Answered How do you keep the cables behind your TV tidy??

nickb23

Established Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
452
Reaction score
16
Points
179
Location
Maidstone, Kent
Hey guys, I have just picked up a new TV, and I was shocked at how messy all the cables are behind the TV stand. How do you guys keep them tidy, as well as accessible??

Nick
 
You don't :)

Once you have your connectivity finalised and cable lengths minimised you can use a cable sock and or ties to make it tidy but that then makes them less 'accessible' should you need to make changes.

Joe
 
You can get "neoprene sleeves" which you can put round the cables, they look better than cables I guess.

eg.

51PHPkYJ4RL._SY355_.jpg
 
IMG_4695.JPG
Yep always a tough one, my most recent tidy up used Velcro cable ties and attaching the 2 extension plugs to the back of the unit still a mess but a more manageable mess, swapping out the Ethernet cables for flat ones tmr to make it less squashed when the unit is moved back against the wall.
 
I don't think it matters what you do. From a fresh start, everything can look reasonable if you take care, but as you add more kit, change or have to fix things, it will all start snaking again. I've tried various things, but nothing works 100%.
I recently changed the unit the TV sits on, so had to pull all the kit out and relocate it. With all the best will in the world, you get half way through, and start to lose that will pretty quickly. All things said, from the front, you can't see anything much (cable management in modern TV's is actually pretty good now), but behind, it's still a different matter. I resort to good old velcro where I can, and it works - sort of!
 
Let them hang (ooer!). Don't bunch stuff up with ties etc. Next thing you know you'll be introducing mains noise into the system. For what? So you can tidy a bunch of stuff you can't see?

I tend to run my cables in layers. Speaker cables at the bottom, mains on top and interconnects above (audio then video). The layers are draped over one another. It isn't the neatest but it all makes sense and you can easily get to stuff. NEVER coil them up.

The amount of people I see using ties, socks etc. get into a frenzy when they swap out a component (or even do a spot of dusting) never ceases to amaze me.
 
You could consider these UGREEN cable management boxes from Amazon although they are a tad expensive. The bottom one holds a 6 gang extension lead and the middle has the power bricks for the Hi-Fi and the top contains the 6 gang extension lead for the computer hardware. Not 100% ideal but tidies the area up somewhat and keeps dust from collecting on the plugs etc.
IMG_0021.jpg
 
I used to try to keep them grouped and tied, but as others have said it becomes a major headache when you unplug, swap or move something.

My solution was to build my own AV cabinet and drill routing holes so that all interconnects between components take the shortest path within the cabinet.... they don't protrude outside.

The only real mess at the back is mains cables, and honestly I've learned to let them hang loose.
 
Separating and bundling data cables, speaker cables and power cables is as far as I go. It still looks untidy down the back of the AV rack but I don't see any realistic alternative currently. If all data could be sent via TCP losslessly and at the required speeds for modern AV with zero lag and contention issues then in theory you could remove all the signal cables and do it all wirelessly but you'd still have the issue of providing power to your speakers and separates and driving them to the same standard that you are used to with your current AVR setup. So an 11.1 system that would require eleven separate power supplies for the speakers (and their necessary built in amp) plus one for the subwoofer (or 2 if you want 11.2). Too much hassle to be practical and you'd need one muvvahumpa of a wireless backbone/router if you want to also consider wireless HDMI and UHD and all that entails bandwidth wise. Potentially it could all be simplified with optical digital signalling and possibly even power deliver via the same cable if two lasers were firing down cable on different wavelengths. A sort of souped up toslink cable. One wavelength provides signal and the other (and much stonger beam) provides power supply via optical to electrical conversion. All a bit blue sky scifi currently though.
 
I built a false wall to hide my cabling that worked well when I had the Sammy JS9000 with one connect box . I incorporated my AV unit into the wall with a couple of usb fans at the rear for cooling . JS is gone now and a DX902 sits in its place but most of my cabling is still hidden. Some pics of my build.
downloadfile-5.jpg
downloadfile-7.jpg
downloadfile-6.jpg
 
This thread was highlighted in the AVF email newsletter, timely as I have just finished tidying mine:

5.jpg 4.jpg 3.jpg 2.jpg 1.jpg
 
You can get "neoprene sleeves" which you can put round the cables, they look better than cables I guess.

eg.

51PHPkYJ4RL._SY355_.jpg
Problem is cables are all different lengths so end up coming out of the sleeve at different points
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom