Home Depot/RadioShack wire and cable (1 Viewer)

[Peter Bossman]

I'm curious about the quality of my wiring.

I purchased 250' of 12g wire from Home Depot for about $64. Is this considered pretty good wire for home audio/theater purposes? I've used it for car audio systems and have found that it will stand toe to toe with the best of them. I don't know diddly about home audio though.

Also, all of the S-video, audio, and regular video cables I'm using are Radio Shack Gold series. Are they OK? They cost me around $130. It seemed all of the "high end" cables were going to cost me $300 or more. Did I screw up?

A quick synopsis of my system:

Denon AVR 3802

Klipsch RF3II

Klipsch RC3II

Klipsch RS3II

Klipsch KSW-15

JVC FA90BK

Thanks all,

Peter

 

[Dave Nibeck]

You done good Pete.

You will find many people who believe that you need to spend premium dollars to get premium sound. And there are other very respectible members of this forum that use the el-cheapo factory patch cords w/o complaint.

I use HD wire and AR patch cords.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Peter. Welcome to HTF!
The Radio Shack/AR/Home Depot speaker wire is great bang-for-the-buck.
I do often recommend getting better-quality video cables if your system is "sensitive". This means:
- Cable run length > 6-10 feet
- Display size > 40"
- Pushing Progressive or HD video signals
- Display is HDTV ready that internally upgrades the video to progressive
With any of these, you could get visible improvement buying better component or SVideo cables.
You CAN go the Monster route. But the best values are the various web sites that use Production studio grade cables and connectors and will sell them to you.
For example: the Monster Video 3 Component video cable set will set you back about $280 for 6 ft.
One of the web sites will sell you a 6 ft component cable set made with Canare connectors and Canare or Belden coax for $75. This is as good/better than the Monster stuff.
Some sites to browse:
www.bettercables.com
Link Removed
www.wickedcables.com
www.ebay.com (search for "Canare")
Hope this helps.

 

[RobertCharlotte]

Radio Shack Gold

I bought a couple of RS Gold cables before I decided that I just didn't like the very tight fit of their connectors. I prefer Audio Research's fit. They are available at Best Buy and probably lots of other places.

 

[Pat K]

Good choices bro. Those RS cables are kinda cool looking too.

 

[John Sully]

This site indicates that the Home Despot wire reacts with it's insulation. Cupric oxide is a good insulator, but not such a great conductor. I'd avoid it given this information. On the other hand, a lot of people here seem to be very happy with it, so perhaps Home Despot has changed suppliers since this article was written.
Video is *much* more sensitive to cable and connector quality than audio and Bob is correct in recommending cables built using Canare cables and connectors. Personally, I'm very pleased with www.markertek.com. Get the Markertek branded cables. You'll find they are cheaper than most of the cables made from Canare components that you can get on eBay and that they ship very quickly. The only drawback is that the cables are rather, umm, pedestrian looking. No fancy cladding, no heat shrink over the strain relief. On the other hand, a 50 foot run of cable costs less than $50.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Peter,

Nice to meet another 3802/Klipsch owner. I'm driving Legends with mine. Also use the HD wire and it does the job for me. I have a few of the RS and AR cables and they both perform fine for my application.

I did get my first experience of the Klipschs revealing a bad recording yesterday. A friend brought over a Foghat DVD that looked like it was filmed with a video camera and sounded even worse; full of hiss and static.

 

[Marc Rochkind]

John:

The comment by Russell that you reference doesn't seem to refer to the Home Depot wiring that I've seen. He mentions that it has no coding to distinguish the wires, which isn't true of the wire I bought. Also, I've had Home Depot wiring for years, and it never turned green. He either bought his wire a long time ago, or got some strange stock that particular day, or both.

 

[Troy Swope]

Peter:

Welcome to HTF. I have the exact same system, just installed and tested friday night. I also purchased the 250' spool from the depot, i have no issue with the cable at all and the denon 3802 and klipsch r II series is killer.

The only thing i dont have yet, are my SVSubwoofers, they have been ordered and i am anxiously awaiting their arrival... (thanks to Ron and the guys!)

Hope to have new pics up soon. Until then, enjoy the show!!

 

[Josh Matthews]

This is probably as good a place as any to bring this up. I've have been looking for some white, 12g speaker wire. I keep hearing that this stuff exists at Home Depot for around 50 cents a foot. Has anyone seen this stuff in the Philly area? All I can ever find is the clear stuff. (WAF issue).

 

[Wayne Ernst]

This is probably as good a place as any to bring this up. I've have been looking for some white, 12g speaker wire. I keep hearing that this stuff exists at Home Depot for around 50 cents a foot. Has anyone seen this stuff in the Philly area? All I can ever find is the clear stuff. (WAF issue).

At the HD stores, I've only encountered the grey sheathed in-wall 12 gauge cables. Have you tried Parts Express? I recall seeing 12 ga. in-wall white cable.

 

[Brian Shannon]

Home Despot wire reacts with it's insulation

People will do what they wish. After buying some of this cable the jackets have gotten brittle and the copper is oxidizing.

"Cheap" as in poor quality (in this case) was not what I had in mind.

My next project wil not be wired with poor quality cable such as this