Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions speaker wire

Anyone know if I can use #12 low voltage lighting wire for outdoor speakers?
Thanks,
Jovan.

It's partially discussed here with a picture showing the difference between 12 gauge low voltage wire and standard speaker wire. Search for low voltage on the page once you pull it up.

My uneducated guess is that it should work fine, in the end, it just needs to conduct electricity with as little impedance as possible. The length of the run would also play into the answer to your question.

Jason

Thanks Jason.

Go for it, low voltage wire works fine.

By the way, I have to ask... "Red Orc" Where does the name come from?

Jovan, the "low voltage" language refers to the lighting, and isn't intended to indicate that the wire itself is somehow different from other 12ga copper wire. It's the same, with a heavier, more weather-resistant outer jacket than some, and carries power to speakers just as well as it does to low voltage lights.

Thank you all, that is what I was thinking. This is my first true HiFi system. I thought that there might be some magic picsie dust in some speaker wire. I have one other question for now, there will be more I'm sure. I have the M80's and VP150, driving them is a Onkyo 806 and Emotiva XPA-3. Before the Onkyo I had a Marantz SR6001 sound was awesome! Now with Onkyo it sounds a bit hollow, weak, any ideas?
myrison. Red Orc is a character in a book I read years ago.

Does that make you a (well-)read dork? Kidding!

Do you have some sort of equalization turned on on the Onk?

Did you calibrate everything?

Suboptimal equalization from the Onkyo or inaccurate auto-setup adjustments would be my first guess as well.

LOL

I did the auto setup. I have it set at 4 ohms, I guess ill keep tinkering until I get it right. Does Axiom run specials? I'm looking to pick up the EP500.

read dork I got that once. lol

Thank you all once again,Ill keep tinkering.
read dork. I hope the kids don't get a whiff of this they will never let it go. lol

Why set it to 4 ohm with an external amp? Even if it was just the 806 it should be set to 8 ohm.

Red Orc,

Wid is correct. Whatever you're setting to 4 ohms, don't. What that does is limit the voltage/current from the receiver/amplifier's internal power supply to the output transistors, severely reducing the amplifier's maximum output power and dynamic range. That may be what's happening with your setup. You may be running the amplifier into near clipping or distortion, which might account for the problems in sound quality. Set it to 8 ohms even if you're driving 4-ohm speakers. That will help prevent the amplifier/receiver from going into "current limiting".

And be sure you turn off the auto-equalization.

Regards,
Alan

The education I am receiving is invaluable. Thanks again.

Jovan

Red - Axiom does have a special going now. Spend $500 and get $100 credit for yourself. I'm not sure if you can apply that to the rest of the purchase price of the 500, but it'd be worth asking. It's not "Black Friday"-like, but it's better than nothing too.

The specials I've seen in the past have generally had to do with free upgrades to a custom finish, not a temporary price drop.

If you're looking for a deal, this might be as good as it gets for awhile. Go for it.

Jason

I was wondering the same thing? The wait for the Aussie dollar to make it's way back up is going to be a long one and I am chaffing at the bit to get the EP500.

Alan, I have it changed from 4 ohms to normal ran the auto speaker set up and still sounds like,.. well a cheap system that you buy of the shelf at walmart. When i turn the volume up, it goes from -81 db and I start hearing sound at about -55 db. I read the Onkyo manual over and over, I just don't see what I'm missing.

Regards,
Jovan

Hollow, weak, with an Onkyo 806, sounds like something is wrong. I wouldn't pay attention to the -81 - 55 db read out as it is just a guide. I listen to my system on my Denon around -30. Have you used an SPL meter to set everything up or the on board set up routine? I would try resetting the Onkyo to factory specs and recalibrate with just an SPL meter to see how that sounds.

Unfortunately, this sounds like something is wrong with the receiver to me as well. Do you by chance have a way to borrow another receiver from a friend or buy one somewhere that you can take it back without a restocking fee? That would be the easiest way to rule out the receiver without making yourself nuts.

Also, to get through faster troubleshooting, I'd definitely recommend you call Axiom rather than waiting for Alan to respond here. He does check in regularly but I don't think he sees every post, so to speed things up, you might want to give them a ring.

Jason

Thank you again,


I reset everything sounds great now. The only issue is that I have to turn it way up. The volume comes on slow, and then starts to really fill the room about -20 db. normal?

That's fine, no worries.

As Jason mentioned above all receivers are different. My Denon starts at -80dB's and goes up to +20dB I believe. For movies I am normally around -15 to -18dB 's, music varies per the recording.

Make sure you set all your speakers to small with a crossover of 80hz in the receiver. Turn the sub crossover all the way up or on bypass setting, to get it out of the way for receiver management. This will give you a good starting point.

Hi Red Orc,

I'm delighted you've got your system sounding great. And those volume levels you are setting are quite normal. For my own system with either M80s or M22s running with an EP500, I find I set my H/K receiver's volume display to a range of -30 dB to -15 dB.

You will some CDs are recorded really "hot" (loud), often 10 dB louder than other discs (a 10 dB increase in volume subjectively sounds "twice as loud" to most listeners), and you may have to throttle back the volume to -30 dB (I'm thinking of a Ray Charles box set I have, and the levels are incredibly hot). Some other CDs have the recorded level set so low that I run the volume up to -12 dB just to get a comfortable playback level. If my CD changer is on random, and a hot CD is selected, I'm almost blasted out of the room.

I've also found that some Dolby Digital 5.1 movie soundtracks, whether from HD cable or from DVDs, are often much lower in level, and I have to crank up the playback level to -12 dB.

So you'll find significant variations in the AV receiver volume settings depending on the source, and that includes wide variations from one broadcast channel to another.

And it's true that I sometimes miss a day or two in scanning our forums when I get busy with other Axiom projects. Eventually--like today--I go through all the forums except for the water cooler.

Regards,
Alan

Alan -30db to -15db is also the typical range for most sober applications with our H/K 635 but I find that with the cable HDTV stations the volume needs to be turned to just above 0 ... and whenever the system gets switched back over for DVDs or music I always get a blast of high volume for a few seconds because I forget to reduce the volume prior to switching from cable HDTV.

Happens every time.

Time to upgrade the receiver Rick. The 3808 let's you set the volumes for each input either higher or lower, also for start up. I have the Denon come on at -33 and I have the Wii input set to be -10 db.

My 806 lets me do that. I am happy to hear that it's normal to have the db level high.
I just ordered the ep500! can't wait to see the sound transformation.
Thank you Alan.

Jovan

Thank you all!

Congrats on the 500 order Jovan. Fun times ahead!

Congrats on your order.