Help me find speaker wire...

50

Platinum Member
May 7, 2003
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Hello, I just purchased the Athena MKII 5 channel speakers from bestbuy. Right now I have really crappy stock speaker cable from my old crappy speakers. I'm thinking about getting some monster cable about 50 feet. Is this a good deal?
 

sillymofo

Banned
Aug 11, 2003
5,817
2
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Depends on how far you are planning to place your speakers, and your speakers and amp rating, 16 gauge is a little small IMO.
 

50

Platinum Member
May 7, 2003
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The center will be about 8 feet away, front l/r will be about 13 feet and rear l/r will be about 6 feet. Do you think I should get 14 gauge?
 

Kelvrick

Lifer
Feb 14, 2001
18,422
5
81
Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
I never hooked anything up that's smaller than 12 gauge, but that's just me.

Same here, 12 or nothing. Except when I ran out one time and made due with 18 guage stock speaker wire until fry's opened the next day.
 

Fiveohhh

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
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Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
no, that isnt that good of a deal. monster cable isnt what ppl think it is.

try http://www.partsexpress.com and get some 14 ga.

MIKE

agreed, parts express is awesome and great prices. Get what ever gauge you need, but PE has good prices and good service
 

Ikonomi

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2003
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What factors necessitate 12 gauge wire? I've always just used 14 since it's easy to find and sort of middle of the road.
 

50

Platinum Member
May 7, 2003
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Can someone help me choose the right 12 gauge wire for me from partsexpress? I really don't know which to choose. Right now I am going to measure and see if I can get 30' b/c I really wasn't expecting to spend more than 30 dollars on speaker wire. Thanks for all the help
 

Fiveohhh

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
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honestly its probably not going to make much of a differance. When I bought it it was something called king or kings or something like that.
 

Optimus

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2000
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I build my own out of Cat5 cable for WAY cheaper.

I've built:

a) speaker wires
b) s-video cable (30 ft)
c) composite video cables (35 ft)
d) Component video cables ending in a VESA 15pin d-sub (SVGA) connector
e) Stereo RCA audio cables

Heck, my whole home theater is wired with the stuff.

Cat5 is very good quality and well-shielded (100 MBS doesn't work well over crummy shielding) AFAIK.
I learned about using it over at AVSForum (http://www.avsforum.com) and I'm very pleased with both how easy it was to work with and the results.
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
5,661
5
81
Originally posted by: Optimus
I build my own out of Cat5 cable for WAY cheaper.

I've built:

a) speaker wires
b) s-video cable (30 ft)
c) composite video cables (35 ft)
d) Component video cables ending in a VESA 15pin d-sub (SVGA) connector
e) Stereo RCA audio cables

Heck, my whole home theater is wired with the stuff.

Cat5 is very good quality and well-shielded (100 MBS doesn't work well over crummy shielding) AFAIK.
I learned about using it over at AVSForum (http://www.avsforum.com) and I'm very pleased with both how easy it was to work with and the results.

Do you use UTP or STP? UTP isn't shielded. :)
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,986
11
81
Home Depot outdoor extension cable works great.

The twisted 14 gauge stuff... most listening rooms don't have that much EMI floating around.
 

Optimus

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2000
3,618
0
0
STP. Its harder to find but you can order it.

UTP over 25 ft is risky for signal loss/degredation.
 

MustISO

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,927
12
81
Would be fine for the fronts. 14 or 12 for the rear if it's a distance. I use 12Ga all around.
 

50

Platinum Member
May 7, 2003
2,717
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0
Originally posted by: Apex

Those are pins, not banana plugs. I personally hate pins, but you may prefer them.

Sorry, can you tell me what is the difference? Also my receiver has (i don't know what they are called but) twisting kind of speaker inputs. It is basically a cylinder and you twist it out, then stick the wire in and then twist it closed. Is there a specific kind of plug I should use on the end of my wire to connect with these? Banana/pin plugs don't seem like they would fit well. Thanks
 

Apex

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
6,511
1
71
www.gotapex.com
Well, much of it is personal preference. If you're going to just leave em in, you may as well just use bare wire.

Some say that spades are the best because you get the tightest connection. Locking bananas are good too (I'm using some of these. They work great). Bananas are what most people use with the 5-way binding posts you normally see on the back of most receivers.

Pins are made for those cheaper receivers with spring clips. They can be used with 5-way binding posts, but aren't generally designed for that.
 

wyvrn

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
10,074
0
0
Question: Is the thicker gauge wire potentially bad for long runs because of the increased resistance of the wire? It seems like you should buy a cable not too thin and not too thick (attenuation).
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: Optimus
I build my own out of Cat5 cable for WAY cheaper.

I've built:

a) speaker wires
b) s-video cable (30 ft)
c) composite video cables (35 ft)
d) Component video cables ending in a VESA 15pin d-sub (SVGA) connector
e) Stereo RCA audio cables

Heck, my whole home theater is wired with the stuff.

Cat5 is very good quality and well-shielded (100 MBS doesn't work well over crummy shielding) AFAIK.
I learned about using it over at AVSForum (http://www.avsforum.com) and I'm very pleased with both how easy it was to work with and the results.

uh, cat-5 is unshielded twisted pair.