Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Newbie question= cables

I know its a pretty newbie questions but seeing as i will be putting the cable in this week before they put up the drywall in my basement i thought i should ask.

Stuff:
onkyo tx-sr600 reciever
ecpi 50 speaker set

My questions is, what type of speaker cable is needed for the connections i'm going to have. I will be running 3 lines to the back of my seating area 2 surrounds and 1 rear center. What type of cable should i have for those 3? and should i go with something better for the front 3 speakers?
I want it to sound as good as possible and i don't really want to spend $200 per speaker connection. Any idea's?

thanks!
Ayien

Hi,

Get good-quality 14-gauge copper cable from Radio Shack, Home Depot, Parts Express, etc. Use the same cable for all your speakers, but they do not have to be the same length. There is no advantage whatsoever to expensive exotic cables. If you pay a lot, you may think they sound better but they do not. Other visitors to the site may have other sources as well for good-quality inexpensive cable.

Regards,

Hi,
Look at the post "Good budget speaker cable" under the "Advice from Axiom Owners". There are lots of tips there including some links to web sites.

Regards,

Thanks for the info Alan, just one question, what does Axiom use for the wiring inside the speakers? Most of the speakers I have seen, even some expensive ones, use small 'crap' wire. The Klipsch RF series uses monster cable inside, but that is probably over kill.

Michael

Michael, all speakers have over 100 feet of "crap" wire inside with gauges in the 20s and 30s. You appear to have been reading about another of the audio myths. As Alan suggests, use standard low-cost copper wire. Nothing better is available, although you can pay 100 times as much if you care to.

OK, but if it is important to use 12ga wire to get the signal to the speaker, shouldn't something like that be used from the connectors/crossover to the actual driver be more than the very small wire?

Not really, Michael. The gauge to be used between the amp and speaker connectors depends primarily on the length of the run. 16ga is fine for many applications, but 14 or 12 may be advisable for longer runs. The few more inches inside directly after the connectors don't create any problems.

Another reason to get 14 gauge wire is so it will fit in the CSS-2 speaker stands. I just received a pair of stands this week and my 12 gauge wire will not fit :-( no big deal.

Now that I have my M60's I looked through the top port on the back of the speaker and I can see that Axiom uses fairly large wire. It has to be 2-3 times the size of the wire that Polk uses in their R50's. That makes me happy.

Thanks for all the info guys, i purchased some cable last night. I'm just trying to get it in before they finish the sheet rock on my basement walls (:

I got 250feet of 12ga wire at Lowes. it was 67 bucks. Made by Woods. I believe that is the name.

ayien