What speaker wire/cable...

[Rock Dog]

What speaker wire/cable do you use for your rear surround channels?

The room is 23' feet deep. The amp is at the front, and the speakers are on the back wall. The speaker wire goes down through the floor at the back of the rack. Actually... The rack is at the front left corner of the room, and the speaker wire comes up from below, at the back right corner of the room. So going downstairs, across the room's width, then along the length, then back up stairs, and up the walls (about 7.') That's a pretty long run. I am currently using some generic (re:bulk Best Buy) wire.

Speaker Cable, Studio Grade, NEC Type CL2, No. of Conductors: 2, Gauge Size (AWG): 14, Conductor/Strands: 168/36, Jacket: Premium Grade Clear Blue PVC, Temperature Range: 0°C to +75°C
High strand, rope lay conductors. Silver-plated conductor lowers electrical resistance for superior signal rendition. 8) :-y :dudes:

:roll: :roll: :roll:

ANYWAY... :LOL: The rears are a di-pole (omni-polar) array. 1 6.5" woofer, 2 1" tweeters in each box. I know I am not treating this things as they should, and that I would probably notice a huge difference in performance, due to the wire I'm using. And Since I might move tham to the side walls (that's a whole other problem) I want to use new wire for them.

So what are you folks using for your rears, especially those with long wire runs?

Thanks, in advance.




-Thomas-

The easiest way to find something lost around the house, is to buy a replacement.

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[Ricky]

For my long rear runs, I use 12 gauge that I bought from Home Depot and Parts Express...less than 35 cents a foot.

[Rock Dog]

For my long rear runs, I use 12 gauge that I bought from Home Depot and Parts Express...less than 35 cents a foot.

Would you suggest a heavier gauge for longer runs?




-Thomas-

The easiest way to find something lost around the house, is to buy a replacement.

Hey You! Make sure you stop by the HTguide Off-Topic section. It's FUN!!!

[David Meek]

Dawg, IMO bgger is better. I'd recommend at least 12-guage in-wall rated for what you are going to do. In my old room I had 45' runs and had no problems using 12-guage. In my current room, the run is about 28' and I'm using 14-guage in-wall. It's fine for that, but my gut feeling is that with a longer run it could be trouble - or if I was to switch to a less efficient surround speaker, maybe.

Don't ask for trouble, go 12. Or 10-guage if you can find it. Repeat after me: Over-building is good! :yesnod:




David - HTGuide flunky
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[Rock Dog]

Repeat after me: Over-building is good! :yesnod:

Over-building is good! :yesnod:
Over-building is good! :yesnod:
Over-building is good! :yesnod:

Yabba-Dabba-Doo
Yabba-Dabba-Doo
Yabba-Dabba-Doo




-Thomas-

The easiest way to find something lost around the house, is to buy a replacement.

Hey You! Make sure you stop by the HTguide Off-Topic section. It's FUN!!!

[Brandon B]

I'm going to try the Belden 1585A CAT5 people over at AA suggest. Let you know how it works out.

BB

[justin]

I have the home depot special. It was in my price range. My dealer told me to buy some 12 gauge wire from there! I don't know if it is oxgen free. I have two 32 foot runs of it for the rear. Of course I went all out on the fronts and droped 350 in speaker cable for three 6 footers

Jus :roll:




Jus

Taking it one day at a time. Life moves quick.

[Chris D]

I'm going to use in-wall rated 12 gauge 2 conductor wire. (purple jacket) Will pick it up next week, I think $90 for a 500 ft spool. 12 or probably even 14 gauge will be fine for you.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Kevin P]

I use Home Depot 12 gauge for all my speaker wire runs. The runs for the surrounds are in wire mold.

The thicker wire for longer runs argument is technically correct, but also consider that the surrounds are less critical in a HT application than the fronts and center. If you're going to "over-build" in the speaker wire department, you're better off using the more expensive wire for the fronts/center and use something more economical (even if it's thinner) for the surrounds.




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[Mats]

i use 12 gauge cardas wire for the mains, and a thinner canare cable for the surrounds (di-pole). the length on the surround runs are approx. 20-25 feet each. honestly, they sound great. given the cost of the 12 gauge vs. my surround runs (i beleive 16 gauge), it's coming down to economics.

fifty feet at approx. $1-2 (bought it in canada... didn't really do the math down to the penny yet) vs. 50 ft @ approx. 4.00, well you do the math. they're both decent quality-cables, and even the salesman was saying this work great for the di-poles. if i had extra cash to throw into the wiring, i'd have opted for the 12 gauge for the surrounds; but instead i put it towards a line conditioner. but, this is all an option for the future!