How do you know what cables to use? (Size? Quality?

[mibson]

I am getting a pair of PSB Platinum T8s. And an emotiva UPA-2. I have an arcam preamp I will use.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Platinum-Series/Platinum-T8-Tower


I have maxed out my budget, by 3X, getting these speakers...

Speaker Cables:
What gauge? Does brand matter?

How are the Emotiva cables?

 

[adwilk]

Try here or here.

If it were me, I'd grab some 14 gauge speaker wire, some banana connectors and inexpensive interconnects. You will not need to drop serious cash on this part of the setup.

 

[njedpx3]

I am getting a pair of PSB Platinum T8s. And an emotiva UPA-2. I have an arcam preamp I will use.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Platinum-Series/Platinum-T8-Tower


I have maxed out my budget, by 3X, getting these speakers...

Speaker Cables:
What gauge? Does brand matter?

How are the Emotiva cables?

use 14 gauge or 12 gauge (larger) wire and put locking banana plugs on the ends.

You can make your own cables or get premade cables at either http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp or http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

Both are very good places and the owner of BlueJeansCables is an audioholics member.

Good Luck!

Forest Man

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Those speakers are just going to hurt your ears. Since I am such a nice guy, I am going to let you ship them to me for free. Heck, I am even going to pay for shipping.

Real men use 10awg speaker cable.

12 or 14 awg will be fine unless you are running them a mile or so.

 

[Adam]

Brand has been covered. For gauge, check out this site - excellent info, IMO.

 

[BigSkreen]

Real men use 10awg speaker cable.

12 or 14 awg will be fine unless you are running them a mile or so.

I'm running 8 gauge on the front 3 but to be fair it was cheap and my run is at least a mile and a half.

 

[mibson]

Those speakers are just going to hurt your ears. Since I am such a nice guy, I am going to let you ship them to me for free. Heck, I am even going to pay for shipping.

Real men use 10awg speaker cable.

12 or 14 awg will be fine unless you are running them a mile or so.

LOL
FUNNY!

Just paid for the speakers...Should be within 10 days and I will have a running system.....

I have a component video cable that Im not using, could two of the three parts of this cable be used as a RCA cable? I dont know if there is a difference...

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Yes, you can do that.

LOL
I have a component video cable that Im not using, could two of the three parts of this cable be used as a RCA cable? I dont know if there is a difference...

 

[mibson]

RCA vs component?

Yes, you can do that.

So does this mean that you can just use two RCA cables in place of a video component cable? Or use a component cable for RCA?

Is there some type of quality difference? I have an unused monster component video cable that was not cheep, perahps it would make a good RCA cable?

Im asking because I dont know if the quaity of RCA cables used in a stereo system make a difference with sound quality...

 

[Adam]

So does this mean that you can just use two RCA cables in place of a video component cable? Or use a component cable for RCA?

One thing to consider is the shielding used in the cable. Video cables are (or at least, were) better shielded than audio cables because of the frequencies involved. That's why video cables were thicker. That said, many interconnect cables these days with RCA connectors on the ends are made for either audio or video.

I wanted to point this out because if you use some thin, unshielded audio cables for your component video connection, you might see some degradation.

 

[mibson]

One thing to consider is the shielding used in the cable. Video cables are (or at least, were) better shielded than audio cables because of the frequencies involved. That's why video cables were thicker. That said, many interconnect cables these days with RCA connectors on the ends are made for either audio or video.

I wanted to point this out because if you use some thin, unshielded audio cables for your component video connection, you might see some degradation.

Thanks, but really Id like to know if I use my thick moster component video cable as an RCA cable for my new stereo hook up, is this a good idea? Will that be better than just using some basic cheep RCA cable?

 

[Adam]

Will that be better than just using some basic cheep RCA cable?

Maybe, maybe not. It won't be any worse, though.

 

[mibson]

Cables

ok , so if cable length does not matter within reason...

then I wonder,

should I just use the 16 gauge cable I have and double it up, so Im using two speaker cables for each speaker? (effectivley 8 gauge cable)...

 

[njedpx3]

'nother wire size query

ok , so if cable length does not matter within reason...

then I wonder,

should I just use the 16 gauge cable I have and double it up, so Im using two speaker cables for each speaker? (effectivley 8 gauge cable)...

Be careful two 16 gauge cables do not equal on 8 gauge. It doesn't work that way. 16 gauge is 6.39 times the resistance of 8 gauge.

16 gauge ohms/ft= 0.004094
14 gauge ohms/ft=0.002575
12 gauge ohms/ft =0.001619
10 gauge ohms/ft = 0.001018
8 gauge ohms/ft =0.0006405

Remember for any wire run you need to double the length fro total resistance.

14 gauge will work for most speaker runs under 25 ft. Nothing bigger than 12 gauge is ever needed.


A speaker wire size guide can be found at Audioholics article:
http://www.audioholics.com/search?SearchableText=wire+gauge+size

A quick summary of that article:
Speaker Impedance 8 Ohm Load 4 Ohm Load

Wire Gauge Distance (ft) Distance (ft)

18 AWG 10 (8 ohm) 5 (4 ohm)

16 AWG 20 (8 ohm)10 (4 ohm)

14 AWG 35(8 ohm) 18 (4 ohm)

12 AWG 60 (8 ohm)30(4 ohm)

10 AWG 100 (8 ohm)50(4 ohm)


Good Luck!

Forest Man

 

[mibson]

16 gauge?

Ok so the speakers you have and the power amp in watts dont matter for what gauge you need? Seems counter intuitive if that is true,

My speaker cables will only be about 9 feet long, so 16 gauge is ok?

MAINS: PSB Platinum t8, (4OHM)
AMP:Emovita UPA-2,
Preamp:Arcam Xeta 2
Dvd/cd Player: PS3

 

[mibson]

Speaker wire ends? Bannana? Bare? Spades?

It seems to me, and I know very little.

That if you used speaker wire with bare ends, and tightened the "attachment points" on the amp and speakers very "snug", you would have a better connection than with banana plugs or spades.

What do you think?
What tests have been done?

 

[njedpx3]

Ok so the speakers you have and the power amp in watts dont matter for what gauge you need? Seems counter intuitive if that is true,

My speaker cables will only be about 9 feet long, so 16 gauge is ok?

MAINS: PSB Platinum t8, (4OHM)
AMP:Emovita UPA-2,
Preamp:Arcam Xeta 2
Dvd/cd Player: PS3

Actually that is correct. In your situation of 9 feet, even 16 gauge meets the recommended Audioholocs requirements for 4 ohm( max 10 feet) or 8 Ohm( max 20 feet) speakers.

You can use larger gauge wire (i.e. lower gauge number) but you will gain very little.

Good Luck!

Forest man

 

[njedpx3]

Banana is my preferred choice

It seems to me, and I know very little.

That if you used speaker wire with bare ends, and tightened the "attachment points" on the amp and speakers very "snug", you would have a better connection than with banana plugs or spades.

What do you think?
What tests have been done?

You can use bare wire but you really don't get a better connection. Also, unless it is solid you need to be care with stranded wire that there are no errant wire strands which are the major cause of "whisker shorts".

If it were me, I would use locking banana plugs; nice clean connection. You can make yourself or get the ready-made cable at monoprice.com or bluejeanscable.com Both are very good, inexpensive cable suppliers.

I do not like spade connectors. While the give a very good electrical connection, if the connecting knob is not tight, spade connectors can slip off.
A bare wire "u" or a banana conenctor is a lot better physical connection long term IMHO.


Good Luck!

Forest Man

 

[Rickster71]

ok , so if cable length does not matter within reason...

then I wonder,

should I just use the 16 gauge cable I have and double it up, so Im using two speaker cables for each speaker? (effectivley 8 gauge cable)...

If you already have the 16-AWG cable and don't want to spend for other wire; doubling it sounds ok.
By doubling it up you'll end up with a wire that's about 13-AWG / 5160- Cir. Mills

 

[markw]

Which brings up another rule-of-thumb

If you already have the 16-AWG cable and don't want to spend for other wire; doubling it sounds ok.
By doubling it up you'll end up with a wire that's about 13-AWG / 5160- Cir. Mills

When you "double-up" wire, you effectively drop three on the gauge chart.

As Rick correctly points out, doubling 16 gauge wires results in effectively a 13 gauge cable. Doubling that again (four runs) wound yeild about a 10 gauge wire.