Fun with wires!

With the exception of the kitchen, the few square feet behind the stereo have been the focus of more energy than probably any other in the house. Behind the four square holes you see below is the nexus of nearly every system in the house. Hot and cold water run up the behind the wall, waste water comes down, radiator pipes go up and down, phone lines, ethernet cable, and coaxial cable run to the upstairs rooms, component video cables run up a conduit to the projector, and 14 gauge stereo wires run to 11 outlet boxes spread around the floor and ceiling of the main room. No surprise then that it has taken a while to get it all working--and looking--right.
This picture was taken back in the 'dark days' when I'd come home late and run wires and pipes until 11:30 pm so that everything would be ready for the dry-wallers.


Once the essentials were working, there were about 50 other major projects that made it seem crazy to stop and take the time to sort out the wires.


This long weekend was the long-awaited time where I got to solder fancy gold-plated endings on to the stereo wires. After this step, a 'banana' clip get screwed on so that the wire can easily be plugged into the stereo and wall (and easily unplugged when things need to get rearranged.)


While this is hardly pristine, it's about as good as I can make 30 wires look!