$100 to $200

Vanco 1 Gang Wall Plate 

Down to the Wire

The reason wireless speakers have swooped onto the scene is obvious. Unfortunately, wireless systems can be impractical for many reasons or just plain expensive. Wrestling with speaker wire can be the most imposing part of setting up a home theater surround system. You don’t have to be tackling an extensive 7.1 set-up to be faced with the question of where the cables should go and how they should be connected. Let us ease your mind. It isn’t as complicated as it seems and you certainly don’t have to be stuck with the world’s largest cord mound right in the middle of your living room.

Connect the Dots

Vanco’s HTWP62BW 6.2 Home Theater Connection Wall Plate is an all-in-one solution for banishing the mess of wires by running them through the wall. This wall plate is compatible with three-gang junction boxes and low voltage brackets and it includes a convenient bulk pass-through spout for your other home theater cables. Although labeled for an easy home theater set-up, this wall plate can be used for whole house audio as well. With six pairs of red and black binding post connections and two RCA subwoofer jacks, this wall plate is thorough and flexible.

Binding posts are one style of connecting speaker wire to a device, source, or jack. They are mainly used with banana plugs but most, like these, can also be connected to bare wire. They can easily fit speaker wire up to 12 AWG and they do not require any type of soldering for a secure connection. The black and red posts are marked on both the back and the front, which makes matching positive and negatives confusion-free. Please note the subwoofer connections on the back side of this plate are screw-on F-style coax, not RCA. All jacks are gold-plated for the seamless signal passage and optimal sound.

DataComm Recessed Pro-Power Kit with Surge Suppressor

The patented DataComm 45-0024-WH Recessed Pro-Power Kit is an easy-to-install solution for hiding power and audio/video cables behind an HDTV. A duplex surge supressor receptacle provides power for up to two devices, while a straight blade inlet provides organized cable routing. A flexible serrated screen on the interior of the straight blade inlet keeps cables securely routed.

Wall Plate Mixing Microphone and Analog Audio Extender

The PulseAudio PA-WPMIX Microphone Mixing Extender with dual-gang wall-plate transmitter extends and mixes balanced XLR and unbalanced analog audio signals up to 300m/984ft over a single Cat5e/6 cable. Mixing is done with an easy to use dial on the transmitting wall plate unit that is able to mix audio between the XLR and stereo AUX inputs. The PA-WPMIX also utilizes PoC (power over cable) technology so that the transmitter can be powered from the receiver with a single power supply allowing for flexibility. Have more than 2 sources needing to be mixed? No problem as an additional PA-TXMIX (sold separately) can be used and cascaded over a single Cat5e/6 for even larger solutions!

The PA-WPMIX includes two units: transmitting unit (PA-TXMIX-WP) and receiving unit (PA-RXMIX). The transmitting unit is used to capture the audio input(s) and carries the signals over a single Cat5e/6 cable. The receiving unit is responsible for converting the audio signals over the Cat5e/6 cable to a balanced XLR and 3.5mm stereo audio outputs.