Home Theater Forum - View Single Post

Ennsio · 04-08-2008, 12:45 PM

Welcome to the Forum.

You've already been given some good advice for the wire that you need, but I'll chip in with some thoughts on your other comments.

You ask about what type of connector you need. I'm assuming your referring to connectors to your speakers, and if that's the case, then you don't need anything. Just strip the bare speaker wire and insert the end into your receiver on one end and your speaker on the other. That's the simplest and cheapest way and works fine for any type of speaker.

If you do want banana clips or something similar to use as connectors, they are far cheaper at Monoprice than anywhere else. You could also buy any wall plates or anything else you need for wiring the house from Monoprice and save lots of money.

As for what system to buy - the reason most home theater in a box systems are not recommended here is that they don't sound very good and limit your ability to add other components to your system down the road so you will end up having to buy a whole new system later on, rather than just being able to upgrade individual components if you bought a stand alone receiver and speakers.

You can also often do far better in terms of bang for your buck if you buy individual components and build up your system gradually. Many people recommend buying a receiver and a pair of speakers first, and then adding a sub, center channel and surround speakers as you have the money for it. If you have an idea for what your budget is, we could offer you advice for different systems to consider.

To get you started though, if your budget is low, try a Denon receiver and Athena speakers from Audio Advisor. I have the Denon AVR 786 and Athena LS100 speakers and they sound great for an entry level system that sounds far better than an entry level system, and the receiver has a lot of inputs for different components.

For the speaker wire, I would suggest 14 gauge in-wall for the fronts and 12 gauge in-wall for the surrounds as the signal must travel further.

04-08-2008, 12:45 PM	#6 of 14
Ennsio *Chris* Member Location: Calgary Join Date: Feb 2007 Local Time: 06:12 AM Local Date: 10-13-2008 Posts: 235	Re: Helps this rookie!!!! Welcome to the Forum. You've already been given some good advice for the wire that you need, but I'll chip in with some thoughts on your other comments. You ask about what type of connector you need. I'm assuming your referring to connectors to your speakers, and if that's the case, then you don't need anything. Just strip the bare speaker wire and insert the end into your receiver on one end and your speaker on the other. That's the simplest and cheapest way and works fine for any type of speaker. If you do want banana clips or something similar to use as connectors, they are far cheaper at Monoprice than anywhere else. You could also buy any wall plates or anything else you need for wiring the house from Monoprice and save lots of money. As for what system to buy - the reason most home theater in a box systems are not recommended here is that they don't sound very good and limit your ability to add other components to your system down the road so you will end up having to buy a whole new system later on, rather than just being able to upgrade individual components if you bought a stand alone receiver and speakers. You can also often do far better in terms of bang for your buck if you buy individual components and build up your system gradually. Many people recommend buying a receiver and a pair of speakers first, and then adding a sub, center channel and surround speakers as you have the money for it. If you have an idea for what your budget is, we could offer you advice for different systems to consider. To get you started though, if your budget is low, try a Denon receiver and Athena speakers from Audio Advisor. I have the Denon AVR 786 and Athena LS100 speakers and they sound great for an entry level system that sounds far better than an entry level system, and the receiver has a lot of inputs for different components. For the speaker wire, I would suggest 14 gauge in-wall for the fronts and 12 gauge in-wall for the surrounds as the signal must travel further.