terminals can be rough. Banana plugs eliminate the need for all of that.

[martini161]

for some reason im very good at managing cables inside a computer case but suck at it on the outside

[vicaphit]

Easy! Just remove the unneeded mouse and use the velcro strap as seen in the picture!

[dicecca112]

Funny, how did I know someone was going to pick up on that. That's from my EEE PC, that's the Power Brick, and my Mouse is from the EEE PC as well. The Netbook is one the dresser out of frame, and that is hanging down.

[vicaphit]

Haha, I was just trying to be funny. Anyway, I always think about where the cables are going to be running, and I will put in items based on where the cables should be. It all goes crazy after I have organized because I frequently take my computer to other places.

[DaIceMan]

Haven't gotten as far as "how to" just yet, but next weekend is reorganize/cable manage the downstairs TV rack. I'll try to shoot pictures as I go along.

I found this site this week, and it's a decent idea, just not sure how applicable it is for everyone. http://www.decluttered.com/

[vbironchef]

What's the dif. between someone married and single? answer: Neat wires. It takes alot of time and patience to do it right. Have to unplug everything to untangle the crows nest.

[DaIceMan]

What's the dif. between someone married and single? answer: Neat wires. It takes alot of time and patience to do it right. Have to unplug everything to untangle the crows nest.

neat wires are only necessary in obvious spaces (as far as my wife is concerned, that is)... like the upstairs living room. My computer room is behind a door, and until I get a chance/the money to buy the boxes for my network cables, the door gets closed when company comes over.

[vbironchef]

What's personal space?

[stev]

Just saw this posted on a newswire today.

The clip says that this is a LEADING provider of telecommunications! That's just shocking!

[DMB2000uk]

wow, just, wow.

Dan

[dicecca112]

Just saw this posted on a newswire today.

The clip says that this is a LEADING provider of telecommunications! That's just shocking!

Caption says R&D lab, so I'm not surprised. Must be a bitch to find a cable when you need it

[bubba]

Hey trace the gray wire.

Here is a shot of my little wire room before I cleaned it up, can't imagine that dealing with that mess all the time.

[mr_noname111]

My idea of cable management: as long as you cant see the mess, often hidden behind desks, dont worry about it!

[Major_A]

Zip ties are my best bud. Too bad they just wrangle the mess and not hide it.

[DMB2000uk]

It's a shame that the cables aren't long enough to at least tuck along the skirting-board, rather than half way up the wall.

Get some plastic tube that is the same colour as the wall and run them all in that so they aren't black and as a visual mess.

Dan