Cables help?

[Npeart]

Ok, I finally got a receiver. I bought an Onkyo706 "open box" from One Call. I have a few questions about cables:

1) what gauge speaker wire for my Paradigm Studio 20's? The speakers will be no more than a few feet from the receiver/TV, so I assume 14g?

2) do I run the HDMI to the cable box or TV? And what is the difference? I want ALL sound to go through the receiver and the TV's audio bypassed. I have a 40" Sony Bravia.

3) I do have a regular DVD player. Will I need to use optical cables for audio? Also, when I do get a BD, can I get by with just an HDMI cable?

Thanks.

 

[Shock]

If your dvd player has a HDMI output you can run the HDMI cable right to the receiver, then run a HDMI cable from the HDMI out to the TV.

As for speaker cable, if they're not more than a few feet away anything 16 or larger will work fine.

You will have to program the player to output both audio and video through the HDMI cable, which you manual will tell you how to do with relative ease.

 

[CraigV]

Ok, I finally got a receiver. I bought an Onkyo706 "open box" from One Call. I have a few questions about cables:

2) do I run the HDMI to the cable box or TV? And what is the difference? I want ALL sound to go through the receiver and the TV's audio bypassed. I have a 40" Sony Bravia.

3) I do have a regular DVD player. Will I need to use optical cables for audio? Also, when I do get a BD, can I get by with just an HDMI cable?
Thanks.

HDMI from the source to the receiver, then out from the receiver to the TV. This will route all the audio to the receiver, then the video is passed on to the display.

Either optical or RCA co-axial for digital for now. When you get a BD, yes just one HDMI will do it all, that’s the beauty of HDMI.

 

[bandphan]

for a 4 Ohm load 16 gauge, 24 feet is the max (2conductor copper)

 

[Npeart]

for a 4 Ohm load 16 gauge, 24 feet is the max (2conductor copper)

I believe my speakersare 8 ohm. Or does that mean they can just handle 8 ohm? Sorry, kinda new to all this.

 

[oppman99]

You're speakers are 8 ohm. Personally, I like 12 gauge wire, but I don't use anything fancy. The drawback is that sometimes it's hard to connect to the binding posts on an AVR. Banana plugs fix this nicely.

 

[Nemo128]

12g for me with speakers like that, even if 16g is perfectly fine.

 

[bandphan]

I believe my speakersare 8 ohm. Or does that mean they can just handle 8 ohm? Sorry, kinda new to all this.

You're speakers are 8 ohm. Personally, I like 12 gauge wire, but I don't use anything fancy. The drawback is that sometimes it's hard to connect to the binding posts on an AVR. Banana plugs fix this nicely.

Even though they are listed at 8ohm, they have dips below 6, which indicate the 4ohm calculator. I know everyone likes 12, but as nemo stated it is by no means required for this run. With 12, you can pull it a very long way

Roger Russells chart is a good example to go by and is linked my times...


Wire Size
2 ohm load
4 ohm load
6 ohm load
8 ohm load

22 AWG
3 feet max
6 feet max
9 feet max
12 feet max

20 AWG
5 feet max
10 feet max
15 feet max
20 feet max

18 AWG
8 feet max
16 feet max
24 feet max
32 feet max

16 AWG
12 feet max
24 feet max
36 feet max
48 feet max

14 AWG
20 feet max
40 feet max
60 feet**
80 feet**

12 AWG
30 feet max
60 feet**
90 feet**
120 feet**

10 AWG
50 feet max
100 feet**
150 feet**
200 feet**


http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable

 

[Npeart]

12g for me with speakers like that, even if 16g is perfectly fine.

I got 50ft of 16g from Monoprice and two sets of banana plugs. I'll tell you this much. . . I'm not looking forward to having to fuss with the Audessey set up. Everything I read seems to indicate they never set the speakers correctly and manual intervention is required. I only have 2 channel at the moment, anyway. I'll buy a cc next month. The receiver is en route!