Hi All,
I bought a ton of stuff from Axiom.
I bought 2 M80 V2s, 2 QS8s, 1 VP150, 1 Denon 2810.
The QS8s and the VP150 are on the way.
I only have 1 specific question but was wondering if you had any other tips.
I bought 18 gauge speaker cables. The M80s sound pretty good on it. I want to make sure if I got the right gauge cables.
Do you have any other tips?

By preference, I'd use at least 14 or 16 gauge. 18 isn't the end of the world, but depending on how long your runs are, it might be degrading the performance somewhat.

For what it costs, you should probably go with 12-14g or if you have a longer run, say 20-25ft or more, definitely go to 12g.

The M80s are about 15 feet away. The QS8s will be about 50 feet away.

Also can someone suggest a good site to buy the cables? Radio shack is unreasonably expensive.

Monoprice.com

Monoprice.com is great! Something like this should do you well!

Welcome, by the way!

monoprice, or just go down to Menards, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. and you can buy right off the role. I would also go with 12-14 gauge. 18 is ok for short runs, but why skimp for your 80's.

$17.34 for a 100' roll (Mark's link) ... That's pretty darn cheap, can you get it that cheap at a local hardware store? Sometimes Monoprice.com makes one feel like their stealing from them compared to most other folks prices.

You can also use low voltage wire from one of the home improvement stores.

Spinner, welcome. You're going to be enjoying a lot of great sounds soon(assuming that you have good source material). Your 18ga wire will be fine for your use; more isn't necessarily better. For an excellent explanation of speaker wire by a veteran audio professional, which includes a table of suggested gauges, study this . You've already got the wire, it's thinner and easier to handle, so it's "right" for you. Enjoy.

The link shows 18ga good up to 24 feet with a 6 ohm load. The OP states he has a run of 50 feet for the QS8s. I would still recommend the 12 ga. wire.

Also can someone suggest a good site to buy the cables? Radio shack is unreasonably expensive.

Same place. Monoprice.

I was wondering the same (24FT. max for 6 ohm load).

50ft. is a long way away for the QS8's! They're still effective at that distance? They'll need a major boost in level in relation to the mains.

Also, Axiom sells Denon products??

Topspin welcome, the site we suggested Monoprice.com will be a great site to buy all of your cabling needs, can't beat their prices anywhere.

Monoprice.com

I like Blue Jeans cable and wire as well as Monoprice. Monoprice just seams too damn cheap, but I use their stuff without issue.

htnut,
They are only about 15 feet awau from the TV but I need to run the cable around the room along the walls. Hence the 50 feet.

Thank you one and all for the warm welcome and for your suggestions.

I've been using 14g for all speakers, the Q's measure out at about 30 or so feet after running the cables under the floor and up the wall. No issues, but I know alot of guys would probably use 12g for that length to be safe.

Using 12g with my m80s vp150 and QS8's. I purchased some speaker wire from bluejeans cable and some from monoprice. My sub cable came from blue jeans cable

Here's the thing, your 18 guage cable might do the trick, so if you don't want to swap it out, more power to you. A 50 foot run is fairly long though, I would personally use 12 guage for them. In fact I do. I bought two 100 foot rolls of 12 guage wire from Monprice for $24 bucks each, how can you beat that? Down at my local HH Greggs they only sold Monster cable, it was $125 bucks for a 50 foot roll of 12 guage.

If you go through mono price you can purchase the thick stuff so cheap that you might as well get it 'just in case'. Now if there was say $100 dollars difference between the two guages then I'd say buy what you need, but at $24 bucks... come on, you can't beat that! And its plenty flexable, so don't worry about that.

Welcome, I can't wait to hear your impressions once you have everything set up. Do you already have a sub?

IIRC, I bought a 100' spool of 12ga speaker wire from Home Depot for something like $49, it's been a long while though. I don't even see it on their website anymore ... Home Depot speaker wire

Here's what Lowes has ... Lowes speaker wire

Now that I remember it actually may have been Lowes where I bought mine.

That remembory gets tougher every year, huh Rick?

I've bought a total of 50 foot 12g from Axiom. I know it cost a little more, but at least I have the assurance that it's good wire.

+1 for Monoprice. Super cheap and 100% functional cable. Micah's 100% right about the "just-in-case" theory. I've accumulated a mini audio parts warehouse in my basement of Monoprice cables, just-in-case. Very useful when a co-worker needs to borrow an RCA cable, or when a friend upgrades to an HDTV on Christmas Morning and forgot to pick up an HDMI cable.

However, if you want slightly higher quality stuff*, check out Blue Jeans Cable . I've bought all of my speaker wire and most of my analog interconnects from them. I have always been very happy with the price & quality of the products.

*For whatever the reason may be. Whether you believe it makes a difference in the sound quality, you just want nicer looking and/or feeling cable and connectors, or you just like spending a little extra money to support a small "mom and pop" kind of operation. I do not intend to start a "wire matters" discussion.

TOO LATE! You can't just "throw down" like that and expect no challengers!!

For starters, I'm going to say that 2 strand wire is better than 1 strand wire.

Only if it's sonically and acoutically "pure"

If you're running enough power, you can arc to ground.

I think you need the XPA-1 for that. Of course, it would probably shut down. <runs away from Emotiva hordes out for blood>

Only if it was trying to push a set of those pansy ass M80's!!!!!!!!








.... hey wait, I own a set of pansy ass M80's

I used monoprice 12g wire all around:

M80's and VP 150 ~ no more than 3' away
QS8's (surrounds) ~ 32'
Bose (back surrounds ~ 36'

No regrets, nice solid, full sound.