THE #1 AV NEWS PUBLICATION. PERIOD.

A Reminder On Wiring

ethernet-0213

By Lee Distad

You may think that the AV industry is standardized, but it’s really not. Even though HDMI and Ethernet are the norm now, between the major hardware players and the growing number of smaller solution providers there is a remarkable amount of minor variation in the way that different manufacturers achieve AV distribution and control.

That lack of standardization at the equipment level is apparent all the way to the installation level. The big question in AV integration is this: What is the best way to wire up a client’s project?

If you sit down with six veteran AV Pros from different firms and talk about wiring, you’re going to hear six different opinions about what the “right way” looks like.

In the midst of all the differences there are similarities between the various methods. Here are a few best practices that are common to industry veterans.

First, they wire for what they’re doing, not what they think they might do later. While “future-proofing” is all well and good, it’s possible to go too far.

Think about your design holistically by specifying everything that the system will do in terms of A/V and control, and in what rooms those things will be happening. If you go into enough detail in your project discovery interview with the client, you’re unlikely to miss anything.

After all, the client either wants a display or speakers (or both) in a location, or they don’t. Running lines for a function that they don’t want now because perhaps they might want it in the future may not be the best use of their funds.

The downside of future proofing is getting burned later. Wiring for technology that might come down the pipe in a year or five is a gamble.

No one can predict the future, and the cost to refit a wire run if you are mistaken can outweigh the benefits.

“Someone” (I’m not going to admit that it was me) installed a 75-foot HDMI cable in a client’s ceiling eight years ago for a “future” HD source. These days, the same run could have been done with two lines of Cat6.

Well, that was a waste of a thousand bucks.

If you really want to future proof an installation, run 1.5-inch plastic conduit to speculative locations so that later on, you or someone else can easily snake new lines.

There’s overkill, and then there’s over-overkill. While most of my career has been characterized by overkill  when it comes to audio and video quality, there’s something to be said for designing as much bang for the buck that the client’s budget will allow. Focus on value, in terms of things like sound quality and dollars-per-inch of screen size rather than just wantonly spending the client’s money.

The same holds true when designing for serviceability: Engineer in as much protection from failure and ease of service as possible. Having three HD-PVRs in a home’s video distribution means that if one fails on game day your on-call guy won’t get a call at 8 p.m. on a Sunday night.

Over-design in the areas that make sense. Don’t go crazy with the network wiring. Years ago I did an assessment on a home where the previous contractor had fallen down, and I was asked to determine what it would take to complete the project.

The first thing I noticed in my survey was that the contractor had wired a network plate with three Cat5e and two RG-6 coax cables in every room.

And by every room, I mean “every room” including the front hall, foyer, and the laundry room. If the client had really wanted to plug a printer into the foyer, then that might make some sense, but when asked about it the client had no clear idea of why he would need networking everywhere, so I think he was oversold on the “smart wire” thing.

More to the point, overspending on the infrastructure, beyond making it robust and serviceable takes away money that can be allocated to blowing away your client and their family and friends with big sight and sound. Wire for what you’re going to install, and instead of spending the client’s money on wiring for maybes, put that money into the best audio and video that you can specify for them.

Lee Distad is a rAVe columnist and freelance writer covering topics from CE to global business and finance in both print and online. Reach him at lee@ravepubs.com

Top