Labeling and Organizing that Wire Mess
Years ago, most home theater systems consisted solely of a television. When you brought it home you plugged it in to an electrical outlet, and if you had cable you installed one more wire to it, and ta-daa you were done. It was really just that easy. Two wires ... there was nothing hard about it. No fighting to figure out where each wire fit into an overall “home theater system.”
| Those days are long gone. With the advent of the VCR, more wires were added and so began the evolution of the home theater system. Stereos and computers started to enter the scene and with them came more wires. Soon there was surround sound, DVD’s, and DVD/R units, and home entertainment was no longer two wires and more importantly no longer that simple. The good news is that it doesn’t cost a great deal to convert a messy home theater system into one that is neatly wired with every cable, cord and plug easily identified and quickly restored if something comes loose or gets accidentally disconnected. |
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Since there are a lot of plug-in connectors going to electrical power strips or wall plugs that is usually a good place to start. Begin getting organized by identifying each of the wires. You can label each individual wire with the component to which it belongs. A great product for doing this is ID Wrapz, which can be stretched and placed on the end of the plug. These are just one of many different products available to organize your home theater; cable ties are also popular for this function. It is important to mark each wire and cable so you know what it is, and where it goes. This includes speaker wiring, component-to-component connections and that entire knotted mess that is usually lurking behind your home theater system. |
Unitag® are another handy product for getting rid of the wire jungle behind your home entertainment system. They come in four colors, for those of you that like to color code, or coordinate. You can attach them to each wire or cable, and write right on them. If you want to get extra organized, and neat or just have really bad handwriting, getting a label maker might be a good investment. The great thing about using labels is that when you use them your unitags become re-useable, just place another label on right on top. Remember, you must label both ends of any wire or cord to be effective, and it is a good idea to label your wires or cords along the middle as well so when you need to trace a wire, it is not a tremendous hassle.
The label printers are great for identifying and for organization, but if you leave the wires and cables as they are, it is just an identifiable mess. After labeling and organizing your wires and cables you should have a basic handle on what wire and plug goes where. Now it is time to create a neat, easy-to-live with method of keeping the wires neat. To easily route your wires from point A to point B, you can use things like cable clips, or if you need to actually screw your cabling into a surface cable P-clamps work great. Cable ties and twist locks allow the balance of the wires to be bundled into sensible, logically designed groupings that you can easily follow should you need to change wiring or relocate equipment.
After completion of all this, you should end up with a neat and organized home theater system. More importantly you will know what wires connect to what component, and a new if you should enhance your system the integration of a new piece of equipment will not be so dreadful. Fixing, disconnecting or re-connecting wires will become a piece of cake. The few dollars which you spend in creating an easy, simple to following wiring plan for your home theater entertainment system will repay you in the hours of frustration you will never spend tracing through knotted, unlabeled wires. Plus, after all is said and done, you will actually know how your home entertainment system is put together, which is truly priceless.