I was wondering what Ian recommended in wiring my M60's. Should I run one heavy gauge wire (10ga) or bi wire them using lighter Gauge (12ga or 14 ga). Since monster cable is not exactly cheap and I will be wiring 5 speakers (aprox 200 feet total if I bi wire each of them) what is the best value for my money? At a $1.50 a foot USA for 10 ga wire, will I really hear the difference that justifies spending $300 on wire? I want to get the best performance from my speakers but I dont want to waste my money on something more than I need. What do you recommend?

A couple of questions:
- what are the other speakers?
- do they support bi-wiring?
- what equipment do you have? (Merely to help justify the cost- hi$=yes, midlevel$=maybe, entry$= probably better uses of the cash.)
- does the quality of this equipment warrant it, and will it enhance the sound?
- does this WAF support this? (Wife Acceptance Factor)

Without this, and probably with this, I would do this for the main speakers, and not for the surrounds. The cable gauge you are looking at (10, or 12) is very heavy. This is typically were owners of hi fi systems aim.
In my systems, 12 is the minimum and perfoms nicely.

Regards,

BBIBH

10 gauge is pretty heavy for the amount of power used for most home listening. Before going to the cost of wiring your entire system with 10 gauge I would suggest a simple experiment. Get enough of the expensive 10 gauge to wire your front channels and then get the same amount of 14 gauge cable from the hardware store. Attach both to your amplifier and terminate them in dual banana posts. In the stereo mode do some listening while someone switches the cables back and forth for you. Be absolutely sure you do not know which one is which when you do the listening, just call them cable A and cable B. From there you will be able to make your final decision easily.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer

I am running M60's front and back and I intend to buy a Denon 3802 receiver to run them with. (No wife to factor into the decision.) Should I Bi wire all 4 speakers and if so what gauge would you recommend? Is Monster cable worth the extra money or is any other brand a better value?

Thanks,

MarkV

Wiring choices and the entire realm of wire and cable is a very subjective issue. Bi wiring (and to some extent bi-amping) is a technique to "polish" an already good system. They will not be life altering in terms of the results ( although bi-amping can be considered a bigger step, with bigger payback). That being said,
Will it make a difference - most likely yes. Will it be big enough with current equipment to make a sound quality difference - maybe. Will the cost justify a "slight" upgrade - only your bank account can tell for sure.

Here is my suggestion:especially if you listen to audio at all -
1) I would purchase the 10g Monster for the main speakers (again, biwire is your decision)
2) Wire the others with 12-14 g (either Monster, or not - I would judge based on cost, but probably from Home Depot)

With savings from #2), you may be able to purchase enough Monster to play with the mains biwired!
Also, do not forget about quality (minimum gold plated spades or bananas) connectors.

Regards,

BBIBH

Why are you recommending Monster for the 10 gauge wire? My impression is that it adds no value above what the 10-gauge generic wire would offer. Am I missing something?

I was not endorsing a product, simply the technical plan. MarkV mentioned Monster as his choice in the original post, I was working from his choices.

Truth be known, there is a difference in cables and interconnects. I have to temper that statement by saying - "from my experiences, and it is of my opinion". I know this will generate the posts of "he must be crazy", " I read soemwhere", or " Technical test prove...". But the difference is undeniable.

My impression is that most people expect it to be an epiphany when they add better cables. Or, I have heard from people who have lowfi, and feel that by adding better (read more expensive....there is a difference) cables they will be midfi or hifi. Neither of these will happen!

Are there electical reasons for having better(quality, size,etc) cables? - Yes.
Are there audio(sonic, audible) reasons for adding cables? This is the area of subjective thoughts and opinions.

Plain and simple, better cables and interconnects do make a good system more polished and complete. I have many types of cables, and a few systems at various levels (and various extra pieces of gear) that I have drawn these conclusions from.

Your mileage may vary......;)

Regards,

BBIBH