Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Wires

Hello, I'm a newbie in HT and I wonder what are the best wires to use to plug my speakers to my receiver?

Generic 12ga speaker wire from Home Depot or Radio Shack is more than sufficient.

yes, that is right.

just make sure to get some with a flexible jacket in case you need to bend it around furniture or walls. I highly doubt you'll notice a difference between that and some 2000$ cables. Keep that money for a better TV, or more discs to add to your collection!

Transparent sell a good set of wires for about $4800

ya i'm returning my porsche and wiring my house with those.. i find the light bulbs light my home better with 500$/foot cables.

oh, let's not have another one of those marathon make fun of expensive cables threads!

I never start those speaker wire threads....me never.


Saturn

ps: I'm off boarding at Whistler next week whooohooooooo. Those Kimbers are great strong speaker wires... I use them to lock my snowboard to the ski racks. Wait maybe thats why my snowboard got stolen 2 years ago. I still couldn't tell if they wanted my snowboard or my Kimbers.

Don't get hoodwinked with all the smoke n mirrors used by the media elite add's.. Go with oxygen free copper.. Lots of that now out there to choose from, so finding some 14ga or 12ga should not be a problem..
The 12ga seems to be the best all around pick..
I also would now recommend using some type of speaker wire connector, as I have found my bare wire approach lacking.. Seems the screws on the binding posts will loosen with use.. I believe this is due to the wire being crushed as it is tightened down in the post.. With use, I have found I need to go back, and snug them up again.. Tooooo much trouble..
I was against paying the extra for connectors, but it looks like banana plugs are in my future after all...

Mikey, just a brief comment on the last part of your reply. Unless the wire would be so loose that it makes no continuous contact with the speaker terminal this isn't a significant problem. Theoretically, even a single strand of copper making contact with the terminal in a tiny area would be adequate. The added resistance at the very end of the wire wouldn't significantly increase the overall resistance of the whole length of the wire. If the terminals loosen after a while the connection can be retightened, but if it isn't, no harm is done unless the wire is so loose that it falls off. No great degree of tightness beyond ordinary finger-tight is necessary and no connectors are necessary. Save your money.

MIKEY

I used to be a banana plug person. The ones I bought also loosened. They basically do the same as barewire, the banana plug crushes the wire a little, so it loosens.

Spades might be the way to go.