Jeffrey Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Hello, I am a noob looking to centralize my audio equipment in a rack in my basement and I am interested as to what you use for your speaker wire runs. Just plain old 16 gauge copper speaker wire or maybe some expensive insulated and protected type wire? I know some speaker wire can be obscenely expensive as well as bulky. Do you use a wall plate in the room to make the final room connections? Thanks, Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic30101 Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Something like this with an outer jacket. Stay away from the old clear radio shack junk. Also make sure it is pure copper and not coated aluminium. Depends on whether to plate or do rough in rings based on the speakers being used https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/speaker-wire/binary-trade%3B-cables-16-gauge-2-conductor-65-strand-speaker-wire---1000-ft-nest-in-box-(white)-nst-162-1000-wh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Or this. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=4042It's often easier to drag a 16/4 from the central location to the room and whip a 16/2 to the second speaker location. Make sure it is CL in wall rated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 The suggestion of 16/4 to a room and splitting it is a good one, especially if it’s a retrofit. I use WestPenn wire. It’s damn good wire, and I can get scraps (pieces less than 200-300 feet are considered scraps by a buddy who does big commercial work) for free. Copper, stranded, 16/2 is what I ran for my distributed audio. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 Thanks for the helpful info everyone. When I bought my equipment years ago from an AV house by me, I was bugging the salesman to throw in some speaker cable. He finally just gave me some saying something about this was demo and not in the inventory. Well I googled it yesterday, it is from Tara Labs and is like $100 a foot!! Now I don't have enough of this stuff to make the runs from my AV cabinet to my room, but I would have enough for one speaker. Maybe I will do the center channel with this. Do you guys use a wall plate to make connection into the room - the kind that you can put banana plugs into? Thanks again! Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 You gotta check that CL rating. Else you have an insurance nightmare if something goes wrong. Honestly unless you are taking ridiculous equipment in a critical listening environment anything here on the 100% oxygen free all copper cable will likely be indistinguishable to your ears. Wall plates and plugs. If you know the cable will be used from day one run a full end to end length with no breaks / connections. Less places to troubleshoot connections. Otherwise use wall plates. Monoprice, showmecables or many other online sources are perfectly adequate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 One last question - what are those things called that all the cable sits on out of the way? I've tried cable guides, cable chase, cable holder. Can't find what I am looking for. Usually they are wire looking things that are a couple inches wide by 4 or 5 inches long attached to a rafter or stud that you sit the cable on without having to fasten it with a staple. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 J Hooks?? D-Rings?? Google "Cable supports" and I bet you can find what you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 One last question - what are those things called that all the cable sits on out of the way? I've tried cable guides, cable chase, cable holder. Can't find what I am looking for. Usually they are wire looking things that are a couple inches wide by 4 or 5 inches long attached to a rafter or stud that you sit the cable on without having to fasten it with a staple. Thanks again.Are you talking about the trays you see in commercial installations where there are hundreds of wires ran together? I’m my house I got real fancy and drove a nail in to each rafter and the cables rest on that nail. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 46 minutes ago, lippavisual said: J Hooks?? D-Rings?? Google "Cable supports" and I bet you can find what you're looking for. Thanks! This is what I am looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 I am looking at doing some wiring and running a lot of speaker wire. I will likely buy some of the 4 Conductor Monoprice speaker wire which is sold on Amazon.ca as Monoprice's direct shipping to Canada is expensive and slow. Is there any issue in splicing wire together if you are at the end of a spool? I would splice together and then shrink wrap. Or is this not recommended for speaker wire? The splice point would be in my attic as the wire would be running from the demarc point in my basement up to the attic (which is above the first floor) and then to ceiling speakers. Any advice on what AWG to get. I doubt that my runs would be more than 50ft each. Would 16AWG be sufficient? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic30101 Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 If spliced properly it shouldn't be an issue. Gauge depends on total length, wattage, and resistance/number of speakers per channel. As well as what AWG it is from the head end to where the splice is, because if it is 16awg from the amp to the attic there is no reason to go larger as the bottleneck is already in place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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