HiFi, Speaker cable.

[stewlewis]

I think I know the answers but just want to hear thoughts from those in the know (without bothering a HiFi forum).

Speaker cable: It's about time I wired my speakers properly, they've had 2x runs of CAT5 twisted pair for too long, and it's just ugly.

Exotic cable is just balls right?
Is there a minimum spend > cable width/strands?
Biwiring, balls too?
2m difference in speaker cable between left and right won't make any audible difference?

Is this just as good as owt else: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50M-x-801.882...vr_id=&cguid=c61ec00c1280a0e20467e007fe2f6cbd

Subwoofer: why does mine have 2x phono inputs? I've been running it from my amp's 1x phono into a Y. I can understand 2x high level connectors on it but the phonos??

Yamaha DSP-AX1 > 8x Wharfedale Diamond 8's
(yes modern 'cackboxes' but the yellow woven kevlar looks ace. "But it's how they sound that matters"....much the same as a most bike bling...)

 

[legrandefromage]

Aha...

Speaker cable - 'capacitance - resistance - inductance'... in other words this will do, really, this will do: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=49

Bi-wiring - just adds different loads to the amplifier, doesnt really do anything.

Bi-Amping - adds about 10db volume (cant remember why) and is a genuine bonafide 'upgrade'

cable length - You will only notice difference between cable lengths once you get over 10 metres or more.

There are music subwoofers (common) and dedicated cinema subwoofers (rarer) - music has a stereo input for two channel and cinema has one channel for the single dedicated subwoofer information on DVD (LFE). Your processor will have an onboard crossover to downmix low frequency effects and ping it off to the single sub out when playing moosick.

It doesnt matter what sub you use.

Answering questions like this used to be my full time job. I ran a AV forum dedicated to this and had to put up with alot of idiots. There were some cool guys from the US that taught me a lot too (mostly forgotten).

 

[stewlewis]

Thank you buddy, i'll get some ordered.
And I don't need to Y connect my mono LFE output to the 2 phonos, the sub will just Y them back into the mono amp inside anyway.

 

[legrandefromage]

Thank you buddy, i'll get some ordered.
And I don't need to Y connect my mono LFE output to the 2 phonos, the sub will just Y them back into the mono amp inside anyway.

Most subs are marked 'mono' on the left input.

 

[fagin]

What you really need is

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Nordost%2 ... 0Cable.htm

3m cable almost £24,000 (ok a pair so really 6m)

And just for good measure, a new power cable, a steal at £1,100

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Nordost%20BRAHMA.htm

There's one born every minute.

 

[fagin]

Even more ouch. 5m power cable - £18,900.

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Nordost%2 ... 0Cords.htm

I think I'll have one for my kettle.

 

[hamster]

I used to use mains twin + earth. The big advantage of speaker cable is that it is much more flexible. As LGF says, the rest is people blowing smoke.

 

[legrandefromage]

dont forget interconnects:

http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp? ... SXGDTGDIYJ


One guy was a pain in the arse (I cant name him for legal reasons) going on about his power cables, we used to say to people that their warranty would be invalidated if they use any other power cable other than the one supplied. We disproved his claims to so called improvements by doing a blind test and a methodical technical test.


Then there was the guy who covers his internal components in silver foil...

 

[The Ken]

Then there was the guy who covers his internal components in silver foil...

:shock: :shock: :shock: - that must have done wonders for overheating an amp.

 

[djoptix]

If you must buy "heavy duty speaker cable" don't get it from Maplin, you will find it cheaper online from CPC or similar... but IMHO, two core mains cable is your friend. Read this: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm. I have no hesitation using mains cable to run my studio monitors.

Bi-wiring: as LGF says

Bi-amping: It seems that hi-fi biamping just involves driving the high (small) and low (big) speakers with separate amps, but no effort is made to send different signals to each. This seems stupid to me as you're still relying on the filters (or crossover) within the loudspeaker itself to stop the tweeters doing low-end and the subs doing high-end. With PA the signal is crossoverified (split into high and low) before the amps, with separate amps driving high and low components. This results in more volume out of your speakers because the drivers are working more efficiently - the amp isn't pushing out signal just to have it soaked up by a crossover when it gets to the loudspeaker. However, I would think that with hi-fi, bi-amping just adds volume because you're adding power. A bit of smoke and mirrors IMHO.

2m cable will definitely make no difference.

Sub - as LGF says except that I don't agree that it doesn't matter what sub you use. Your sub should go up to the low-end of your main speakers, then the speakers should take over. If the sub and the main speakers can reproduce some of the same frequencies, and you're not making any effort to process the signal before it gets to the speakers to make sure this doesn't happen, you will get certain frequencies that come out of both, meaning some low tones will be unexpectedly loud. Equally if there's a gap between the highest frequencies your sub can produce and the lowest frequencies your other speakers can produce, you'll have a "hole" in the overall frequency response of your system.

Finally, if I were you I would continue using your Y cable. If you're using a cheap sub it will just be summing those two inputs and using only one side will a) halve the output power and b) mean that you will only get the sub components of one side, though often in music the low-end is basically mono anyway, but in cinema you may find that SFX from one side are suddenly missing their low-end.