I have been visiting this board daily for the past 6 months. I have enjoyed it enough to become an Axiomite. I am enjoying a pair of M 22's that I ordered right after Christmas. I am currently in the process of building a home theater upstairs that I plan to fill with a few more Axiom products. Where can I find a good source for wiring help. I need to know things like: What do I need to run to the plasma/lcd? I know I should have HDMI and power, but is there anything else that I will need? The equipment rack will be mounted inside the side wall. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum spineshot

Congratulations on the purchase of your M22.

For very good information on cables http://www.bluejeanscable.com (Blue Jeans Cable) is an excellent source. They have excellent, detailed information on all your cable needs that relys on science as opposed to mythical claims. They also have information on what product would work best in certain applications in your home. I have bought a lot of products from them. The build quality on the cables is fantastic, their customer service is excellent and their prices are reasonable.

http://www.monoprice.com (Monoprice) is another excellent company to buy your cables from. Their prices are substantially cheaper than any other company out there. I recently purchased some cables from them and even though the connectors are not as good as quality as what blue jeans cable uses the price difference is well worth it. They have unbelieveable prices and you can save a lot of money shopping with them.

Either company I highly recommend!

What other types of equipment do you plan to use (DVD, Blu-ray, Sat/Cable, etc)? How about your power supply (power bar, surge protector, etc)?

Also be sure your equipment rack is well ventilated and/or add a means of cooling it (fans, open spaces, etc).

What is your future goal regarding any additional speakers? Where would be likely locations for placing them? How do you want to run your wires (inside walls, behind mouldings, exposed)?

The smart thing to do for in-wall wiring is run it all through conduit, this way if you ever need to change it out or add an extra cable, you just run a fish tape through the conduit, attach the new cable and pull it through.

If you are looking at just adding or subtracting new components to a system in the room, you would need to buy the cables according to those individual items needs. For the best picture and to carry the sound signal from most of the new HD devices, you run HDMI cables and that is all you should need as long as your avr is new and can handle the new audio codes.

Gentlemen, thanks for the quick replies. I am building this from scratch, so the only thing I have right now for it is an Xbox 360. I like the idea of M80's up front and QS8's as surrounds. I am going to wire it for a 7.2 set-up, but it will probably start out as a 5.1 system. This is an unfinished upstairs (has been for 11 years now), and my wife is on my behind about getting it complete. The room is 15'6" x 24', with two dormers on the right side, while facing where the TV will end up. The seating area will fall between the dormers, which will put it 12-15' from the monitor. The equipment will be housed in a built-in on the right wall, that will not have doors. I know it will have the 360, a DVR, and possibly a PS3 for Blu-ray. I will need a new receiver to run everything. Boy, I have got alot to do.

and a lot to buy!!!

Are you going to go projector or flatscreen TV?

The favorite avr amongst the forum right now is the Denon 3808, it can be purchased from 6Ave on an avs forum member special when you CALL them. I think they are still selling it for $1099 but it might be $100-200 higher. Onkyo is also another highly recommended product around here, the 876, I beleive is comparable to the 3808 but it has a better upscaler the downside is it is often reported to run hot, at least hotter than the Denon.

...and a lot to learn!

Jakewash, I am going flat screen, but don't kill me! Is
everything routed through the AVR?

Yes. Makes life easier.

Others have already provided valuable input. But there is one that folks missed. Since you have a green-field environment, I would DEFINITELY run component cables from the AVR to the TV (get it through the conduit). This in case you have issues with HDMI handshaking, cable box that won't behave etc. Better safe then sorry. I would also run SVIDEO cable. Why? because My denon and two of my Marantz's freak out every once in a while when I bring up the OSD. Instead of troubleshooting it, I just switch to SVIDEO (or component for that matter) and finis the configuring. It happens rarely enough that I just chalk it up to HDMI quirks, but it happens enough that I would recommend it. It's cheap insurance.

I keep seeing "HT install" and thinking "KT Tunstall," even though I don't listen to her music.

Well stop thinking that, and start thinking about ways to help me out. (extra more) Such as...dropping by on a Saturday morning and pulling some wire. It's only a few thousand miles drive.

It's a shorter distance if I walk, so I'll get started.

That is good advice. A cheap component with L/R cable can save a tone of headaches, and provide a quick setup change if you want to load up temporary component (e.g., a friends video camera, or a test DVD player, etc). I had that very problem this weekend when a cable came undone and I could not setup my AVR properly. Felt like a real idiot when I realized the problem. If I was troubleshooting a friends system that would have been the first thing I checked. With Hansang's advice, I could have at least finished the setup and problem solved with the music on!

Actually, with the flexibility of most mid / high end receivers, you could run both component and HDMI and pick/choose by output device.

That's the point.