speaker wire? quality differnces

R

ranthore

Audioholic Intern
hi im going to be putting together my surround sound this week and i need to look for speaker wire, my system is gona have 100 wats per channel and i have 5.1 system with powered subwoofer, gona need some speaker wire, two questions on that, will any wire do i am on a budget but dont want to mess with the quality over some speaker wire so any good ideas what i should look for, btw should all speakers have same length wire regaurdless of postion so the delay is the same or not just a idea lol.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
In spite of what some would have you believe, speaker wire is pretty much a commodity. The stuff from Home Depot.and Lowes will "sound" just the same as expensive Monster cable and last just as long.

Just stick to somewhere between 12 and 16 gauge and you'll be fine.

As for the equal length issuse it's no big deal. The sound, traveling at 550 fps, takes longer to travel from the speaker to your ear in the air.

Considering that the electricity travels through the wires at nearly the speed of light, just think about how much you would need to hear any delay.
 
zhimbo

zhimbo

Audioholic General
btw should all speakers have same length wire regaurdless of postion so the delay is the same or not just a idea lol.
If you're holding a stick against a person and want to poke them...Does it take longer to poke someone with 5 foot stick or a 10 foot stick? It doesn't matter. You push on your end, and they feel it on their end.

The electrons lined up within the wire move, to simplify a bit, like a single long "stick". You push one end and the far end instantaneously moves as well. No single electron has to move from the reciever to the speaker.

Assuming realistic lengths of wire of sufficient gauge, that's pretty much the image to keep in mind.
 
Rickster71

Rickster71

Audioholic Spartan
Lots of good advice so far. Allow me to add:

Here is a link to an Audioholic's article http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/speaker-cable-gauge

A few things to consider: Are the wires going to be run in the wall or on the floor? That would dictate the type of insulation on the wire.

The next thing to consider would be the length of the wire? That is covered in the above link.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
... The sound, traveling at 550 fps, takes longer to travel from the speaker to your ear in the air.
.
Not a big deal, or could be;) but the speed of sound in air, at sea level and standard day is about 1130fps:D
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
hi im going to be putting together my surround sound this week and i need to look for speaker wire, my system is gona have 100 wats per channel and i have 5.1 system with powered subwoofer, gona need some speaker wire, two questions on that, will any wire do i am on a budget but dont want to mess with the quality over some speaker wire so any good ideas what i should look for, btw should all speakers have same length wire regaurdless of postion so the delay is the same or not just a idea lol.
If you're planning to run wires in walls and attic spaces, it has to be CL-2 rated, minimum. CL-3 is better. By code, if it passes through a plenum space or duct, it can't have PVC in it.
 

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