Playbar wall mount

Hi Audiophiliac, I am keen to see your 2 ideas and which one you go for, as this is an issue for me too.

However is the problem of a sounbar's power lead not exactly the same as for any wall mounted TV's power lead?

Where I have wall mounted TVs in our house I have had to add both power and aerial sockets out of sight behind the TV in order to avoid the ugly leads jut hanging down!

Please keep updated once you have figured out the best plan.

Audiophiliac;189244 wrote:

I am curious if SONOS thought about how they expect the Playbar to be wall mounted with the wiring concealed. From the looks of it, and the optional wall bracket, they did not think to hard. :)

Surely they are aware that if you wish to adhere to electrical codes, you cannot simply run the power cord through the wall. It needs to have an outlet behind the speaker. That is the main concern. And it applies to nearly all soundbars that are powered via high voltage.

As a custom installer, I will find a way to do it. I have 2 ideas in mind and will post an update when I have figured it out. But manufacturers need to take some thought about how people are going to use their products and design them accordingly.

Stay tuned for "how to mount your playbar, conceal the wiring, and keep it legal". :)

I was looking at this also... I will have to order one to find the best solution. I will be instrested in what you come up with alos. As an installer myself, it will come in handy with options. My first thought is to connect the Sonos mount the the TV mount. Adjustable so you can have the PLAYBAR sit right under the TV to hide wires.

That is one option....but I believe SONOS recommends the playbar to be 2" away from the TV when mounting it below. Maybe it is only 1". Although there are ways to fill in that 1" gap with some kind of material, I would rather find a solution that will work well regardless of what TV and mount is being installed.

My primary idea is to mount the SONOS bracket to the wall with the speaker. Once I confirm it is exactly where I want it, I will remove the mount and cut it into 3 pieces. Basically I will cut the center section out to allow room for a 2 gang recessed outlet to be installed directly behind the recess in the playbar where the connections are. I think I have found a source for some short right angle IEC C7 power cords. I do not want a 6' cord to try and manage. 🙂 The other side of the 2 gang box will simply have a wire pass thru for the toslink and ethernet cables. The only issue I foresee is the recess on the back of the soundbar not being quite deep enough to allow room for the outlet plate. I think it will be tight. I am willing to space the mount off the wall a bit if needed, but I am also using a tilt TV mount with a plasma....so the profile is the same as the 3.5" or of the playbar. With super slim TVs on low profile mounts, it will look a bit odd anyway with the playbar sticking out further than the TV. But whatever works.

I will post the results of my project as I have a chance to do it. Other things to do first...might be summer before I get around to it. 😕

TJRL;189388 wrote:

Hi Audiophiliac, I am keen to see your 2 ideas and which one you go for, as this is an issue for me too.

However is the problem of a sounbar's power lead not exactly the same as for any wall mounted TV's power lead?

Where I have wall mounted TVs in our house I have had to add both power and aerial sockets out of sight behind the TV in order to avoid the ugly leads jut hanging down!

Please keep updated once you have figured out the best plan.

Yes same problem. But easier solution behind a TV where you have plenty of room to add outlets. Not so much room behind the playbar. It will be a fun project. Stay tuned.

Will something like this not be possible? Imagine the play bar between the tv and furniture with a cable tray cut in to pieces on each side of the play bar

http://www.hometheater.com/images/newsart/092506wiremold.1.jpg

It would help if Sonos gave us more information about the wall mount. For instance:

* What are the exact dimensions of the wall mount (including all the holes)?
* How is it designed to help conceal wires?
* Building codes don't allow power cables to be buried in the wall without conduit and electrical boxes - so how does the wall mount work with standard electrical boxes and trim? Is that hole in the middle the size of a standard electrical box?

I have a house under construction (framing) and want to do this right, but Sonos just doesn't provide enough information.

bananaman;192080 wrote:

I have a house under construction (framing) and want to do this right, but Sonos just doesn't provide enough information.

Am at the exact same place in our renovation project and I want to ideally have ZERO wires showing so this is crucial to me.

Can someone (Sonos employee!) please help here?

cdrudi;192093 wrote:

Can someone (Sonos employee!) please help here?

While Sonos staff do occasionally comment here, these are user-to-user forums. If you want a direct response from Sonos I suggest you post over on ask.sonos.com

bananaman;192080 wrote:

It would help if Sonos gave us more information about the wall mount. For instance:

* What are the exact dimensions of the wall mount (including all the holes)?
* How is it designed to help conceal wires?
* Building codes don't allow power cables to be buried in the wall without conduit and electrical boxes - so how does the wall mount work with standard electrical boxes and trim? Is that hole in the middle the size of a standard electrical box?

I have a house under construction (framing) and want to do this right, but Sonos just doesn't provide enough information.

I got my questions answered by buying one!

Sonos support did say they would be posting exact dimensions soon.

I cannot see a way for the wall mount to both conceal wires and meet building codes. The hole in the middle is small. Since the mount is flat against the wall, standard outlets, which all have faceplates, will not work with it.

I want to do this right... so I decided not to wall mount the wall mount. Instead I modified the soundbar accessory for my TV mount to accept the wall mount. The house is not finished yet, but I verified that the Playbar mounts directly and neatly below the TV. I already have the TV mount (Sanus XF228-B1) and have modified the soundbar accessory (VMA202) by removing the universal soundbar attachment and replacing it with the appropriately drilled and tapped Sonos wall mount.

Hope this helps someone!

I cannot see a way for the wall mount to both conceal wires and meet building codes. The hole in the middle is small. Since the mount is flat against the wall, standard outlets, which all have faceplates, will not work with it.!

Recessed power and AV outlets are available for that purpose.

NoBoB;193048 wrote:

Recessed power and AV outlets are available for that purpose.

This is great but it will be covered if you use the wall mount kit. Plus I imagine the wall mount kit will bulge out over this outlet preventing a flush mount. Just not a good design for wall mounting at all.

NoBoB;193048 wrote:

Recessed power and AV outlets are available for that purpose.

Yes that's exactly where I went looking first, but they all have faceplates which are not flush, and therefore won't work behind the Sonos wall mount.

I did it like this. The only thing showing is the canal for the cables. It's a brick wall so nothing showed at all is not possible

[img]http://s21.postimg.org/e3o8pg0wj/image.jpg[/img]

bananaman;193012 wrote:

I got my questions answered by buying one!

Sonos support did say they would be posting exact dimensions soon.

I cannot see a way for the wall mount to both conceal wires and meet building codes. The hole in the middle is small. Since the mount is flat against the wall, standard outlets, which all have faceplates, will not work with it.

I want to do this right... so I decided not to wall mount the wall mount. Instead I modified the soundbar accessory for my TV mount to accept the wall mount. The house is not finished yet, but I verified that the Playbar mounts directly and neatly below the TV. I already have the TV mount (Sanus XF228-B1) and have modified the soundbar accessory (VMA202) by removing the universal soundbar attachment and replacing it with the appropriately drilled and tapped Sonos wall mount.

Hope this helps someone!

This sounds like a great idea and I was looking at the same Sanus mount, I just wasn't aware they had a soundbar attachment as well. Did you have to buy both the Sanus soundbar mount and the Sonos wall mount to make this work? Any custom work required? Thanks!

Yes I had to buy both the Sanus soundbar mount and the Sonos wall mount.

Yes there is a small bit of custom work - I had to drill a hole in the Sonos mount for the pivot bolt, and drill and tap two holes for the adjustment bolts.

There's enough room behind the Playbar such that you could probably drill the two holes for the adjustment bolts and use nuts, rather than tapping.

Hope this helps!

Audiophiliac;189244 wrote:

Stay tuned for "how to mount your playbar, conceal the wiring, and keep it legal". :)

Hi,

Any updates on whether or not you were able to get a completely wire-free installation? For my installation it will have to go above the TV so attaching the Playbar to the TV mount isn't an option. It seems your idea of splitting the mount into three and discarding the middle section might be the best bet. That along with a shorter power cord.

Let us know if you found a good way and pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks!

bananaman;193012 wrote:

I want to do this right... so I decided not to wall mount the wall mount. Instead I modified the soundbar accessory for my TV mount to accept the wall mount. The house is not finished yet, but I verified that the Playbar mounts directly and neatly below the TV. I already have the TV mount (Sanus XF228-B1) and have modified the soundbar accessory (VMA202) by removing the universal soundbar attachment and replacing it with the appropriately drilled and tapped Sonos wall mount.

Hope this helps someone!

bananaman

I was trying to figure out if I could mount the playbar to an articulating TV mounting bracket. Looks like you have done this with the XF228B. Do you have any picture of the combination ?

thanks

Anyone else have details on how best to wall-mount a PLAYBAR and hide the power cable?

In a previous house I wall-mounted a TV and used a PowerBridge, but I'm not sure if it would work as well for a PLAYBAR since it isn't as large as a TV, so less to hide the wires behind.

Glad I found this thread because I was thinking of running the IEC-C7 power cable through the wall. In all honesty, what other way will allow for the power cable to be concealed completely as shown in the Powerbar advertisements?

I'm sure I'll come up with something, but I did not want to install a channel on the wall to hide the cable.

I'm wondering if this would work:
http://www.amazon.com/Wiremold-Company-CMK70-Screen-Cable/dp/B006K3CM4S

I've used a similar product for a TV before, but this one looks smaller and simpler. It has a recessed power outlet, and with a shorter power cord for the Playbar (someone previously linked to an example in one of the threads), it might be hidden completely.

Edit: Might not work behind the Playbar wall mount, but you could probably get away with it if you mounted the PB directly to the wall, which I assume is fine as long as it's securely anchored.

That flat screen connector kit looks ideal. What is the problem with going straight through the wall though? I have put a bit of 20mm. conduit through the wall and run my cables through that. Is that against regs? I cannot see any practical problem.

Using conduit should be OK. Running a standard cable directly in the wall is prohibited by code in many jurisdictions. Cable listed for that purpose is required where a raceway is not provided.

Even when using conduit, mixing power and signal is often prohibited unless the signal cable is listed for that use (that doesn't apply to the optical cable, as there's no electrically conductive capability there).

That's good to know. Thanks. To people asking about installations. Particularly those early in a major project. Would it not be possible to bury conduit in the wall and run the cable down to sockets placed out of sight?
If you do not want to majorly disrupt your decor, a large board stood off the wall with battens with the sockets either hidden behind or bought out to the front of the board at the bottom maybe...

When you say conduit, is it something as simple as a piece of PVC pipe in the wall? Or is there something more 'official' to allow a power cord to be run through the wall and still be to code?

For this application, I was thinking more along the lines of flexible Electrical Nonmetallic Tubing (ENT) (1" size linked). In some parts, ENT is colloquially known as "Smurf Tube" after its bright blue color. Your electrician may have bulk rolls on hand and might just give you 3 feet of it if you're a customer and you ask nicely 🙂