Cable management advise - can't just lump them all together?

[MiamiCuse]

Tried to clean up the back of my AV rack. Have so many interconnects, power cords, coax, speaker wires from the receiver, DVD, tape deck, CD player, DVD player and TV etc...

I got those plastic coiled thingie that you can stuff your cable in it to make it look like one giant thick cable instead of dozens loose wire.

But when I bunch them up my TV image gets the snowy effect. Seems some cables are not meant to be together. Should I separate power cords with interconnect cables? Should I separate speaker wires with power cords? What should not go together? Should video cable be separated from audio cables? If I have to separate them, then I am back to the original problem of having loose cable.

Thanks,

MC

[Doug Kanter]

Keep AC power cords separate from everything else. Keep video feeds separate also. Audio lines can ***usually*** be bundled together without ill effect. Take a look at some of the products on this page to get ideas for bundling wires neatly. Forget adhesive mounting things - go for the ones that use a screw or staple.

[PipeDown]

At least separate the power cords, everything else should be able to coexist, most signal cables are shielded to prevent noise anyway. Your static may also be caused by putting undue strain on a particular cable when you pull it into the bundle. Jiggle all the plugs and wires leading to them. I often find defective RCA cables that go bad when the wires are bent or pulled near the connector. The strain reliefs of many connectors seem worthless.

There is also another system that might help. It consists of a plastic channel shaped like a square tube with one side open (U channel but square profile). It also has slots along its lenghth. Wires are routed onto the channel through the slots and a cover closes off the open side creating a nice boxlike channelway that is usually fastened to a vertical member of the shelf. Spiral or slotted cable tubes cover the horizontal runs of cables leading to the main channel.

[Rich Greenberg]

Its more likely that one (or more) connectors are flakey. Try pulling on the indidual cables and try pushing them side to side to isolate the bad ones.

[JohnR66]

I'd say at least keep the higher power lines (power, speaker) away from the line level signal cables. John

[miamicuse]

Owner:Chinook-L

Owner:Sibernet-L

Just checked and that is not the case. No connectors are loose. It is the proximity of the cables to each other. Seem the coax does not like to be near the power cord.

MC