OK, I am at the wiring stage for a new vacation home I am building (no not having built, actually building 100% myself) so running wires and anything custom is not a problem as I don't have drywall up yet.

My question is this:

Anyone have any problems with installing hardwire IR sensors behind a painted in-wall speaker grille? Need to know before I bust out the drill.


The new [URL=[Link: home.comcast.net]] setup[/URL] is going to be as stealth as possible, so I have in-wall speakers and subwoofer, my A/V cabinet is under the stairs with a little window to load up DVDs or VHS. The in-wall speakers are being mounted just above the TV (not plasma currently, but could be later)




There is space to drill a hole in the center speaker between tweater and midrange to mount an IR pickup for this room. This would keep almost anything A/V related out of the house. I will have a TV hanging on the wall with no wires showing, no speakers showing for the most part and no room taken up by A/V gear. I would prefer this setup so I don't have any IR sensor showing, but could just drill a hole in the drywall for a 1/2" IR pickup like below that center speaker if others have noticed a huge drop in pickup range.

Here is a picture of what the grilles would be like:




I was also thinking of doing this out on the front deck where I have a pair of speakers going into the ceiling (which is at about a 45 degree angle) so I don't know if I will have any issues with an IR pickup up about 12' from the floor on a slope... I figure that might be a little confusing as people would need to know they must point the remote at the speaker to change the source or whatever.

So what would you do? Just toss the IR sensor under the grille or leave it exposed?

This message was edited by ivan on 08/19/04 13:09 ET.

Lots of speakers have a knock out already for an IR sensor. I've never had a roblem with IR receiver behind any sort of grill.

AUdipPlex and Spekercraft make little lense's that are designed to be placed on components when a blaster is being used to increase off acces response. I used these revers in the past (On the receiver) and it works like a charm. Gave me almost 90 degree control on one job.

They work fine behind grills w/ little or no loss. If the outdoor space receives alot of sun light you may want to stay away from there, sun light and ir dont play friendly.

Good luck

If you are planning on getting a plasma in the future then you should pick up a plasma proof IR sensor.They are expensive though it will save you the trouble of removing the speaker and trying to match the hole of the first sensor in the future.

Also some cable boxes aren't compatable with certain ir receivers. The new Boxes our cable company uses do not work with our old equipment.

If you are able to run wires now, be sure to run a 16/4 and a cat5e from the gear to the attic (or basement) above (or below) the seating area for an RF receiver. This will be the most stealth and then you are not committed to pointing the remote in any particular direction. Also this may work for your porch set up as well without adding any more sensors, just carry the remote outside.

This will work especially well with a programmable remote that can transmit RF like the Pronto color remotes.

Also be sure to run two Cat5e to the tv location for an emmitter and possible rs232 contron for the future(wire is cheap retrofitting cost a fortune.

Thanks guys. Trust me, there may be more copper in the walls than wood by the time I am done. :)

All A/V gear (except TVs) will be located in a rack under the stairs and controlled by IR mouse emitters. Control room will have conduit down to the basement to ease future wiring. I will probably add bass transducers at some point, so that makes that part easy. Most speaker locations get 16/4 (should I bi-wire future speakers) and those in remote locations get a CAT5 for IR control. Those are also run in a way that I can add volume and IR control on the wall next to the room light switches too. The main TV location will have conduit down to the basement so I can add HD cables or whatever comes after S-video and Component wires now. That location will get a couple runs of CAT5, RG6 and a couple runs of 16/4 twisted shielded wire to be used for S-video runs now. I guess one pair of the CAT5 will be for the IR emitter to the TV as I will block this out and make sure ALL run from the Xantech via the pickups located behind speakers or in walls/ceilings.

The speakers in the front deck are on the north side, and the deck is covered, so sunlight and weather is not really an issue there.

IR control from two other cabins I have on the property will be from DC injected onto RG6 via a shelf top type injector. I have not trenched for this yet, and don't plan to until next year.

Cable TV is not anywhere near the house, and I don't think there is a plan to get cable in this area ever... (it's in the mountains) So Dish is what I have. I will have conduit up to the roof mainly so my dad can add his HAM antenna gear as they will use the cabin quite often. Might be good should I need to swap out that dish RG6.

Remote will most likely be my pronto I have at home now (TSU2000) as it has proven itself easy to use with all the macros I can setup. I want this SUPER easy for anyone to use. I may not be there, and want people to just lift it and press the button that says "watch a DVD" or "power all down"

However with all the wiring I am doing, about none of it is for phones or computers - those are all wireless with the base stations located in the control room... Might have ONE hardwired computer (10.4" touchscreen tablet built into the kitchen wall) but that is it. All other is wireless.

I will add a couple CAT5 wires for video cameras should I decide to add them and keep an eye on kids or outside.

I totally agree with AVFriend's additions to the other good suggestions here.

I see only one caveat, being that an IR sensor is somewhat less sensitive behind a grille, and I would expect a painted grille might be worse unless the paint is brushed on sooooooo lightly or sprayed in two very light coats. Look through the grille before you start; that is what the IR sensor will be looking at; look again after painting.

A client has a Sony MD333 400 disc CD changer and its IR signal will not go through the Audioplex 3856 Stealth sensor. The 3856 might be wrong numbers, but the point was that this sensor is supposed to pass the popular 38 kHz IR (it does) as well as the 56 (or whatever) kHz signals some other components use. But it does not pass the Sony, and I have read that that is not uncommon. The Marantz RC5200 will not learn those codes, either, so maybe that is a sign unto you....

That client's solution will be an RF remote, and you should definitely plan on doing that at some point. I agree that you can probably start with IR, but when you get the plasma, you should be ready to change to RF. Which reminds me: I think the cost of the RF receiver for Pronto models is similar or less than the Xantech parts needed to do the same thing, so any customer of mine who gets a Marantz remote also gets the RF just because it will cost them less.

Hmmm so you guys are going to RF rather than IR now?

My layout with lots of pictures can be seen below:
[Link: home.comcast.net]



The front deck can be seen here:


The white is just primer. Plywood ceiling (soffit) has not been installed yet, and speakers are sitting on my desk here for when that goes up (maybe this weekend.)

If I do go under the grille it will be painted with a standard paint sprayer with a couple of very light coats of paint as I do the walls. No flooring yet, so I spray whenever I possibly can. Comes out MUCH better and faster if you ask me.

Going to need to look into RF remotes or bases to see what is out there now. I have one here at home I don't use anymore, but it's a few years old now.

I may not actually ever do Plasma up there, it will be a few years, so I will see what is out by then. Still would LOVE to see OLED screens come to market by that time, so plasma may not be an issue.

This message was edited by ivan on 08/19/04 13:04 ET.