October 01, 9:02 AM
Wires, wires, wires and more wires. That is what most Apartment-ites see when they are hooking up their complete entertainment center. You just moved into your new place. You have all the pieces near where you want them....but how do you hook it up?!?!?
It can be a challenge if you do not know what you are doing exactly. Luckily, I am a supreme technician when it comes to hooking up electronics! I have a few great tips to help put method to the madness to help you in hooking up your entertainment center in your apartment with somewhat ease.
These ideas are for people who have a basic cable structure where the cable comes from the wall and not a satellite. If you are setting up a satellite, please contact your customer service department for that satellite company.
For the sake of narrowing things down a little, lets say that you have a TV, DVD Player, Cable Box, and Stereo. This is easy-peazy. Remember, don't be scared...it's very difficult to mess something up with this. If you aren't getting the results that you want, try different combinations of wires connected to see what works. For this example we will imaging that your TV has one coaxial input and an A/V input and output.
Scratch Separation- First of all you will want to separate all of your different components (TV, DVD Player, Stereo, etc.) Then separate all of your wires into groups of alike wires.
Think Thoroughfare- Think of your entertainment center as a continuous flow of the image that comes from the wall, travels through your components, and ends at your Television. With that in mind, you have the basic idea that things need to go through your other components before getting to the TV.
Cable Before Audio- The basics of hooking things up should start with setting up your cable. You will need two to three coaxial cables to get your set up going. First attach one of these cables from the wall outlet. Then attach the other end of this to the cable box "input" jack. Next, attach a second coaxial cable to the "output" jack on the cable box and attach the other into the coaxial input on the TV. After this...your cable is all set up!
DVD...Or Gaming System- Now comes the time to set up your DVD Player or gaming system. It's easy...just use the A/V (yellow, red, white ends) cables to go from the output on the DVD Player and plug the other end into the TV's Audio/Video Input jacks. Now...that should be set up too!
The Stereo- Lastly, you will want to hook up the TV to your stereo. This will be done with Audio cables...these are the White and Red cables that are either on their own or part of an A/V component cable (yellow, red, white). Attach one side of the red and white cables to the "audio output" jacks on the TV. Then connect the other end to the "input" jacks on the stereo. Then connect your speakers to the appropriate jacks on the stereo and Wham-o! All should be complete!
Enjoy your new set up!