What should I use for in-wall wiring?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.

I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
noise from AC wiring &etc.

Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
in the walls? Or should I use some kind of shielded wire? (I plan to
keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where possible,
and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)

What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...? Is there any
real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?

I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?

Thanks!
Gary
remove xxx's to email me

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Gary Fritz wrote:

> I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
> 7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.

> I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
> alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
> that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
> noise from AC wiring &etc.

12 gauge copper wire. Solid is OK, but coarse stranding makes it a little
easier to terminate. For safety and convenience avoid wire that has black,
white or green insulation, as that usually identifies the wiring as being
power line related.

> Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
> in the walls?

Check local code for low voltage wiring.

>Or should I use some kind of shielded wire?

No good reason to use shielded wiring for speaker wires. If you are worried
about picking up noise, put the wire in steel conduit, and/or twist the
conductors more tightly with a drill.

> (I plan to
> keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where
> possible, and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)

Good. If you are really nervious you could use some steel conduit.

> What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...?

Shielding is good. You want coax cable with a solid copper center conductor,
not the copper-clad steel that is commonly used for cable system, satellite,
and regular TV/FM antenna lines.

>Is there any real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?

Not for your purpose.

> I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
> room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?

Yes.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

On 23 Apr 2004 14:34:41 GMT, Gary Fritz <fritzxxx@xxxfrii.com> wrote:
>I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
>7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.

>I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
>alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
>that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
>noise from AC wiring &etc.

>Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
>in the walls? Or should I use some kind of shielded wire? (I plan to
>keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where possible,
>and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)
that's fine. Home depot sells reasonable speaker wire in spools of 500'.
Get a 12guage spool.




>What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...? Is there any
>real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
RG6 is for RF apps. Go with the RG59. RG58 is also fine.
Don't listen to anything anybody tells you about impedance matching.
That's only a factor at lengths of at least 1/2 wavelength and unless
you're house is the size of an aircraft factory, it won't matter.

>I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
>room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?
yes. Microphone cable works well.


>Thanks!
>Gary
>remove xxx's to email me

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

12 gauge lamp cord is fine, just don't get the kind that has one conductor
tinned. The lamp cord will actually sound better than Monster (and other
similarly super-finely stranded) cable.

Never use shielded cable for speakers, and never run speaker wire in metal
conduit. In both situations the amp will see a very capacitive load - some
won't drive such a load at all. (Also try to avoid crossing any metal
objects (such as heating ducts) with the speaker wire.

"TCS" <The-Central-Scrutinizer@p.o.b.o.x.com> wrote in message
news:slrnc8if4d.3ck.The-Central-Scrutinizer@linux.client.comcast.net...
> On 23 Apr 2004 14:34:41 GMT, Gary Fritz <fritzxxx@xxxfrii.com> wrote:
> >I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
> >7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.
>
> >I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
> >alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
> >that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
> >noise from AC wiring &etc.
>
> >Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
> >in the walls? Or should I use some kind of shielded wire? (I plan to
> >keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where possible,
> >and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)
> that's fine. Home depot sells reasonable speaker wire in spools of 500'.
> Get a 12guage spool.
>
>
>
>
> >What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...? Is there any
> >real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
> RG6 is for RF apps. Go with the RG59. RG58 is also fine.
> Don't listen to anything anybody tells you about impedance matching.
> That's only a factor at lengths of at least 1/2 wavelength and unless
> you're house is the size of an aircraft factory, it won't matter.
>
> >I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
> >room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?
> yes. Microphone cable works well.
>
>
> >Thanks!
> >Gary
> >remove xxx's to email me

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Gary Fritz wrote:

> I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
> 7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.
>
> I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
> alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
> that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
> noise from AC wiring &etc.
>
> Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
> in the walls? Or should I use some kind of shielded wire? (I plan to
> keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where possible,
> and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)
>
> What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...? Is there any
> real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
>
> I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
> room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?
>
> Thanks!
> Gary
> remove xxx's to email me

If you are planning on ripping open the walls for this install, putting
in
conduit so that in the future you can easily pull in whatever cable you
need when you need it.
For speaker cable, any heavy gauge stranded cable should be fine.
12 gauge is more than enough, unless you are making a system that
is capable of shaking the glass out of the windows. Don't buy any
of the oxygen-free snake oil. You can use solid wire as well, but
it is harder to terminate to speaker connections, and can be easily
confused with power wiring in the future.
For line level unbalanced connections, any coax type cable is
going to be adequate. If you live next to a radar site or next to an
industrial park with certain kinds of equipment, then you may want
to take some measures against RFI. Don't go with a cheapie
cable you got at radio shack from the five dollar rack, but you don't
need the overpriced stuff at home theater shops either.
For low level signals, gold plated connectors are worthwhile.
Read the specs, make sure there is at least 50 microinches of
gold plating, and both jack and plug should be gold plated to give
you a good gas tight connection.

--Dale

 

[dominic]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Anyone tried these? I'm thinking about getting one for myself.

http/www.equitech.com/products/seconds/seconds.html


Gary Fritz wrote:

> I'm building a home theater, and I want to wire it for 5.1 (or maybe
> 7.1) sound. But I'm not quite sure what I should use for wiring.
>
> I'm on a very limited budget so I'm not going to use any solid-gold
> alternatives like Monster Cable. I just want some decent conductors
> that won't degrade the signal noticeably and that won't pick up excess
> noise from AC wiring &etc.
>
> Should I just run vanilla 12ga or 14ga oxygen-free copper speaker wire
> in the walls? Or should I use some kind of shielded wire? (I plan to
> keep the speaker runs at least 12-16" from all AC power where possible,
> and cross at right angles where unavoidable.)
>
> What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...? Is there any
> real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
>
> I also want to run a pair of lines from my preamp to an amp in another
> room about 30' away. Should I use coax for that?
>
> Thanks!
> Gary
> remove xxx's to email me

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Dominic" wrote ...
> Anyone tried these? I'm thinking about getting one for myself.
> http/www.equitech.com/products/seconds/seconds.html

One of *what*? There are five different transformers on that
page from 1.5KVA @ $400 to 75KVA @ $6500

If that is the "solution", what was the question?
Is there some particular problem you are trying to solve?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Sorry, I had out-of-town guests show up and I totally spaced checking
back on this thread. Thanks for the helpful replies so far!

"Tim Padrick" <Padrick@comcast.net> wrote:
> 12 gauge lamp cord is fine, just don't get the kind that has one
> conductor tinned. The lamp cord will actually sound better than
> Monster (and other similarly super-finely stranded) cable.

OK. I'll just get that or the 12-14ga speaker wire at Home Depot
and plan to twist it with a drill for noise rejection.

> Never use shielded cable for speakers, and never run speaker wire
> in metal conduit. In both situations the amp will see a very
> capacitive load - some won't drive such a load at all.

Excellent advice. Thaniks for that!

TCS <The-Central-Scrutinizer@p.o.b.o.x.com> wrote:
> >What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...?
> >Is there any real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
> RG6 is for RF apps. Go with the RG59.

Hm, OK. However I'll probably be using RG6 for the video runs (from
the HT receiver to my CRT projector) so I might just have them run RG6
for the powered woofers and the preamp run to another room. RG6
doesn't seem to be any more expensive than RG59. I assume RG6 would be
better for component video, satellite TV runs, etc?

Gary

 

[cjt]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Gary Fritz wrote:

> Sorry, I had out-of-town guests show up and I totally spaced checking
> back on this thread. Thanks for the helpful replies so far!
>
> "Tim Padrick" <Padrick@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>12 gauge lamp cord is fine, just don't get the kind that has one
>>conductor tinned. The lamp cord will actually sound better than
>>Monster (and other similarly super-finely stranded) cable.
>
>
> OK. I'll just get that or the 12-14ga speaker wire at Home Depot
> and plan to twist it with a drill for noise rejection.
>

Don't twist it.

>
>>Never use shielded cable for speakers, and never run speaker wire
>>in metal conduit. In both situations the amp will see a very
>>capacitive load - some won't drive such a load at all.
>
>
> Excellent advice. Thaniks for that!
>
> TCS <The-Central-Scrutinizer@p.o.b.o.x.com> wrote:
>
>>>What about runs to a powered subwoofer? RG-6/U, or...?
>>>Is there any real difference between RG-6/U and RG-59/U?
>>
>>RG6 is for RF apps. Go with the RG59.
>
>
> Hm, OK. However I'll probably be using RG6 for the video runs (from
> the HT receiver to my CRT projector) so I might just have them run RG6
> for the powered woofers and the preamp run to another room. RG6
> doesn't seem to be any more expensive than RG59. I assume RG6 would be
> better for component video, satellite TV runs, etc?
>
> Gary


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