I'm in the process of purchasing cable for my HT I'm putting together and I need some advice. I have a Hitachi 57" HDTV, Yamaha HTD5650 5.1 surround and am going to get Axiom m22,QS8's and VP100. Looking at the HSU STF-2 sub.

Any recommendations on cables and power bar? I know Monster manufactures some but I've heard they are pricey for the quality. Any suggestions on cables or comments on the speakers i'm about to order.

Great message board and thanks for reading.

Rick N.

Rick, the speakers should please you, but as I often do, I'd suggest that you consider a vertical M2 for your center speaker, to please you even more.

As to the "power bar", if what you have in mind might be something you've read about "clean power", forget it, it's pure hogwash. Engineers who design amplifiers are fully aware of the power supply which will be used and any competently designed amp will have DC leaving its power supply section with inaudibly low noise, following the processing by the filter capacitors there.

As to wire and cables, speaker wire of an appropriate gauge(16 to 12, depending on the length of the run)should cost about 10-30 cents a foot at places such as Home Depot or online sellers. Interconnecting cables that didn't come with the components can be bought at reasonable prices at many places, such as the Dayton cables Parts Express sells. This again is an area full of charlatans looking to rip-off the gullible.

Based on what I've heard- I don't recall the source, so take it accordingly- frequent brownouts, line dips, spikes, etc. (basically, having bad power) are, as John said, audibly insignificant. They can, however, shorten the lifespan of power supplies drawing power from them.

Essentially, I see the point of a line conditioner as not to clean up an audio signal but to relieve stress on my amp's power supply- stress that would make it die sooner.

My 2 cents-
Mike

As an add on to that, that means that you don't have to buy an audio-targeted line conditioner; a computer UPS or line conditioner would be just fine. Or even a halfway decent surge protector.

Rick,

John is right about the suspect merits of the various ways to spend money in this area. I did alot of research about power conditioners and it appears to be somewhat of a con game.

The one area I was concened about was power spikes and lightning. Simply put, a little non-fry protection sounded pretty good based on what I had spent on HT equipment.

With that in mind, I ended up buying a Monster Price Model 1100 Surge Protector. I got it for three reasons. First, it is rated to protect against spikes/strikes around 2700-2900 joules, which is about the highest rating I found. Second, I liked the way it looked and it was configured such that I could hang it on the back of my entertainment center (& off the floor).

Here's the 3rd, and most important, reason. This unit normally sells for $200. Apparently a local store had realized that Monster Ripoff , Inc. was selling marketing sizzle at a price WAY, WAY beyond reasonable and was closing the line out. I got the thing for $60 (still too expensive).

Having said all of that, if you want to get some surge protection, Home Depot has these things, rated at 2700-2900 joules, a really reasonable prices. You REALLY don't need to spend alot of money on this. Oh yeah - the Home Depot protector will also "clean" your power for you as well as anything else.

Damn, I HATE dirty power.

Thank you all for help clearing this up. You've saved me a lot of time and $$$$$. I wish I could by all a beer!

Rick

I'm surprised by the responses here. I would have thought that having a filtered source of power makes good sense. The theory is fairly well respected on the AVS forum. I'm not recommending spending $1000's for line conditioners, but to suggest someone could pick up a $9 power strip or even worse just plug thousands of dollars of A/V equipment right into the wall seems like equally rash advice.

Judging from the surges in electricity I see around my apartment as I turn things on or off and/or plug them in I'd feel better if I had a "cleaner" source of power.

However I'm not an electrical engineer so I'll stay out of it. Just a bit surprised.

-Nick

Ah, the AVS forum.

It certainly depends on your amp's power supply, but I think the point is that a modern amp's power supply is itself designed to turn bad power into good power. Hence it's less an issue of audio quality as equipment longevity.

We're not suggesting plugging in thousands of dollars of A/V equipment into crappy power, but for different reasons than the AVS folks.

If folks have evidence to the contrary please chime in.

Yes, I'm certainly not claiming all AVS info is valid or reliable.

And I don't disagree with your opinion. When my tv bzzts because of poor power I don't worry about the picture..I worry about it "dying". So I guess we're pretty much on the same page. I just was worried that people might get the impression they shouldn't use anything to protect their gear. I wouldn't think that's sound advice for any electronics.

Thanks for clarifying! Your rational will result in me buying a much less expensive powersupply so it's sound advice.

-Nick

Glad we're on the same page- and I wholeheartedly agree as you say that one should protect their gear from bad power.

Cheers,
Mike

Get a computer backup UPS. It will isolate your ground (good), regulate the incoming line voltage, and will let you listen to your system when everyone else in the neighborhood is lighting candles.

Add up the wattage of the equipment that you want to protect, and go to APC UPS size calculator to determine what size you need.

You can find them in computer stores, or on the web for about 1/4 of the price of the audiophile stuff. Great protection, and it will give you time to shut your system down in the event of a power outage. Lightning might blow it up if you take a direct hit, but sacrificing itself in the name of the equipemnt it's protecting is it's job. In theory, much cheaper to replace.

One thing, make SURE of is that you do NOT get a "Standby Power Module". These do not regulate the line voltage all the time, they only kick in in the event of an outage. An "online" UPS will always regulate (and supplement, if necessary) the voltage going to the equipment. It will use battery voltage to make up for brownouts for as long as it can. Your gear will see a smooth 120 volts the entire time it is running.