AV cables in solid wall - what the regs say?

[Deuce]

Hi all,

Just being cheeky and asking for some advice really..

In my new house, we have solid walls throughout - great, but not so great for my home cinema kit. My issue is that whilst I would can chase the AV cables to wherever they need to be, I would prefer to do it in such a way that leaves the system open for future expansion. In the previous house we had stud walls and I was able to route flexible trunking between wall ports and pull through/swap whatever I needed.

In an ideal world, I would do something similar by cutting into the block, embedding some solid wall PVC trunking/pipe, and plastering back over. I can keep all my cuts continuous in either the horizontal or vertical, but my concern is what depth I'm allowed to cut into the block wall. Ideally I would need to go in to the block in 50x50mm channels to allow the space to run multiple feeds including moulded connectors... I'm not as regs savvy as you lot so thought I'd just ask the experts

NB for the mains power I'm chasing along separate routes to run the mains independently from speaker flex/hdmi etc.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Forgive my naivety but cant it all be wireless these days?
Bluetooth or something innit?

 

[Deuce]

Forgive my naivety but cant it all be wireless these days?
Bluetooth or something innit?

The problem is, that Bluetooth speakers need to have their own individual amplifiers built in. And a decent amp and power supply is around £2k, whearas the tat they build in to Bluetooth speakers is probably worth more like £10. Same as soundbars, trendy but a bit.. ummm.. crap

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Ok.

 

[Squid]

How old is the house BTW?

 

[Deuce]

How old is the house BTW?

7 years. It's odd that it has solid walls for its age.

 

[Squid]

7 years. It's odd that it has solid walls for its age.

That is surprising in this day and age.

 

[Chris Gardner]

If you want to future proof run cat6 cable everywhere you can but cat6 to any media type kits from eBay (China) that way you are future proofed and then just cap it the same you will be doing for the power

 

[coolsparx]

Forgive my naivety but cant it all be wireless these days?
Bluetooth or something innit?

Anything wireless will degrade or fail at some point in time - there is no substitute for copper or possibly fibre.

 

[Pete999]

BS 7671 doesn't cover AV cables does it?

 

[Deuce]

BS 7671 doesn't cover AV cables does it?

Not sure, doubt it. I was more thinking about regs regarding cut depth into the block wall. For the mains power to the TV I'm just gonna chase the cable in the normal manner, to a single low profile socket behind the TV itself.

 

[Pete999]

Not sure, doubt it. I was more thinking about regs regarding cut depth into the block wall. For the mains power to the TV I'm just gonna chase the cable in the normal manner, to a single low profile socket behind the TV itself.

Would the regs you ask about be the building regs then?

 

[telectrix]

if you're got the money to install AV cables you're earning too much. ghetto blaster in living room, doors open, sorted. pink floyd throughout the house. any complaints, send them to bernados.

 

[Squid]

if you're got the money to install AV cables you're earning too much. ghetto blaster in living room, doors open, sorted. pink floyd throughout the house. any complaints, send them to bernados.

Brixton Briefcase you mean.........

 

[Deuce]

Would the regs you ask about be the building regs then?

Any regs, I was just reaching out for what the rules are in general for chasing cables etc in a house. I have since been referred to the 1/3 vertical, 1/6 rule horizontal which seems to be the only thing I need to bare in mind.

 

[Deuce]

if you're got the money to install AV cables you're earning too much. ghetto blaster in living room, doors open, sorted. pink floyd throughout the house. any complaints, send them to bernados.

I live in a sleepy stone market town - the locals would burn me in the town square if I even purchased a ghetto blaster

Not to mention my lovely wife... She's vicious!