Arlington CE2-10 Recessed Low Voltage Cable Plate, 2-Gang, White, 10-Pack

If you are a homeowner, or just an everyday DIY’er there is a wonderful satisfaction that comes from finding exactly the right gadget to finish one of your projects. Mine was when I was pulling all of my Ethernet home security camera cables through one enlarged hole in the side of my house to connect to the main recording unit inside. I didn’t want to be left with just a hole in the wall but I also didn’t want to putty in the hole which would have made it difficult to remove or change the cables in the future, which is always an inevitable task.There are numerous similar cover plates available but most of them follow a specific design which assumes you want to have the cup or canopy part inside the wall. Due to several reasons I wanted the opposite. Which brings me to the first outstanding feature of this plate, it can be used equally either way.When used with the canopy on the outside it does an excellent job of hiding the cable hole and making the cables look orderly and neat. The plate is extremely heavy duty, about three times the thickness of a typical plastic wall plate. You can either mount it to a four gang wall box or as many users probably do, you can just fasten it in place over a rough cut hole in the wall. The canopy provides slight protection against water dripping down but this is by no means a sealed enclosure, I would say it is mostly cosmetic.Is it a five-star product? No. The definition of the highest rating is that something is the best of the best, it has no flaws and it cannot be improved on. That’s not the case with this item. There is one unfortunate design issue that kept it from being perfect and that is that the canopy does not extend down far enough to cover the entire hole, which means you can see the hole behind it. That means it doesn’t have the fully neat appearance I hoped for and if you use it outdoors as I do, under a carport roof so not fully exposed to weather, there is still enough hole exposed to allow drafts and to encourage birds to try to nest there. I hope with their next molding they extend the canopy down another half inch or so to fully cover the gap.

I'm a professional TV installer, and have tried many different wall plates. I've settled on this plate as my go to wall plate for a few key reasons.PROS:1. Flexibility - Can be flipped to have the hood sticking out into the room (good for hiding a ton of big bulky cables), or flipped to have the hood sticking inside the wall for a nice clean recessed look.2. Price - I do a lot of installs. If you buy these in bulk you can get them for under $1.75 per unit.3. Hardware options - they come with two sets of white screws, one short one long. Helps out on deep walls or doubled up drywall.4. Paintable - unit is paintable to match any existing wall plates or room preferences, it's a Matte finish so holds paint well unlike some of the other wall plates.CONS:These are only minor complaints, making it a 4-star instead of 5-star rating.1. Color - it's not "true white" like some of the other plates, it's more of a slight off-white it's paintable, so not a huge deal, but an extra step if you are picky and want it ot be a direct match.2. Mounting screws are flathead, not Phillips. Again, when doing a lot of installs, every little shortcut helps. Have to use a manual flathead to screw in the long screws, would be nice to be able to use my drill with a Phillips head.You will also want to purchase a single gang low voltage mounting bracket that screws in with tabs and grabs the drywall from behind, then lets you screw this wall plate into it. That is assuming you are cutting a new hole in an existing drywall (old work bracket) for this type of install. Here's a link to a good option for that.http://www.amazon.com/Arlington-LV1-1CS-Voltage-Mounting-Bracket/dp/B000UEAJWU/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1362499232&sr=1-1&keywords=low+voltage+wall+plateThe other plate I have used quite a bit in the past is the DataComm plate, this is a great looking plate, but not as many options to move the plate around, and it costs about a $1 more. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00193U3O0/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=hi

It allows you to bring several cables in, directing it up or down based on where you want the opening to be. It would be really nice if it had some type of rubber attached to it allowing you to push through it with your cables. So I would recommend you add one when you use this product so you don’t have a big air pocket or leave room for visitors through your hole in the wall.

Oddly the two screw holes are sized differently, one slightly smaller than the other. Would have preferred same size holes, but it works. Nice that it can be mounted with extension facing in or out. Mounted ours in. No template is provided by used pencil to mark inside opening and then cut slightly larger.

I've used this plate over a hundred times, I like how versatile the plate is being able to orient the positioning 4 different ways.

Helps you keep organized with cables not all over the place coming out from the walls, especially in a busy office where you may have off and on high volume of customers in and out of the office which makes it look professional.

good product

Not the best looking but for what it does, it works and it does clean up random holes that I would have in my walls if I didn't have it. I am running 7.2 Surround Sound with addition of second channel of 4.0 and 2 hdmi and about 3 CAT5. I ordered another one but this time I got the 2 gang since all of these wires would not fit and wish I just ordered two 2 gang wall plates for the get go. If you are going to run more than a couple of wires, I recommend going to at least a 2 gang or spend the money to buy a proper AV / media plate. If you want to save some money, get the 2 gang version.

Ive have been using these in my installs for years. They are simple, easy, and clean. I like that you care reverse them based on customer preference. Plenty of room to get what you need through it unless you are running a massive amount of things. The only con is the slot head screws, I wish they were something that grabbed better.

The product appears to be of heavy quality although I have not had a chance to install it. It arrived on time as specified. I have been looking for this kind of product for a long time, have checked Home Depot, Rona, Lowes, you name it and have not found a reasonably priced item like this one. Great value

Great product for cleaning up holes in walls. Compared to what you'd pay in a big box store these covers are a steal.

Easy to mount - quickly cleans up cable port.

These work great and you can't beat the price.