Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Speaker Wiring

Being very new to this type of entertainment, I have just purchased the following home theater equipment recently:
52" Aquos Sharp LCD HDTV
5100 Signature Series Monster power centre
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray player
2 HDTV PVR's
Pioneer Elite SC-07 A/V Receiver
I have on order from Axiom the following:
2-M60's V2
VP-150 V2
2-QS8 V2
1-EP500 V2
Where I bought my Pioneer Elite SC-07 the sales rep told me to go with a 16 gauge 4-wire setup which is all incased in one casing. To do this he told me that you will have 2 positive and 2 negative wires like a freeway lane for your signal to reach the speakers, but you have to connect the 2 positive and 2 negatives of each together and attach 1 positive and 1 negative to the receiver and speakers.(If the M60's have 4 binding posts then probably could connect each separate to the speakers and 1 positive and 1 negative to the receiver).

I have no idea as what to buy or do when the speakers get here for the wiring. I do know that the lower the gauge the better, but the bigger the cabling. The cost is $1.40/ft I may be able to get it for $0.80 cents/ft possibly. Also when I get my EP500 is their any wiring needed for it or does it come with it?
The big problem is going to be fridging all this out when it gets here next week. I am still reading on the receiver stuff as the manual is 137 pages.

All help in this issues is so greatly appreciated.

use monoprice.com you can get 12 gauge cable for 20-35 cents per foot!

Try this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...&seq=1&format=2

or this
I like this b/c of the white cover:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...&seq=1&format=2


for the sub try this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...&seq=1&format=2


get the appropriate lengths of course.

I would HIGHLY reccomend buying you cables from monoprice, they are really cheap and built nicely.

I bought some HDMI cables from them for about 5 buck each (10 footers) and they are great.

bluejeans cable sells really nice sub cable too, and axiom has great sub cable and speaker cable but it costs a little more.

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY MONSTER CABLE!

I have currently all monster HDMI cables for my system so far, but not going with them for the speaker or sub cables. I live in Canada so is this site good for me to deal with if I have issues with the cabling? Also what do you think about what the sales rep told me about wiring my system with the 2+ and 2-?

Just go to any home improvement store (home depto, lowes, etc.) You can buy wire off the spool per ft cheaply. I like 12 AWG wire. You only need to use two of the binding posts on the speakers and receiver, positive and negative. Coax with RCA ends is what you use for the sub.

If I am reading this right then the 12 AWG wire comes with 4 runs, but I only use 2 correct? I guess I will need banana plugs or some other connectors also for all the speakers too? Tks a bunch so far for all the help.

What the sales rep told you is somewhat accurate, but also overkill. That said, I use it with 4 conductor 14 gauge wires...

Here's an article on this exact subject

Like I said, there's some logic to it, but it's not really necessary.

.80/foot isn't bad, but 1.40/foot is pretty awful.

I would use bare wire connections on the speakers. Probably best to use banana plugs on the receiver end... you can buy the banana plugs from monoprice too, and just hook them up yourself.

If you just recently bought the monster HDMI cables I would suggest that you return them ASAP and go buy some $5 or $10 HDMI cables from monoprice since they are just as good. IF you are past the return period for you hdmi cables then I would just keep in mind that monoprice has great hdmi cables next time you need some.


just buy the speaker wire with 2 wires like shown in my first post, or if you do want to biwire (you likely won't receive any benefit) then you can buy special cable with 4 wires inside instead of two.

There is no need for 4 runs of cable. Just go to Home Depot and ask for speaker wire. It is simple 2 wire cable with one side marked with a white stripe so you can easily identify + and - connections.

Unless you have really long runs, you don't even need 12awg. 14 will do fine. I bought the 12 gage, but if I were to do it again, I would go with 14.

Just use standard wire that has a 2 wire, not the 4 run stuff he is trying to sell you.. Your speakers will be spread out, so you will most likely want to run seperate runs to each speaker location.

Just a note to compare. I have used both and my local Home Depot was actually more expensive than having the Monoprice stuff shipped up to Canada. Monoprices was much nicer to work with too as the local HD stuff was so stiff it was a PITA to manuever and hard on the fingers when working with the ends. To add to the oddity to the price differnce, the Monoprice stuff was sheathed and rated for inwall use while the HD stuff was not.

You may have better luck in your home town though. I still love Home Depot. Just not their bulk wire.

My Home Depot was more expensive too. Also, my longest runs are 20ft and I used 14 gauge wire with great results. For my outdoor speakers that have a 60' run, I'm using 12 gauge, but for anything around the 20' or shorter mark, I think you'd be fine with 14.

Also, keep in mind that working with 12 gauge can be a little tricky as it is thick, rather inflexible wire. It's not impossible, but one more reason to think twice about getting 12 gauge "just because" it's bigger.

Thanks,

Jason

Tks all for the great comments and help...I have decided to go with the 12 gauge bulk wiring that Axiom sells so hope I am not disappointed. I am so excited waiting for my Epic 60-500, but also very nervous as I have never done anything like this before and don't want to fry something. The big problem is going to be the receiver setup and speaker/sub setup. Any hints or ideas are always welcome. Tks again all for the great experience with all this.

If your receiver has an autsetup feature with a supplied microphone I would suggest using that. You will probably need to have the gain (volume) on the sub turned to about 7 oclock or so, and put the crossover up to 150 or 'bypass' try leaving the trim set to flat at first, and the phase at 0 if your sub is at the front, or 180 if it at the back.

Just to add to terzaghi's recommendations be careful when hooking up the speakers to keep the polarity correct from the receiver to the speaker, any loose connections and stray wires touching what they shouldn't, can cause some interesting situations and can be hard to pinpoint, although the autosetup programs catch this stuff now.

We are here for you John, just ask.

You will not be disappointed by Axiom's bulk wire, I have 100' of it and it is some of the best wire I have seen.

Best of luck with setting up your system.

Gain; Crossover; Bypass and Phase???? This is interesting stuff and yes my receiver has the new auto setup so will definitely be using that feature as this was one reason why I bought the Pioneer Elite SC-07 along with the 2 HDMI outputs for future upgrades. I also picked up the sub cable from Axiom and 100' of their bulk wire. If anyone can think of anything at all that may help me out in getting my gear online it's greatly appreciated. I am a very very new person to all this. I am going to read Alan Lofft's issues in The Learning Centre to see if their is anything in there to help also. Tks all...

Alan's articles are a very good place to start. You could also download the owner's manuals for the sub and receiver(if you don't have it yet) while you are waiting and get a feeling for the various compnents and possible settings. Don't worry about frying anything, as the various fuses in the receiver and sub should blow before any damage happens to anything.

Tks Jason I didn't know their was a owners manual for the EP500 sub. I will try and find it and download it. Tks a bunch again.

Via EP500 spec page

Tks a bunch doormat...Greatly appreciated!!