Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Which Power Source for M60ti? Newbie.

"Notice the detail ... look how deep and wide the soundstage is ... bass you can almost feel ..."

I avoid pointing out anything to listeners. Many newbies say "Yeah...so...what should I be listening for?" Other newbies pick up on the obvious audible benefits of my systems. So for many I have to point out what to listen for.

I don't know Linn so I can't say it's evil. Certainly if you take any speaker and butt it up against another so any of the drivers are in an acoustic shadow, that other will be limited in off-axis performance. Limitations also apply to one set of speakers being situated wider or narrower than the other, closer to room boundaries, etc. The other sound coloring objects referenced are natural occurrences in a room but flanking speakers are not...unless you're at Mojo's.

Hello all. Long time no forum for me. Just saying hi. Crazy times worldwide. Well, work is officially over and I’m at home again for the foreseeable future.....so I guess I’ll listen to my music and stereo setup again. ( I work away from home for extended periods so I haven’t really listened to my m60s since New Years!)

I’d like to keep the upgrades going but doing it cheaply. I’m going to get some new thicker speaker cables. I’m thinking I might just order the axiom bulk cable. Any body use it or can recommend another brand or source? Any reason to go thicker than 12 awg? 10 awg? Double the 12 gauge to get 9 gauge? I’m thinking of doing banana plugs too, mostly for a cleaner look. My runs are im thinking, about 10 feet per side at max to allow for experimenting and moving of speakers. Should I get enough cable to do bi wiring? ( can’t say I really think this would make a difference? Maybe?) Thoughts?

Would love to hear any and all opinions on possible tangible sound improvements with the various options out there. I’m looking forward to some low cost but fun experimenting and listening fun to weather these uncertain financial times. Might get some port plugs too just to play around with. Just for kicks. Or maybe I’ll just jam some thick socks in there instead!

Good health to you all and happy listening to all.
Cheers, Kodiak.

Now that I’m out of business I should write a new post that teaches how we set up speakers for jobs using lasers....

Don’t worry we left with money in the bank. We didnt suck! Lol.

For cable I would suggest only going to the gauge size you need. For residential lengths I recommend 16/4 in star quad configuration.

I just dropped $350 on a 300m roll of Belden 5322UL 18/4 that I intend on re-pulling to turn my three ways active. I had belden 10/2 in place that will go to 8” woofer duty now.

Really big fan and believer in star quad assembly in cables. It’s cheap and seems special somehow....

Star Quad affect demonstration: https://youtu.be/9ckp5CYBBjE

Best sound I’ve had was with 18/4 solid core thin wall polyeflin fire alarm cable..... Google FAS or Securex. It is 18/4 solid core perfect for star quad termination. Cheap as dirt at electrical wholsalers.

Thanks From the Deep. I’ll give star quad a read / listen on you tube.

Is there any danger or loss of signal quality if I go a thicker gauge then necessary? 12 gauge copper wire from axiom should be fine for example.

I’ll read up on star quad and see if I can understand the benefits.

Thanks.

Yep, the Axiom cable is fine.

I just fluked out on finding star quad because I took home scrap wire from work to use as speaker cable after pulling a fire alarm system in a sport check. A single conductor of a gauge is three sizes larger when paralleled. Ie. 18AWG+18AWG= 15AWG with magnetic cancellation in star quad. Found out about what I stumbled into after.

RANT:
Turns out they can potentially make a difference. Is it audible? Depends. MUCH bigger things to focus on first. In my room 1/2 a db is very audible when tuning. The absolutists in both camps maybe haven’t read all the books or built (several) scratch rooms to find out like some have. Sometimes I read posts online and wonder.... I think they misinterpret the science to suit their opinion, rather than understanding real science has no opinion.

Wait! Did he just say he knows better?! Yes, he did. JohnK used to piss me off.

Heavier gauge cables have lower resistance but also generally higher capacitance. I’m not convinced that although resistance does decrease power to the load that inductance and capacitance aren’t also important to minimize. VFD drives dont work properly when this isnt taken into consideration.... They arent so different from modern amps.

Again, I wouldn’t go nuts. Just size the cable to your amp. Driving 500watts or less #12. Ignore the length guidelines.... It’s residential..... How much power are you planning to send. Start there.

The company I work for wired the sound system at Confederation place in Charlottetown. Did the rigging and analog dimming array too. #10 was as big as they went on runs 300’ . Huge and expensive amplifiers from L-Acoustics that dummy consumer products. I was hands on there personally. Neat stuff. Seen Stephen Page with Orchestra there recently. Nuts good sound.

No need to overdo.

I just upgraded my cables for the actives.

All speakers, cables, receivers, sources sound the same. They all make noise.

- JohnK -

I hope your kidding mojo.......!
Interesting looking cable though.

Well I won’t be going bigger than 500 watts so 12 gauge will do fine. Thanks. I don’t think I’m gonna over think the speaker wire too much. Thanks for the star quad info though. Interesting.

Ok here is a question.....I’m still “ shopping” for a new power source / amps. Not in a rush but always looking.

I’ve done a ton of reading and video reviews. Sooooo many options. I’ve read about the Crown xls series as a economical pre amp separates setup. The schiit vidar mono blocks keeping it class a/b , or Outlaw class d mono or stereo outboard....Monolith....Emotiva......sort of economical....

I found the Outlaw RR2160 which looks really well connected feature laden and good power and can operate as a pre with 2 subwoofer outs as well along with co ax and optical rca and bass management too. Lots of room for future connections and growing with sources and subs. I digress.....

So the question, if I did buy a rr2160 ( or any integrated with pre out puts) can I in the future add outboard amps to the pre outs and have them run my woofers and use the inboard amps of the integrated to run the midrange and tweeter section. ? So using the on-board and out board amps at same time in a horizontal passive bi amped set up. Or does using the pre out connections disconnect the on-board integrated amps?

Then I could have class d running my woofers and class ab running my mid range and tweet. The crowns or outlaw outboards would work bc you could gain match to the integrated with their dials. If I’m understanding how these components work in reality.

Bit of a long wordy post but just brainstorming with thought experiment. Lots of time to sit and think and ponder things these days. Interesting new forum format. It’s growing on me. Cheers all.