Different Cable for Cambridge MegaWorks 550 THX

[The J]

I've had my Cambridge MegaWorks 550 for about 6 months and I am very happy with them. One thing that does annoy me at times, though, is that there is an amplifier hum that can be heard within some of my music (at lower volumes) and when nothing is playing through the speakers. This problem hasn't annoyed me too much since the Megaworks's remote lets me shut them off easily while they're not in use and I don't always hear the hum within the songs I play (not with too many of them at all).

I read in a user review about these speakers, however, that the cables provided by Creative are not very good and are not shielded which could be where the some of the hum comes from. My brother has Klipsch ProMedia 4.1s and has the upgraded low-gauge Monster cable set for them. He said that he thought there was a very noticeable difference in the clarity in the speakers from using the lower-gauge cabling as opposed to the stock set, even at higher volumes. He also said that the speakers seemed to get louder, which would be nice since DVDs on my computer seem to very quiet. I have to turn the speaker up to near max to get a good volume level (normally they'd blow my ears away at that volume). I use nVDVD 2.55 OEM if that matters.

Because I work in my school's media center, I may be able to get some better cables for a very low price. Though I think the quality of these speakers is very good, I figure that if I can get a boost in quality with a cheap upgrade, then why not go for it? Has anyone else upgraded the cables in their speakers? If so, did you notice a difference and is it worth it, noting that I should be able to get cabling for a pretty low price?

My speakers are Cambridge MegaWorks 550 THX (specs from www.hifi.com)
-Cambridge Newton MC50 satellites (10W min. / 120W max.)
-Cambridge BassCube 821 subwoofer (max/min power unknown)
-Amplifier built-in to subwoofer:
--Sub power: 150W RMS
--Sat power: 70W RMS
-Freq. Response:
--Sub: 35Hz - 150Hz
--Sats: 100Hz - 16KHz

Thanks for any input!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you just looking for standard speaker wires?

Upgrading the speaker wires will get you a little bit of gain in performance, but you will probably hardly notice it. Don't get monstercable whatever you do. Monstercable is good stuff, but they charge waaaaay more than its worth. For the same price, you can get something better or get something of similar quality for far less money.

I upgraded the speaker wire for my logitech z-560 set before I sold them. I mainly did it because I wanted longer cable. I don't remember noticing a performance gain.

The difference in quality is going to be from going to a better gauge wire. If you can get a larger gauge of wire from a generic company it's probably going to give you better performance than a thinner gauge from a better known company.

Speakerwire varies in price from a few dollars for a 50 foot roll to stuff that costs thousands of dollars per foot.

I think you'd be best off getting the thickest wire that will fit in your speakers and then getting something that's pretty cheap in that gauge. I'm used some 18 gauge that I found in the bargain bin at jewel osco for my z-560 set. I think the set came with 24 gauge originally. I only spent about $5 for 150 feet.

If you just want to try some thicker wire out first to see if it makes a difference before investing in something more expensive, parts express (18 gauge here) has some pretty frickin cheap wire. 16 gauge

I think in a blind test, you're going to be hard pressed hearing the difference between something like that 18 gauge wire and something thicker unless you're going with really long lengths. The longer the run, the thicker the wire you're going to want.


Oh, and there's nothing wrong with your speakers for DVDs. The difference is the way DVD sound is made vs music. The quick reason is that for a music cd, the whole thing is generally close to the same volume so they can record it at a higher level. With DVDs, you want a wider dynamic range so the explosions are huge and whispering is really quiet, so the average volume on a DVD is going to be much lower than the average volume on a piece of music.

EDIT: whoops, my edit was for a different thread

 

[The J]

I'm not sure what wire gauge I have. Does anyone else out there know what size the wires that come with MegaWorks is? The wires are smaller than an average lamp cord, if that helps at all. Is there a guide that explains what wire gauge I should have given the type or power of the speaker system? Also, as I said above, I should be able to get the wire quite cheaply (my boss at where I work said that I could easily make them myself).

What about unshielded versus shielded cable?

Thanks for your help, by the way. If it doesn't make much a difference, then it's good to know that I won't need to waste the money (I need some DVDs that I could use that money on).

Anyone have any other or same experiences?

 

[Zap Brannigan]

16 gauge.

 

[PurdueRy]

if its 16 gauge thats all you will need. You will notice no more improvements going any higher

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: rleemhui
if its 16 gauge thats all you will need. You will notice no more improvements going any higher

Yeah, 16 is plenty. :thumbsup:

linky

 

[The J]

Zap, are you saying that I should go with 16 gauge wire or that the MegaWorks come with 16 gauge wire.

Thanks for the help everyone, but I still don't even know what wire gauge I have now. How can I find out? I suppose I could bring my wire into work and ask my boss Monday.

Also, I've read and have been told that I want to have shielded cabling. How do I know if I have that? I don't think I do, but I'm not positive. Do I really need it or is that only for long distances also?

EDIT: I don't know if this matters at all, but the speakers have an 8 ohm nominal impedence. I noticed that most computer speakers are 4 ohm and I don't know if that makes a difference. I'll be sure to read the link that Jello gave me when I get back from class.

Again, thanks for replying.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Sheilded cable will make a difference if you're doing really long runs or you have a lot of other cables (like power cables) around you speaker wires.

If you can, try to avoid running power cables parallel to your speakerwires.

 

[The J]

Okay, thanks. I can probably just reroute my front speakers since the wires run close to my PC's and monitor's power cords, as well as the power for the speakers themselves. The rear ones go under a rug in my dorm, so those should be fine, right? (16ft. cable)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Nothing wrong with going under the rug if the cables aren't physically getting damaged.

If you keep all this interference from power cables to a minimum, getting sheilded cables probably wont make any difference.

 

[The J]

Okay, thanks. I don't think that the slight buzz I hear in my speakers is due to interference since the rear ones do it also. I've read that it's probably just caused by the electricity running through the amplifier, so that's no huge deal.

But now I have another question: does the gauge one needs depends only on the length of the wire needed? Or does it also depend on the power/current running through the wire? If I had to guess, I'd say that my speakers had 20-gauge wire and the power running through them is 70W RMS (but the speakers can handle 120W max according to CSW). The front and center wires are 6ft. long and the rear ones are 16.5ft long.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't know if you've done this already, but occationally people haven't and it helps their buzzing - do you have everything you're not using muted? Sometimes if you don't mute line-in and mic etc. it can give you a nasty buzz.

The amount of power being delivered in your speaker system isn't anything special in the speaker world. 20 gauge should be fine for your lengths. If you can get 16 or 14 gauge for really cheap (under $20) then it can't hurt.

 

[The J]

Yup, everything's already muted. If it is really 20 gauge, then I'll stick with that since I'm not running to any really long lengths or anything like you said. I'd hope that Creative/Cambridge would provide cables that will work well enough for the speakers they came with.

Thanks for the help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: The J
Yup, everything's already muted. If it is really 20 gauge, then I'll stick with that since I'm not running to any really long lengths or anything like you said. I'd hope that Creative/Cambridge would provide cables that will work well enough for the speakers they came with.

Thanks for the help.

Yeah, sometimes companies put in cables that are pretty crappy for the lengths they're making. I think the 24 gauge that came with my logitech z-560s was pushing it a bit, but 20 should be good for you

 

[The J]

OK, thanks. Like I said, I'm not sure and really have no idea what size cables I have. I'll take them to my boss on Monday or Tuesday and see if he can tell me.

By the way, I looked at your setup pics in your sig. I don't know much about high-end audio in terms of manufacturers and whatnot, but your setup looks amazingly good with the speakers and projector. I would like to be able to use a projector for a TV display, but I've been told that the bulbs can cost over $300 and last only about 30 hours.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well, you're right on with the price, but they last 3000 to 4000 hours, not 30 . If it was 30 hours for $300 I wouldn't have gotten one. I use it for TV as well as computer and DVD and it all looks really nice (especially DVDs )

I'm planning on getting a couple years of use out of this bulb before I have to replace it.

There are definately some things you have to take into account before you decide a projector is for you though. A major thing is light control. If you're planning on putting one in a room that doesn't have pretty good shades, then daylight watching is not going to look so great. If you can get a light controlled room, or plan to watch during evening and night, then most of the problems are gone.

You have to deal with mounting it somehow, and a screen is preferred so that's a little more work than your standard tv.

Projectors are getting better at screen door effect (LCDs) and rainbows (DLP, like mine), but those are some image quality issues.

If you can get past the little issues with projectors, then they offer amazing value.

If you want any more info on projectors, projector central has some nice recommendations for different priceranges and a nice database of just about every projector ever made it seems. (there's some nice stuff like screen size calculators for the models too)

Another great spot for info is AVSforum. (It's a great spot for just about everything relating to hometheater too).

I'm using an Infocus 4805 I got from a costco deal for $999. It came with a 76" screen that I haven't brought to college yet. If you can get a deal on a projector and you have a viewing situation that allows for one, they're a really excellent value for what you get.


For my own system, I actually spent more on the audio than on the projector heh.
The speakers are my weak point I'd say. I got them from fluance. The receiver is a refurbished harman kardon and the sub is an svs.

The speakers were good bang for the buck, but I'd still say they're the "bottleneck" in my system. I don't plan on changing them for a long while though.... unless I find a good deal I want to jump on and can unload them on someone looking for a nice budget set.

If you have any questions about anything, let me know. I like talking about this stuff almost as much as buying it, but talking about it is a lot easier on my finances .

 

[The J]

Well, you're right on with the price, but they last 3000 to 4000 hours, not 30 . If it was 30 hours for $300 I wouldn't have gotten one. I use it for TV as well as computer and DVD and it all looks really nice (especially DVDs )

I'm planning on getting a couple years of use out of this bulb before I have to replace it.

That's good to hear! I have no idea where the person who told got 30 hours from. The projectors used in my college's classrooms are NEC models, but I don't know anything more than that.

There are definately some things you have to take into account before you decide a projector is for you though. A major thing is light control. If you're planning on putting one in a room that doesn't have pretty good shades, then daylight watching is not going to look so great. If you can get a light controlled room, or plan to watch during evening and night, then most of the problems are gone.

You have to deal with mounting it somehow, and a screen is preferred so that's a little more work than your standard tv.

Projectors are getting better at screen door effect (LCDs) and rainbows (DLP, like mine), but those are some image quality issues.

If you can get past the little issues with projectors, then they offer amazing value.

My room has pretty good shades. While it won't get totally dark in the daytime, I think it'd work well. We watch movies later at night anyway. I have a Samsung DVD-ROM with nVDVD 2.5. I use an S-Video to RCA cable that goes into the video input on my TV (20" Symphonic/Wal-Mart brand). I also have my Audigy 2 ZS decode the Dolby / DTS signals and play the DVD throught my MegaWorks. While this is pretty good and the picture looks decent on the TV, a projector would definately add to the home theater experience.

If you want any more info on projectors, projector central has some nice recommendations for different priceranges and a nice database of just about every projector ever made it seems. (there's some nice stuff like screen size calculators for the models too)

Another great spot for info is AVSforum. (It's a great spot for just about everything relating to hometheater too).

Thanks for the links. I'll be sure to check them out.

I'm using an Infocus 4805 I got from a costco deal for $999. It came with a 76" screen that I haven't brought to college yet. If you can get a deal on a projector and you have a viewing situation that allows for one, they're a really excellent value for what you get.

A very trustworthy friend of mine said that a family member works at a company that makes projectors. I don't remember which company it was, though. He said he could try to see if he can get a discount. I plan to move into a 6-person suite next school year and might be able to convince my friends to split the cost of a projector, so even if my friend can't get a discount or an old "throw-away" as he put it, then the idea's still open. I'll check out the model you mentioned. I have a Costco back home (I'm at college right now) that I can check out.

For my own system, I actually spent more on the audio than on the projector heh.
The speakers are my weak point I'd say. I got them from fluance. The receiver is a refurbished harman kardon and the sub is an svs.

The speakers were good bang for the buck, but I'd still say they're the "bottleneck" in my system. I don't plan on changing them for a long while though.... unless I find a good deal I want to jump on and can unload them on someone looking for a nice budget set.

It's amazing how I'd be immensely happy to be able to afford something like you have, but you can hear the weaknesses in the system that I probably could not. This reminds me of whem I was happy with my old Inspire T5400s, but now I couldn't listen to them without picking out the faults in them (poor bass and separation between satellites and subwoofer). I'm quite happy with my MegaWorks. The satellites are pretty good (they can't match my brother's ProMedia 4.1s in the high frequencies, though) and my subwoofer can certainly pound when it needs to yet be smooth otherwise. However, my drive to improve on them is what prompted me to start this topic. I can see that you have that drive as well. Drive on...

If you have any questions about anything, let me know. I like talking about this stuff almost as much as buying it, but talking about it is a lot easier on my finances .

Same goes here, as you can tell from my reply. That's really what brought me here to the Anandtech forums. Also, if you need any help on an R/C car, just let me know.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

It would be really cool if you could get a nice deal on a projector. The deal I got on mine is over though....

Some nice "budget" projector brands are infocus )), sanyo, optoma, panasonic, benq, ... there's others too, but those are the ones that I looked at.

If you can get a good deal on a nice model, that would be great. Make sure you check out the model individually, as a brand name is not everything. There's a lot of variety in the projector market with HT ones, business ones, DLPs, LCDs, etc.

EDIT: oh, any my R/C car interest is limited to a big 12" long new bright monster truck I got from Osco at an after christmas sale ($20 reduced from $99)

 

[The J]

OK, thanks for the tip!

Basically, my R/C cars (I have two) together cost a bit more than your projector. I certainly wouldn't mind racing sometime. I don't have pictures of my RCs and they're heavily modified. If you're interested, look up a DuraTrax Maximum BX (mine's modded to hit 45-50mph) and an HPI Nitro MT (I have large wheels on mine). I guess this would be my other obsession.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think I'll try to stay away from additional hobbies

Computers and HT are quite enough to tempt me to spend my tax refund hehe.