# Forum Home Renovation Home Theatres  Home Theatre cabling (speakers, 70ohms digital and HDMI)

## trixpan

Hi there, 
I'm a übber nerd and as such I could not accept the idea of having a cots home theatre setup, instead I decided to concentrate things on my computer system, that used to be my daily basis desktop workstation and now starts acumulating the place of my DVD player/TV set top box/PVR/etc 
The reasoning behind idea was simple: My computer needed to be turned on 24x7, so instead of wasting CPU cycles (and electricity) pluging other equipment on my living room, better to concentrate things. 
So far so good, the system seems to work without major issues BUT... this setup requires me to pass a pair of cables accross half of my apartment (1xHDMI, 1xDigital Audio). 
Looking at the sparky debate I've understood it is illegal to do electrical work on your own here in Australia.  *Is it legal to do audio/video cabling on my own or do I need to call a licensed cabler?* The apartment I'm living is rented and my original idea is to pass cables under the carpet with a fish tape.

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## Ashwood

Hi, 
These cables merely transmit super low voltage signals - they wouldn't even kill a fly - I wouldn't even view this as electrical work. 
See what the sparkies say, but if this is illegal under the law, then something must be wrong with our system. 
My 2 c worth.

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## blonk

Yes you can do this wiring yourself. It's only fixed electrical wiring and network/phone cabling that requires a licence. If it has a plug/socket, you can do it.

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## seriph1

this is not electrical work  -  anything with plugs already fitted is legal to fit off ..... even if you made your own "interconnects" (that's what they're all called) you'd be fine. 
Depending on the run length though, you may have problematic signal degradation so I suggest you get your full length cables and make sure they work fine at that length  before going to the trouble of running the cables under the carpet 
the main issue with running a system like you're suggesting is: lose one item to the demons of digital technology and you've lost everything..... and personally I doubt losing it all is worth it considering how cheap all this gear is these days. You will need to install a repeater remote control or effective RF based keyboard and mouse system that will work over the distance as well.

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## kombiman

> Hi there, 
> I'm a übber nerd and as such I could not accept the idea of having a cots home theatre setup, instead I decided to concentrate things on my computer system, that used to be my daily basis desktop workstation and now starts acumulating the place of my DVD player/TV set top box/PVR/etc 
> The reasoning behind idea was simple: My computer needed to be turned on 24x7, so instead of wasting CPU cycles (and electricity) pluging other equipment on my living room, better to concentrate things. 
> So far so good, the system seems to work without major issues BUT... this setup requires me to pass a pair of cables accross half of my apartment (1xHDMI, 1xDigital Audio). 
> Looking at the sparky debate I've understood it is illegal to do electrical work on your own here in Australia.  *Is it legal to do audio/video cabling on my own or do I need to call a licensed cabler?* The apartment I'm living is rented and my original idea is to pass cables under the carpet with a fish tape.

  Go for it mate, fine to do all that and renting means stealth rather than actual permanence.   www.dealextreme.com is great for cables.  Don't get ripped off by monster cables etc, those 1's and 0's don't care if there is gold plated oxygen thief's selling anything.

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## reddahaydn

I just ran cables under my carpet for speakers (in an apartment) and while it was a pain to do, it turned out ok. The cables sink into the underlay and they aren't very obvious, especially if you didn't know they were there. 
Off topic, is it illegal to install a splitter for a TV ariel in the wall? technically I put my own f plug interconnects on a few extra pieces of RG6 cable and just mounted the new socked in the wall?

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## seriph1

hi  -  is it a splitter that includes a signal amplifier powered by a plug-pack? If not, then it is not illegal as far as I can see .... if you mean, "am I allowed to do it by the Landlord etc." I would imagine they'd not like it, but why tell 'em   :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  
Also: you can get quality flat speaker cables that are basically undetectable under carpet.

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## bmcosta

> I just ran cables under my carpet for speakers (in an apartment) and while it was a pain to do, it turned out ok. The cables sink into the underlay and they aren't very obvious, especially if you didn't know they were there. 
> Off topic, is it illegal to install a splitter for a TV ariel in the wall? technically I put my own f plug interconnects on a few extra pieces of RG6 cable and just mounted the new socked in the wall?

  your not going to get zapped by RG6. Fondle away

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