Speaker Cable Confusion

[StumblingTrout]

Morning All,

I'm hoping the community might be able to point me in the right direction. At the moment, I have a Denon AVR-X3200W AV Reciever with 4x Q Acoustics 3010 speakers and a 3070S Subwoofer (I bought the 5.1 kit, but haven't yet in the past year used the centre speaker so have effectively been running 4.1)

I need to move the 4 speakers - with a baby that's fast becoming mobile, speakers on stands in the living room are a recipe for disaster. I have bought the wall mounts and need to put the speakers on the wall in each corner of the room out of reach. I'll likely add in the centre speaker above the TV.

I don't really know much about these things so when I wired everything up to begin with, I used Amazon Basics 16 gauge speaker wire - copper plated aluminium. I've been told this this is not exactly optimal and that I would be better using a decent speaker cable. With the new speaker placement I'll need new cable anyway, so I want to buy something good and that comes reccommended and that is going to bring the best out of my setup. I don't want to throw thousands of pounds at cable, it's a budget system in my living room not a big cinema.

I need about 31 metres total, but want to order it complete with banana plugs (I currently just poked some expose wire into the speaker terminals) so was looking at purchasing from AudioVisualOnline as they offer this service.

I was going to buy Audioquest's FLX-Slip 14/4 as reccommended here as the best sub-£10 metre cable, but I don't have bi-wire speakers and the internet seem to think that Audioquest sell snake oil and that their products aren't the best?

I basically need a decent cable at a reasonable price (no more than £6 per metre absolute tops) and it'll need to be able to bend round a couple of 90 degree corners in some mini-trunking that i'm going to run along the tops of my picture rails to keep it as tidy as possible.

Photo:

Cheers!

 

[Frank Harvey]

I need to move the 4 speakers - with a baby that's fast becoming mobile, speakers on stands in the living room are a recipe for disaster. I have bought the wall mounts and need to put the speakers on the wall in each corner of the room out of reach. I'll likely add in the centre speaker above the TV.

I know it is slightly more than what you've specified, but I'd look at The Chord Company Sarsen, which has a very small cross sectional area, and is white in colour, so should be easier to hide in your room compared to the AQ cable.

I need about 31 metres total, but want to order it complete with banana plugs (I currently just poked some expose wire into the speaker terminals) so was looking at purchasing from AudioVisualOnline as they offer this service.

Most retailers will offer this service - whether they make that known on their website is another matter.

I was going to buy Audioquest's FLX-Slip 14/4 as reccommended here as the best sub-£10 metre cable, but I don't have bi-wire speakers and the internet seem to think that Audioquest sell snake oil and that their products aren't the best?

There will always be haters and trolls. AudioQuest cables are fine, and one of my favourites from personal use.

 

[StumblingTrout]

And here is the cupboard. So my cable run will be up the back from the AVR, and then into ducting which runs along the top of the picture rail to each corner of the room, to save having to have any vertical runs.

 

[StumblingTrout]

I need to move the 4 speakers - with a baby that's fast becoming mobile, speakers on stands in the living room are a recipe for disaster. I have bought the wall mounts and need to put the speakers on the wall in each corner of the room out of reach. I'll likely add in the centre speaker above the TV.

I know it is slightly more than what you've specified, but I'd look at The Chord Company Sarsen, which has a very small cross sectional area, and is white in colour, so should be easier to hide in your room compared to the AQ cable.

I need about 31 metres total, but want to order it complete with banana plugs (I currently just poked some expose wire into the speaker terminals) so was looking at purchasing from AudioVisualOnline as they offer this service.

Most retailers will offer this service - whether they make that known on their website is another matter.

I was going to buy Audioquest's FLX-Slip 14/4 as reccommended here as the best sub-£10 metre cable, but I don't have bi-wire speakers and the internet seem to think that Audioquest sell snake oil and that their products aren't the best?

There will always be haters and trolls. AudioQuest cables are fine, and one of my favourites from personal use.

Thanks for the reply.

So looking at the AQ cables, would you go 14/4 and single wire them (put a pair of wires into a single banana plug?) or go 14/2?

Reading on the 14/4 suggests that they were used in a single wire configuration in order to achieve the best buy status, and those using them bi-wire are disappointed. Which makes me wonder if the 14/2 is going to be as good?

Thanks for the suggestion on the Chord - I think that's going to be a little too much in terms of cost though.

 

[abacus]

Standard 2.5mm2 OFC Copper cable is all you need, which can be picked up from places like Maplin’s, who will also be able to supply gold plated banana plugs which you can easily fit yourself.

Alternatively, pop down to your local pro music store (Or online store) who will be able to provide what you want. (You won’t find any fancy cable in a pro-environment)

Avoid anything made by Hi-Fi cable manufactures, as they just put a fancy name on a cheap cable, add some gobbledegook then charge a fortune for it.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[Vladimir]

Get a 30m spool and terminate them yourself with banana plugs that crimp or screw in. You can even go fancy and shrink tube them in black and red. No skill or special tools required.
Go with 2.5mm for standmounts and 4-6mm on floorstanders.
If Audioquest gets out of budget, Van Damme Hi-Fi cable is a good option.

 

[macdiddy]

Please ignore the response from abacus as it is the same cut and paste one he uses in every cable thread started on this forum, its your decision as to what make of speaker cable to use and how much to spend after all its your money.

Cable manufacturers will still be here long after posters like abacus have disappeared from forums like this.

*aggressive*

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

 

Standard 2.5mm2 OFC Copper cable is all you need, which can be picked up from places like Maplin’s, who will also be able to supply gold plated banana plugs which you can easily fit yourself.

[Snip]

Bill

+1 on 12 AWG (2 mm2) or 2.5 mm2. Make sure it's oxygen free copper (OFC) and either 69 or higher strand (the number of individual wire strands in each cable) count.

If you're running it through walls and ducts make sure it's rated for that use or the insulation can harden, break down and create a short in time.

Buy it on a roll and buy 50% more than you think you need. Or buy two rolls with the opportunity to return any unused one for a refund or exchange.

DIY gold plated banana plus, yes, absolutely, but if they're the screwed type try and use ones that have twin grubscrews and make sure they're the right size for your cable. Otherwise your cable won't fit into them or it will be too small and the grubscrews won't clamp properly.

Heat shrink is vital if the banana plugs have metal shrouds. Otherwise you can accidentally short your cables on the back of the receiver (BTDT). Otherwise you don't need it.

Oh, all of this for AV speakers. For "proper stereo" speaker cables I would still go for more expensive, but not silly, priced offerings from Chord or Atlas.

 

[StumblingTrout]

Thanks for all of the advice -

I've just ordered the Audioquest 14/4 cable (as per the Best Buy) - with 2x banana plugs on each end which makes the cable 11 AWG. They do an installation version in white so that should be more discreet and it's oxygen free copper so I think I hit most points mentioned here. It'll arrive in the week, so the next step is to see what the minimum size trunking is that I could get away with!

Edit: I've checked that it's all heatshrinked up too to prevent any shorts which it apparently is.

 

[Vladimir]

Nice!

Mind the arrows >> when installing. It's directional.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Good call.

Just make sure you've ordered them "a little bit too long" rather than "just right" ( which will probably end up as "too short").

It's easy to shorten cables but it's a pain in the derriere to make them longer

 

[StumblingTrout]

I've allowed a few CM's worth of extra - I don't know what I'll do if any of it is too short! £300+ on speaker cable (this is a purchase that the Mrs is NOT going to know about, she'll kill me!) which is non-returnable so with a bit of luck it'll be just right!

I'm hoping I may be able to get 4 lots of this running in this http://www.screwfix.com/p/d-line-mini-decorative-trunking-30mm-x-15mm-x-2m-white/42453

Else i'll have to go for this http://www.screwfix.com/p/d-line-wall-mounted-tv-decorative-trunking-50mm-x-25mm-x-1-5m-white/58754

Ideally I need 2m stretches of trunking as my room is near exactly 4 metres on each side, so 1.5m will be a pain in the backside.

 

[tele1962]

Been recomended the some cable off Ebay by some pros, five meters for a fiver, they also said never pay more than say a tenner for a good length of copper cable as all the fancy stuff is pure snake oil.

 

[Alantiggger]

hehe, brilliant !...