home theater/speakers

[Steve Marcus]

Amazing the effect 1/2" difference in cable length can make when you look with an o-scope.

How about the quality of cable? Is there really a significantly discernable difference in sound between Monster Cable (or the boutique cable du jour) and standard Radio Shack issue?

[ThomasDodd]

Amazing the effect 1/2" difference in cable length can make when you look with an o-scope.

How about the quality of cable? Is there really a significantly discernable difference in sound between Monster Cable (or the boutique cable du jour) and standard Radio Shack issue?

There are differences. Depends on your ear. The biggest two that really matter are 1) heavy wires have better signal transfer (low resistance) and less power loss. The tend to be better insulated and reduce noise. 2) longjevity. wires corrode and become resistive while insulation breaks down, increasing corrosin and noise. Higher end cables generally will last longer.

That said, my surrounds use standard Radio Shack speaker wire. About 20 ft for each one. from a 50 ft roll. The sub has a high end, gold plated, audio coax for line-level input (from the Shack). The front and center use Radio Shack high end wires.

Monster and the boutique stuff I think is over priced, and generally overkill. Now if you'r driving 200W+ to each channel, it might matter more. Hence the better cable on the front and center, where most of the 100W goes regularly. The surrounds probably never see more than 50W, and reguraly more like 20W.

[Matt G]

For all intents and purposes, I would think that solid core wire would be even better than stranded.

I would be interested if someone compared Rome-X to that overpriced 12AWG Monster Cable.



Pick it up at your local Home Depot for circa $30 for a 250 foot roll.

I would suspect that good ol' Rome-X would do pretty well in comparison.

Low Voltage Insulation vs. 600v insulation

Solid Vs. High Strand (High Strand will break from movement then you get loss of gauge)

Rome-X is color coded!

I wonder is anyone has tried it?

[ThomasDodd]

For all intents and purposes, I would think that solid core wire would be even better than stranded.

I would be interested if someone compared Rome-X to that overpriced 12AWG Monster Cable.

I haven't tried it, but this comes to mind.

One Rome-X is stiff, like all solid cores. A real pain to use on a wall drop and attuic run. Notice builders/electricians put this stuff in before the sheetrock/panelling goes up.

While the insulatuion can handle 600V and not arc or suffer dielectric break down, RFI would and crosstalk likely be a problem.

Lets get something sheilded like triax? Seperate runs of RG-6 for each connector, tying the sheilds at the speakers and grounding at the amp end? I've used RG6 at audio frequencies, but always line level. Might need a lower impeedence cable? 50 Ohm to a speaker (my Monitor 7's are rated 8Ohm, but they are 4Ohm at 150Hz an 38Ohm at 2kHz) might cause some problems?

[Rick Denney]

How about the quality of cable? Is there really a significantly discernable difference in sound between Monster Cable (or the boutique cable du jour) and standard Radio Shack issue?

16-gauge lamp cord will do all there is to do for speakers, and you can buy it by the 100-foot roll at Home Depot. Plus, it's white or brown and will match your wife's decor. Make sure you get the kind that is marked for polarity (usually with small ridges).

Rick "still using a roll he bought 20 years ago" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Lets get something sheilded like triax? Seperate runs of RG-6 for each connector, tying the sheilds at the speakers and grounding at the amp end? I've used RG6 at audio frequencies, but always line level. Might need a lower impeedence cable? 50 Ohm to a speaker (my Monitor 7's are rated 8Ohm, but they are 4Ohm at 150Hz an 38Ohm at 2kHz) might cause some problems?

Just use lamp cord. Don't run it parallel and adjacent to power cords, although I've done it and never heard the slightest hum from induction, or the slightest noise from RFI. The clear insulation on Radio Shack speaker wire doesn't last as well as the colored vinyl lamp cord insulation. The insulation is fine (how many volts are we talking about, anyway?) and copper is copper is copper. Monster Cable is a triumph of packaging and advertising over science.

Stranded wire moves current better than solid wire because it has more surface area. It also conforms better to the clamps. But mainly it won't break if you bend it too much, and it won't rim the speaker terminals out of the back of your amp.

Rick "who has never known a pro sound-system guy to use shielded coaxial cables for speaker-level signals" Denney