Mrs. Miyagi

Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

Total home theater noob, so if I use the wrong words, I apologize.

We have a home theater in a box. It's the Sony HT6900DP (won't let me post the url, but you can find it on amazon),
and I replaced the wire that came with the setup (I think it was 16 gauge......really thin wire) with a spool of "Monster" cable from Bestbuy.

Problem I'm having is that the only decent sound I get is out of the center speaker. The sound from the two fronts is very weak, and I hear more bass than I do actual sound. So when I watch a movie and there's music, parts of the song are clear (center) but anything in the background is very hushed (fronts).

Only thing I can think of is that the red and black on the speaker wire is hooked into the speakers/receiver wrong. And I switched the leads in the speakers, but there's no sound improvement.

But there are no markings on the wire (no white/black line, etc) so I have no idea which lead goes into which spearker port (red or black).

So to sum it up, weak fronts sound (more bass than sound) have no idea how to determine if wires are properly connected.

Any help would be fantastic!

Robert_J

Re: Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

There are numerous ways to determine if you have the speakers wired correctly. The cheapest is to mark one side of your wire with a marker, follow that lead to the other end and mark it as well. Do the same for all and use the marked side as positive (red). If you have a continuity tester or digital multi-meter, you can do the same much quicker than eyeballing it.

Once that is done, you need to properly calibrate your system using a disc like Avia or Video Essentials. You can use your ears to set the levels but this disc and an SPL meter from Radio Shack are much more accurate. I've done this for my system on every upgrade as well as taking the disc and meter to friend's houses to do the same. Everyone is amazed at the improvement in sound even when using less expensive equipment.

-Robert

Mrs. Miyagi

Re: Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert_J There are numerous ways to determine if you have the speakers wired correctly. The cheapest is to mark one side of your wire with a marker, follow that lead to the other end and mark it as well. Do the same for all and use the marked side as positive (red).

So does that mean that if the wires are not marked, then there is no predetermined positive and negative? I would be doing that myself with the marker? Is that right?

bassman99floyd

Re: Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

The wire itself doesn't care if it's plugged into red or black. What is most important is being consistent on both ends, red to red on receiver, and red to red on speaker. Some wire has writing only printed on one side of the cable. You can differentiate the two wires that way. The other way is marking one side for the whole length. Some speaker wires might have two different color wires. Look for that as well.

The Man

Ed Moxley

Re: Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

Some wire, when you split it and peel it back enough, one of the leads will have a raised ridge on it, that you can feel. Not sure if Monster is like this, because I won't buy anything made by Monster. The raised ridge will always be on the same wire, so if you use that side for the positive input, on the receiver, use the raised side for the positive input of the speaker too.

Since changing the wires on the speaker didn't help, it sounds like you just need to adjust the speaker levels, in the receiver's setup menus. Disney movies have a THX optimizer on the disc, which will help with the level adjustments, until you can do better. The Avia or Digital Video Essentials discs are better (as stated above), and can be found on Amazon.com. But if you buy one of those to use, you'll also need a Radio Shack SPL (sound pressure level) meter, to get the adjustments just right. Get the analog meter, if available...........
Good luck!

Allan Jayne

Re: Question about speaker wire (for a noob)

Did the system ever work properly?

Much bass and weak "other" sounds from your "fronts" suggest that you wired something up incorrectly, namely the amplifier output(s) intended for the subwoofer was put into the fronts.

Also, are there level controls on the speakers? If these are present and set incorrectly you may lose much of the higher frequency content.

Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm