Home theater wire

[DelPico]

I am redoing a room and currently have the ceiling open. The carpenter mentioned throwing in some wire incase I want to do surround sound at some later point. I was just at circuit city and bought some wire. It was $60 for 50 feet. It's called Monster Cable XP. Well, on my way home I stopped at Walmart and they had speaker wire that just says Philips 16 guage Speaker Wire for conecting tuner/amplifier (Home Theater quality). It was $10 for 50 feet. Is the wire from circuit city that much better or just better packaging? Just wondering what I should use.

Thanks,

David

[wcc]

www.monoprice.com

That's all you need to know.... Saved me a TON!

[WolfeMacleod]

Monster cable. Bleeds off high end. Crappy stuff, if you ask me.

[LeeH]

I've always been a believer in heavy gauge lamp cord. Here's all the info you need to know and more:

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

[DelPico]

Thanks guys.

[on2wheels52]

I liked the $250 wire conditioner.
Jim

[Dave L]

you can pick up Monster cable cheap at close out places sometimes too. I bought a 10foot car audio subwoofer cable for $5. I wont pay full price for cables.

[David]

Don't run it parallel to electrical cable unless you're a few feet away. I'd look into internal wall rated wiring.

[msk1986911]

If you are having the work inspected, the electrical code may dictate the type of wire you can use. I pre-wired my addition using 16 gauge lamp cord and then had to remove it because the electrical inspector said it wasn't to code. We had to rip it out and have the electrician restring the same gauge, although this time it was jacketed cable (code compliant).

[968rz]

Around here if it is "low voltage" no code issues. I wired my house about 2 years ago and checked into Moster Cable and the only diff I saw was more insulation and an extra wire wrapped around each leg (like a EMI shield). I bought the same gauge speaker wire (16 IIRC) and have no issues pushing 300watt+++ per channel.

[Rob Channell]

Originally Posted by wcc

www.monoprice.com

That's all you need to know.... Saved me a TON!

+1.

or Home depot may have some off band stuff also if you needed to get it local in a hurry.

[Dave L]

HD sells RCA branded speaker wire. I wired my basement with this stuff and it seems just fine.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I've always thought cabling was cabling, and the Monster stuff was just a good job of marketing. I could be wrong though...

-Wayne

Wayne, you're not wrong. Monster is pure marketing. Capacitance issues cause high end frequencies to be lost with Monster cable.
While I can't comment specifically on thier speaker cables (although I've heard similar comments from trusted sources) it's quite noticeable with thier guitar cables.

[Rusty Heap]

Yes zip-cord (lamp wire) is all you need, the longer the run (50-100 foot) get the bigger gauge wire, 16 awg.


Another thing to look at pricing is outdoor low voltage landscape wire........hefty oversized insulation and bigger gauge.

Yes monster cables are overkill, audio market is full of hype and "golden ears" and I'm an electrical engineer.

Heck, I bought an optical audio cable the other day, I mean, it's a 6 foot length of fiber optic cable......and the box says "gold plated"........yup, the jack connector is, but come on, its FIBER OPTIC!

too funny.

[89911]

I just self wired about 6 pairs of speakers throughout my new addition and used 16/2 zip or lampcord wire. This is generally recommended for runs of 50' or less. I got most of it from Home Depot for about $55/100ft. A far better deal is at Lowes. They sell 16/2 shielded low voltage wire for $88/500ft!!! I found out of course after the fact. Go to Lowes and pick it up there and forget all the other hypw about any other cable.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=13939-20424-94662-M5-02&detail=&lpage=none

[kstar]

How about coat hangers?

Emphasis added is mine.

Monster Cable or coat hangers, take your pick
Tue Mar 4, 2008 12:13PM EST

Five audio fanatics take the Pepsi challenge with a set of THX-certified Monster Cables and—get this—four coat hangers. Think they could tell the difference? Think again.

The bloggers at Consumerist ( http://consumerist.com/362926/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables ) found this amusing post on the Audioholics forum ( http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15412&postcount=28 ), and it's yet another example of how pricey audio cables (or video cables, if you ask me) are little more than cash machines ( http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/patterson/2827;_ylt=Au9PTa43k3kxF9Kq9ktlxFV_MJA5 ) for electronics stores.

Here's the setup: two brothers, one of whom is described as "an audio engineering whiz kid," rounded up five audiophile pals, a pair of Martin Logan SL-3 speakers, a set of four-foot Monster Ultra Series THX 1000 Audio Interconnect cables (which sell for about $100—yep, one hundred smackers), some 14-gauge Belden stranded copper wire, and a pair of two-meter cables made from four coat hangers.

The test group donned blindfolds and compared the Monster Cables to the Belden copper wire, and even after seven swaps, no one could tell the difference. Then came the acid test: the brothers replaced the Belden wire with the jerry-rigged coat-hanger wires. And yes, you guessed it: after repeated "A-B" tests, the blindfolded guinea pigs said they liked what they heard, but they couldn't tell the $100 Monster Cables apart for the two-cent coat hangers. (All the cables involved were about two meters long.)

Of course, as Consumerist points out, coat hangers aren't exactly recommended if you're talking about a 50-foot run of cable (and touching unshielded coat-hanger wires together would probably fry your receiver). That said...consider this little anecdote the next time a blue-shirted sales clerk tries to sell you a reel of $99 speaker wire. Instead, try a standard coil of 16 gauge copper wire ( http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/patterson/2739;_ylt=AnUxGF2C_Yh0FwRD9Uma3B1_MJA5 ) —that should do the trick for short runs (say, 20 feet or less), and a 50-foot reel should only cost you about $10.

FYI.

Best,

Kurt

[Porsche_monkey]

Same for HDMI cables. Buy the cheapest you can find.

[jriera]

Outdoor extension cords from Home Depot or Lowes ... no kidding!!

[Dave L]

Originally Posted by PBH

Same for HDMI cables. Buy the cheapest you can find.

LOL, when I got my TV I got them to throw in a $79 DVD player. They also included a $150 6 foot HDMI cable. 2 things stuck out in my mind, how in the word is the cable worth almost double the DVD player and its amazing how they could just throw it in Marking up a product is fine but give me a break

[Porsche_monkey]

I just saw a TV show comparing HDMI cables, the EE nerds were unable to see any difference (even with a scope) between $5 cables and $150 cables.