Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Cables vs. peace of mind

I have a hate-hate affair with cables. My desktop at work is crisscrossed by USB cables, mouse cable, the cable for my telephone headset and my headphones. At home, the areas around my computer and television are giant, disorderly nests of wires.

I have a hate-hate affair with cables. My desktop at work is crisscrossed by USB cables, mouse cable, the cable for my telephone headset and my headphones. At home, the areas around my computer and television are giant, disorderly nests of wires.

There's not much I can do about my office situation, it is what it is, but I think I can at least get my home situation under control.

Because I decided to be a good neighbour I moved my subwoofer away from the walls I share with my neighbours (you should all do the same), but the result was that the wall under my back porch sliding door is lined with wires stretching from my cable box and Xbox to my surround sound system controller (which can only be two feet away from the subwoofer) plus three wires for the left, centre and right front speakers. The rear right and real left speakers wind behind my couch but aren't long enough to attach to the walls as I'd originally planned.

The area behind my television is similarly a disaster with power cables, four different peripherals plugged into the television (including our cable box, my Xbox 360, a DVD player and a Nintendo Wii), plus the additional audio out cables.

The area around my computer is crowded with power cables for the computer, printer, modem, wireless router and an external hard drive, as well as all the USB, Firewire and Ethernet cables connecting all these things to the computer and to each other.

And so I've been researching cable management options, trying to cut down where I can and organize where I can't. Here are some Do It Yourself options I've come up with.

I love my award-winning, 550-watt Logitech 5.1 surround sound system. It's incredibly easy to use and hook up to my electronics, the sound is great and it's easy to custom program. But as I've mentioned the subwoofer is too loud to move it closer to the wall to alleviate my cable conundrum. So I'm moving it to a different room.

One option I've looked at to manage those wires is to get a piece of pipe that runs the length of that wall and feed the wires through, then using clamps to secure the pipe into place. It's cheap and will prevent people from getting tangled in the wires.

A slightly nicer solution would be to get a nice piece of wood cut to of the length I need, attach some spacers to the bottom to make some room for all the wires. I could even mount a hinge on the top part so I can get to those wires easily.

But in the end I've decided I'm better off getting a soundbar, which is basically a long bar that includes all five area speakers. Some of the models I've been looking at come with a wireless subwoofer, which is perfect for my needs.

Prices can range as high as $400, but you can get a good quality soundbar for around $200 that can be tuned to the dimensions of your room to provide an almost perfect surround sound experience.

That will keep all the television wires near the television and easier to organize using zap straps, electrical tape or whatever you use at home to wrangle all your cables.

Cable management around a computer is easier and cheaper to solve. On Lifehacker.com I recently found an easy way to manage all those cables under the desk using bulldog/binder clips. It's easier to show this one than explain it: http://lifehacker.com/257913/diy-binder-clip-cable-catcher.

Another idea (also culled from Lifhacker) is to buy the Ikea Signum cable organizer, which looks like a magazine rack that you can hang off the side of your desk. You can put your power bar in there and all of your cables to keep them out of sight, or reduce the number of cables you need to hang off the back of your computer. It's a pretty good solution for $5.

To further cut down on clutter, I'm also eyeballing the Powermat (www.powermat.com). Basically the Powermat replaces all your charging adapters for your portable devices with a flat mat that you can drop any of your devices onto to charge. To enable this technology you'll need to have the right plug-in for your device, like a battery door for a Blackberry or a protective case for your iPod or iPhone, but you can also use the universal wireless dock or power cube that lets you charge almost any phone or portable device.

The price is kind of steep. The Powermat is about $130 at Tigerdirect.ca and protective cases for iPhones/iPods top out at around $50 each. Battery door options for most cell phones are $40.

There are a few other ways we're cutting down on wires. One is to get rid of our desktop computer in exchange for a couple of cheap laptops that are easier to stack and store. We're going to replace our modem and router with a solution that does both things at once. We're also going to upgrade to a wireless printer.

And we're looking at purchasing a Pogoplug ($140 at Tigerdirect.ca) which I can then plug into my portable hard drive so we can access it from anywhere through the web, no wires required.

And it doesn't stop there. I'm looking at devices that let you access the Internet from any power outlet in the house and routers that function as backup hard drives. The technology is out there.