Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Wall posts vs. direct wiring for satellites

My Axiom speakers arrive Monday, and I have yet another question as I prepare for them.

I've fished 12-gauge UL-rated wire through the walls from my entertainment built-in to the speaker locations. In the builtin, I can snake the wires out of the floor directly to the receiver, or I can terminate them on a speaker plate with binding posts on both sides like this one from Radio Shack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=40-983

I prefer the wall plate for the nice finished look, but will the extra connections incur signal loss of any significance?

Same question goes for the wall positions where the QS4's will go, although since I don't have the QS4's and brackets yet, I don't know if there is enough depth for speaker posts anyway. What have the rest of you done? Snake the wire straight out of the wall and into the speaker?

Thanks in advance,
Robert

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I prefer the wall plate for the nice finished look, but will the extra connections incur signal loss of any significance?

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Not likely.
Have you ever run an extension cord from the wall and found a lamp to be less bright than when it was plugged in directly?
Use whatever will work best for you for convenience.

Good point.

Of course, this is audio and as all of you know, you can buy interconnect cables with directional arrows on them. (Are there diodes involved somewhere? :-)

I figured that I better find out if I would be doing something obviously bad. Don't worry, I didn't buy super-expensive speaker cable, I just bought 12-gauge at Home Depot. Probably overkill as it is.

Robert

The only (highly unlikely) problem I would see is that there's now 4 points where connections are made, as opposed to 2. If the connections aren't solid, it could be a problem. However, this is of negligible concern.

I did exactly as you are describing and it has been up and running for 3years with out a problem.I used the same plates. Just make sure the terminals are TIGHT and and not protruding out too far as they might touch the electrical box, if you used boxes to hold the wire. You won't have any problems. I mounted the plates just to the side of where my QS8's are, I don't mind looking at the plates.

Directional cables are a joke. Marketing hype.
Your only concern is as Ken said. Make sure the extra connections are secure/snug and that's about it.

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Just make sure the terminals are TIGHT and and not protruding out too far as they might touch the electrical box, if you used boxes to hold the wire.

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Another solution is a "Wall Plate Quick Install Bracket" (RadShack part #279-8475, though I can't find it online?!?) it's a flat plate that attaches to the wall (has wrap-around wings - no not feminine hygiene ones!) and allows you to mount any kind of standard wall plate securely... used a bunch of them here for CATV/phone runs, they work remarkably well... (remember, low-voltage only... not rated for AC mains)

Bren R.

The wall plates I used from radioshack came with the quick install brackets. I happened to use electrical boxes because I was doing the framing for my basement and prewired. The boxes were left overs from the electrical install.