Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Need help on cabling.

Gents, Thanks for all your advice. I am convinced that I don't need the monster cables. Blue jeans and ultra link are good options. Are there any other cables you guys suggest?

With regards to the sub connections, a friend of mine owns an SVS and he's using both (line level and speaker outs) and I didn't ask why. He just somehow mentioned to me. My svs is arriving next week so for now I am just preparing the wires. I already purchased silver serpent better cables.

Thanks again and, please, if you guys recommnend other cables, please let me know. I still need to run my m60tis 15 ft away from my receiver.

This forum has been a very good guide to me.

Cheers.

>>and I didn't ask why

Probably best to ask. The only reason I can think of is that he had an old receiver without bass management so needed speaker-level wires to the sub (then on to his mains), got a new receiver which let him use a line level connection, but didn't get around to rewiring the mains to not go past the sub any more.

For 15 feet I guess even 16ga should be OK... resist the temptation to open the Monster reel just because you have it in your hands. That's how they win

Home Depot stays open late in many cities and I'm sure WalMart sells wire if you're desperate.

Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with Monster products AFAIK, we just think they're kind of expensive and find their marketing pitches unusually slimy.

DB, for a 15' run to the M60s use any regular 16ga lampcord from Home Depot or similar for maybe twenty cents a foot.

Don't know how the connector quality compares to Bluejeans, but http://www.svideo.com is cheaper. Unless you're unlucky and end up with a bad ground on shielded cable, or it corrodes through or something like that, bad quality cable will be electrically indistinguishable from good cable at audio frequencies, but good quality connectors can help if you're plugging/unplugging all the time. They have really cheap adapters (I needed a coupler) and shipping is included in all prices (even for a $2 adapter).

A really cool idea if you want invisible (but permanent) wiring without messing around with dragging cables through walls is to use flat cables. Haven't tried it, but I would if I ever put in surrounds. (I'm the guy who selected the HSU cylindrical TN-1220HO sub because it fit best behind the audio armoire.)

Check out http://www.smarthome.com/8470.html for an example. They call it "tape wire" and have 2, 4 and 8-conductor tapes, in 100ft spools for $110-$160. They're quite fine (18ga and smaller) but that's acceptable to 50ft. If you're really concerned with the gauge (don't be!) use 2 18ga in parallel in a 4-conductor tape, or use the tape with 2 14ga and 2 26ga and ignore the 26ga wires.

How is it invisible? Here's their literature:
"The age-old debate of clean appearance vs. easy installation is finally over! Now you can get the best of both worlds with Tape Wire: high-grade cable so thin that it virtually disappears under wallpaper, carpeting or paint — without the hassle of cutting drywall and fishing wire through walls!
"To install it, just peel back the self-adhesive backing and apply it to any smooth wall, ceiling, or floor! To install on a finished wall, simply apply a thin coat of spackle or dry-wall joint compound and feather it out to a smooth finish. If your walls have a textured surface, apply a texture over the surface. Use primer paint over the work area and paint for match the rest of the wall. Once covered, the Tape Wire is completely unnoticeable. Connect it to your speaker wire via a Tape Wire Connector (sold separately), which holds both the Tape Wire and the speaker wire securely in place."

Cool eh?

Crutchfield recommends 16ga up to 80ft, and they're in the business of trying to get you to spend money with them.
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/home/speakers_wire.html

They also say "For audiophile-quality music systems — using the best wire possible helps bring out fine musical detail". At least they didn't attempt to specify what makes a wire the "best possible" or else I wouldn't steer anyone to this website.

i use flat cable for my surrounds, but it's not tape wire. I accidentally bought some Acoustic Research self adhesive tape wire, and it was really awful to work with and tried to pull the tape off the walls. I got the flat cable instead (16 gauge), along with some double sided foam tape, and that looks pretty darn good, if I say so myself. It also doesn't pull paint off the wall.