Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Feb 2007
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Rather than hijack Moorthy's recent post about grommets, I thought I would start my own related thread.
Most everyone agrees that the more resistance you put into a speaker wire, the more it compromises the sound quality (whether the decrease in SQ is audible is another discussion). At risk of this degenerating into a science vs. golden ear rathole, I have some pointed questions about this, specifically related to these wall mount speaker connection faceplates that are available.
It seems to me that any splice in an otherwise uninterrupted copper cable will add a certain amount of resistance, therefore reduce the SQ carried across the cable. I am nervous about buying just any faceplate because I've seen the quality difference between banana plugs and I'm sure the same applies to these. I am planning at least a good quality 12AWG to each speaker. Why then, would I compromise the quality with speaker interconnects from Home Depot? I'm unsure of the quality of the interconnects I see online from the usual suspects Monoprice, DVIGear, etc.
I am tempted to simply run my speaker cables, properly rated, through the walls and ceiling, uninterrupted from speaker to receiver. Am I crazy? (rhetorical, don't answer that)
I'm not so sure what to install as the grommet in the wall behind the receiver. I'll have 4 or 5 cables, 12AWG each, exiting the wall. I'll certainly not want to thread each one through its own grommet.
At the surround speaker positions (and possible the sub), I'm not so sure I'll be able to hit a hole small enough for those grommets to fit.
I'd like to hear from someone who's gone through this before. I will be wiring up the room the weekend after next and am getting pretty nervous about it. Not to mention hanging out in the attic is challenging for my 6'3" frame.
edit: changed the title of the post because it makes it sound like I'm asking about on-wall or in-wall speakers.
Last edited by Krich; 03/15/07 10:32 PM.
Ken.
VaSSallo Series M60v2, VP100v2, QS8v2
SVS SB12-Plus
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 845
aficionado
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aficionado
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Quote:
Science vs. golden ears
Now, THAT'S funny.
LIFE: "Choices, balance, and timing"
(Larryism)
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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I think that face plates will introduce minimal resistance; certainly not enough to hear. If things like that did, adding spades or banana plugs to speaker cable would do the same thing.
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,420
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Dec 2003
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There are plenty of gold plated plates out there I have a bunch from radio shack, 4 pairs/plate, and they work great for me. Something like this
Jason M80 v2 VP160 v3 QS8 v2 PB13 Ultra Denon 3808 Samsung 85" Q70
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,189
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jun 2005
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Quote:
I am tempted to simply run my speaker cables, properly rated, through the walls and ceiling, uninterrupted from speaker to receiver. Am I crazy? (rhetorical, don't answer that)
I agree that decent wallplates that give a quality connection shouldn't cause any problems. I doubt you would tell the difference in blind A/B testing as long as all the connections are done well.
That being said, I did just what you described in my theater; no breaks, just one piece of wire end to end from speaker to reciever. It was cheaper than buying all the interconnects, and I don't plan on ever changing it. But if I do decide to add wall plates later, I always could since there is plenty of cable to work with.
If you do go this route, just buy the nylon "unbreakable" wall plates and you can drill a hole just the size for your wire to go through for a clean in-room look. For behind the receiver you could do the same, just custom drill the holes you need. It gets trickier trying to line them up so use a spade bit to help start the holes where you want.
Good luck,
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,102
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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I used this face plate from ebay: Very good quality, I love it, have noticed no degration of sound. I am only using it to goto the 4 surrounds and the centre channel mounted above my screen. Sounds great to me!
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 93
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Oh cool. That's the first 5 speaker wall plate I've seen. Most have 4 pair of connectors. That would give me a connection to remote my subwoofer, which brings up another question. Looking at my sub, I have a few RCA jacks on the back that are used for "pre out" from the receiver, using the built in amp on the sub. I also have bananas that are labeled for use with an external amplifier. Currently I am using the pre out RCA connectors. In order to extend the subwoofer cable through the previously mentioned wall jack, I guess I would need to figure a way to craft a pair of RCA to banana cables. I feel like I'm missing something here. I've also never done RCA connector terminations...so that could explain the confusion. Back to the original question, I appreciate the feedback. I was pretty sure I wouldn't affect the SQ no matter which method I used, but I'd hate to put shoddy parts on the ends of quality cable. I guess since I work a lot with fiber optics that, in my mind, each connection point has an associated loss (in this case, loss of conductivity). True for fiber, maybe not so critical for copper. If you count the connection points, adding faceplates to the solution triples the connection points from 4 to 12! Throw in a few low quality interconnects and it's enough to put this poor old boy into a tailspin of fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Ken.
VaSSallo Series M60v2, VP100v2, QS8v2
SVS SB12-Plus
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,102
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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instead of crafting that wall plate, I would get a 4 speaker wall plate and then a separate RCA wall plate for your sub.
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 93
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OP
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Hutzel, can you unscrew the terminators on that faceplate? I was thinking of buying that face plate and a keystone RCA insert and swapping out one, or both of the 5th bananas with the RCAs. I'd prefer to only have one wall plate for the speakers/sub. I already have a second, fully populated 8 position keystone jack with cable, phone, network positions. Getting into a third would be spousal suicide.
Ken.
VaSSallo Series M60v2, VP100v2, QS8v2
SVS SB12-Plus
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Re: Speaker Connection Faceplates
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,102
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They aren't keystone insterts, the wallplate is molded for the 5 speaker terminals.
I don't know how else to help you out...I'll take another look at it this weekend, you may be able to get rid of 2 of the terminals, then just get a regular coupler for the rca cables, and if you can fit the tip of the rca cable thru one of the holes that the posts were in, you could couple the rca cable with the in-wall rca cable through the hole for a clean look.
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