HT set up help (1 Viewer)

[Strohc45]

Hello to all the good people taking the time out to set me straight, I am by no means an expert so bare with me. Looking to set up my ht in a 16'x25'x8' room. I have a 64 inch samsung plasma I'm going to mount and a pioneer vsx-1021-k receiver and the klipsch rf-82 ii ht 5.1 surround sound speakers with a pa 120 sub my room is wired for 5.1 surround, but I'm unsure what that really means in. terms of set up. What other equipment will I need? and what kind of speaker wire should I buy? (links would be great) I'm also looking to mount my rear surround speakers theyre the klipsch RS-52 II any good speaker brackets for those you can reccomend? Anything else I'm forgetting? I think I have everything besides the wire and brackets do I need any cables for my sub to my receiver if so what one (s) I have carpet in this room would you reccomend using the screw spikes that came with my towers to spike in the floor? Any thing you people can think I need just let me know thanks in advance

 

[gene c]

First of all, explain what you mean by "my room is wired for surround sound". Is there speaker wire running in the walls to a connector plate? How about a subwoofer cable?
Most of us by our wire from PartsExpress.com MonoPrice.com or BlueJeanCables.com. You don't need the expensive brand name wires/cables. Just good quality ones. You need a 75 ohm coaxial cable from the receiver to the subwoofer. There are cables marketed as SubWoofer cables but any digital coaxial or component/composite video cable cable will also work. They're all the same spec.
Here's some speaker wire from monoprice http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=2817&seq=1&format=2 It's CL-2 rated for in-wall installation. 100 ft of 12 gauge (16 is the thinnest I'd use) for $31.94.
Here's a subwoofer cable http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=3976&seq=1&format=2 35 ft, $8
You also need a good (but again, not expensive) surge protector and make sure all equipment is turned off and un-plugged when making connection. Especially displays and subwoofers. Your subwoofer should also have a surge protector. Don't just plug it into the wall socket.
I'm not sure which mounts to use for your surrounds. Mine are on speaker stands.
Setup can be as tricky as installation. But first things first.

 

[Strohc45]

Well theres 5 wall plates I unscrewed one and theres one wire and the builder said it was wired not sure how to install from just that. So 12 gauge wire is good what would be the pro to get 10 gauge I have no idea. Thanks for your help I appreciate it. I feel a bit better now I'm on the right track!

 

[Robert_J]

12 ga is overkill. 16 will work fine. You won't hear a difference.

Well theres 5 wall plates I unscrewed one and theres one wire

Are there 2 conductors? Did he include a wall plate for the sub?

 

[gene c]

10 gauge would be a bit of over-kill. 12 gauge probably is too but it's relatively cheap and I only like to run wires once. You also need to find out what gauge is in the wall. 10 or 12 gauge is useless if if there's 16 gauge behind the plates (it's that "weakest link" thing). Are the wires behind the plates/walls marked or color-coded? You need to know what, and where, both ends are.
In a 5.1 surround sound system you have 5 speakers and a subwoofer. The 5 speakers will use regular speaker wire (what's behind the plates) and the subwoofer will use a coaxial cable with rca style connectors on the ends. So, you should have 5 wall plates, or 4 as sometimes the center channel is placed near the receiver and it's just wired directly. Do you have the manual for the 1021? If so then start looking through it. It might help you figure out what questions to ask next.
You didn't mention a dvd or Bluray player. Got one? Gonna get one? Gaming system? DVR? Internet streaming? Radio antenna? Netflix, Pandora? A six-pack? Bottle of Excedrin?
I use the carpet spikes that came with my speakers as they do grab the floor underneath a bit and make them more secure. Not so easy to knock over.

 

[Strohc45]

Ill be def getting a 6 pack probably some hookers and blow too. So theres just one wire behind the plates I think it's 16 but how can you find out for sure it spears to be unmarked. Im going to hook up a ps3 a wii super nintendo maybe a regular one and netflix off the tv and internet via tv or laptop

 

[Robert_J]

Get some 16 ga wire and compare. It won't hurt to use it from the wall plate to the speaker.

 

[Strohc45]

So if it is 16 gauge should I just use that and would I not have to but speaker wire or could i still buy 12 gauge and somehow use that instead?

 

[gene c]

If it's 16 gauge then it should be fine. If I need to buy speaker wire then I usually spring for the 14-12 gauge. And how about the other ends of the speaker wire. Are they marked somehow so you know what they correspond to?
I also looked at the back of the RS-52 II's and it looks like they have a keyhoe slot so you just need to anchor a properly sized screw to the wall. Unless there's a stud right behind the speaker you should use something like these to support the weight http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inffastener/infanchor/infanchor.html

 

[Strohc45]

Ok thanks a bunch for the help I'm going to try and set this up this weekend, I'll keep you posted of the impending failure

 

[Strohc45]

After some research I found out my speaker wire is 24AWG does this mean I'll have to rip this out and replace it with the 12AWG? What are your thoughts? Its a klipsch rf 82 ii 5.1 home theater system premier acoustic pa-150 sub 64 inch samsung plasma pioneer reciever vsx-1021-k ps3 & wii SNES in a 16x25 room.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I'm on the very liberal side of the wire debate, I think 16g is fine and 18g doesn't hurt much either. But 24 gauge should be replaced. If you're going through the wall you'll need in-wall rated wire.
And I still think 12g is overkill for a 16'x24' room.

 

[Jason Charlton]

I'll second what Al said. I've used 12 gauge in the past and frankly, it was too big/bulky to deal with. I use 14 gauge and have never had a problem - 16 gauge would be fine, too.

 

[gene c]

More important than the wires gauge is where the wires are running inside the wall. Hopefully not close to the power wires running to your outlets. Not sure how, or if, running speaker wire parallel to power cords and wires affects the signal but I've always read that routing them away from power cords and wires is the thing to do.

 

[Robert_J]

24ga will not impact sound quality but it will add an ohm or two of resistance to each speaker.

 

[Al.Anderson]

24ga will not impact sound quality but it will add an ohm or two of resistance to each speaker.

Maybe that right there is why all my old 70-80's amplifiers recommended 22g. They had real amplifier sections and didn't care if they lost a wee bit of power to the speaker. (I've been trying to figure out what drove the gauge inflation over the last 40 years.)

 

[Robert_J]

Maybe that right there is why all my old 70-80's amplifiers recommended 22g. They had real amplifier sections and didn't care if they lost a wee bit of power to the speaker. (I've been trying to figure out what drove the gauge inflation over the last 40 years.)

Part of it is a carry over from car audio where 1/2 ohm can cost you thousands of watts. These guys have quad tinsel leads on their subs with 8 ga direct wiring. Multiple runs of 0 ga to their amps from 16v batteries. You end up with SUVs with ten 18's on about 40,000w of power. It's crazy.