Accessories to buy after the speakers & receivers

[davy12]

ok I have finally ordered my fronts and center and the receiver (infinity primus p153/pc251 and denon 1911) I will likely be getting a BIC f12 or equivalent priced subs soon. now what are the accessories to get ?

1. Speaker wire (12 or 14 or 16 gauge ?) for my 3.1 setup? also a good place to get it from ? monoprice ?

2. Banana plugs ? for my 3.1 setup how many do I need, is it recommended ?

3. I have a regular surge protector is there anything special required ?

Anything else I left out ?

thanks in advance.

 

[templemaners]

ok I have finally ordered my fronts and center and the receiver (infinity primus p153/pc251 and denon 1911) I will likely be getting a BIC f12 or equivalent priced subs soon. now what are the accessories to get ?

1. Speaker wire (12 or 14 or 16 gauge ?) for my 3.1 setup? also a good place to get it from ? monoprice ?

2. Banana plugs ? for my 3.1 setup how many do I need, is it recommended ?

3. I have a regular surge protector is there anything special required ?

Anything else I left out ?

thanks in advance.

1.) Any of those gauges would work fine. Unless you will be running long distances of wire, I'd just stick with 14 or 16 gauge wire.

2.) Banana plugs are sold in pairs - at least the ones I've seen - and you need 2 pairs per speaker (one pair to connect to the speaker and the other pair to connect to the receiver.) So, you will need 6 pairs of banana plugs for your 3 speakers.

Both the wire and banana plugs you can get from Monoprice for barely anything.

3.) You can get by with a surge protector for now. There are more complete ways to handle surge protection and if you search the forum, you can find them.

While you're at Monoprice, you might want to get a subwoofer cable if you don't already have one, like this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=6305&seq=1&format=2

I would also think about other cables you might need, like HDMI or component to hook up your sources to the receiver (Blu-Ray player, cable box, any game systems, etc.) If you already have those, you should be golden.

Oh, one last thing you might want to look into is getting Gramma pad for your subwoofer, especially if you live in an apartment.

Enjoy the new gear.

 

[davy12]

Thanks for the quick reply. wow Monoprice has a lot of choices!

1. I assume I can get one speaker cable and cut/split accordingly for my 3.1 setup. I was thinking of going with this, I assume this is good.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023903&p_id=2749&seq=1&format=2

2. for Banana plugs how about this :http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2

3. Thanks for the subwoofer cable recommendation, I will get that as well. Is that the one you connect from receiver to subwoofer I thought they come with the subwoofer.

4. On the HDMI cables. are these good enough (does the cables have to be 1.4 compliant as well?).

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024004&p_id=4030&seq=1&format=2

 

[templemaners]

Thanks for the quick reply. wow Monoprice has a lot of choices!

1. I assume I can get one speaker cable and cut/split accordingly for my 3.1 setup. I was thinking of going with this, I assume this is good.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023903&p_id=2749&seq=1&format=2

2. for Banana plugs how about this :http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2

3. Thanks for the subwoofer cable recommendation, I will get that as well. Is that the one you connect from receiver to subwoofer I thought they come with the subwoofer.

4. On the HDMI cables. are these good enough (does the cables have to be 1.4 compliant as well?).

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024004&p_id=4030&seq=1&format=2

1.) That wire will work fine, especially if your receiver is close by to your speakers.

2.) Ditto with the banana plugs - I use those in my system.

3.) Yes, that's the one that will connect to the 1911 on the Subwoofer Pre-Out connection. I think most manufacturers don't give you a cord with a sub because there's too much variability in sub/receiver distances to make a 'one size fits all' cable worth including.

4.) Those HDMI cables will work for 1.4. You can always color code them to make them easier to identify which cable goes to a particular component.

I thought of something else you might need - a wire stripper to expose the bare wire for your banana plugs/speaker cables.