What Speaker Wires to Buy?

[ssrini]

Hi,
I am finally buying an HDTV and decided to get new speakers (Hsu Ventriloquist) and rewire them to my Denon AVR-3803.
My question is about speaker wires - there are a lot of "high end" speakers that I am little sceptical of. Also, I don't really have a high end audio as you can see from my speakers, etc.
What speaker wires do you recommend that is reasonably priced?
What connectors are more effective - Banana plug or spade?
I have to use flat wires for my rear satellite speakers because of aesthetic reasons that are beyond my control I assume that I have to use normal (ie, round wires) from the receiver and connect them to the flat wires? Is there any effective way of doing this without degrading conductivity, etc?

My set up is fairly normal: front speakers, center speakers, TV and AV receiver are within 3-5 ft of each other while I assume the cables from the 3 rear speakers to AV rcvr will be about 15 ft. Sub-woofer will probably be within 5 ft of AV rcvr as well.

Thanks for your help.
ssrini

 

[brendy]

Since you have such short lengths 14G or even 16G will be fine. Speaker wire you can buy from a place like Home Depot. Do not "overthink " wire. Either type of connector will work. I used to have the HSU Ventriloquist setup. Pay close attention to how they want the front three wired and the setting of the switch on the back of the center channel speaker. Soldering is the best way to join wires,that is how the professionals do it.

 

[ggunnell]

I use banana plugs, but buy individual plugs, not pairs, unless you have equipment whose jack spacing exactly matches the spacing on the paired plugs. Just using the bare wire connection method on your receiver and speaker works fine too -- just make sure all the strands are secure and no wayward strand can wander over to another termial to cause a short.

I assume the flat speaker cable is stranded wire -- if so you can strip and connect it directly to your banana plugs/receiver terminals/speaker terminals.

I agree with Brendy: You don't need more than 16Ga lamp cord in your system. Buy 14 ga job site extension cords and cut the ends off if you want to splurge

 

[Ampdog]

Ssrini,

For general information you could do no better that read the excellent information on this site under A/V Interconnects, Cables, etc, and click on the two Speaker Cable Face-off's by Sticky - if you have not done so already.

Regards

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

My Home Depot speaker wire oxidized after several years, turning a nice shade of green. Although it probably doesn't affect performance, it isn't attractive if your wire is exposed. Their 12awg wire is not oxygen free. I found the oxygen free speaker wire in Walmart to be much better as far as oxidizing goes. I think you'll pay around $15 for a 50' spool back in the automotive dept. The 14awg goes for ~$10 for a 50' spool. As far as spades or banana's, either are fine. I prefer to solder the tips rather than tighten with a screw. Solder is permanent, and binds the strands naturally. I'm not sure who has flat speaker wire reasonably priced. I checked www.monoprice.com and didn't see any. They have outstanding deals on wire and cable.

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=flat speaker wire&origkw=flat speaker wire