Need cable/wiring suggestions! (1 Viewer)

[Mario:G]

I'm a new member (and new to home theater) and this is my first post!

We just had our house built and moved in about a month ago. The contractor ran RG59U cables from my A/V closet to the wall above the fireplace for my plasma. The total run is about 45'. Should I replace the cables with RG6? I've been hearing different opinions.

I put gold RCA ends on the connectors and hooked it up to the plasma just to see how it looks. The image was impressive, but I'm wondering if it would be even better with RG6 cables.

Also, I have 14ga (generic) wire ran from the A/V closet to my front towers. Is it worth it to change the wires to 12ga, or is it not worth the trouble?

Here's my current set-up.

Phillips 50PF9966 Plasma
Definitive Technology BP7002 Towers
Definitive Technology "Mythos 3" Center Channel
Definitive Technology BPVX Surrounds
Yamaha RXV 1400 Receiver

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hi Mario,

Welcome to the Forum, and congrats on the new house!

It’s surprising in this day and age that a contractor would wire a house with RG-59 – that’s what I’m used to seeing in 30-year old houses.

RG-6 is the best coax for satellite feeds and cable TV. RG-59 is suitable for broadcast TV signals (you didn’t mention what your signal source is). I’m not sure it’s worth yanking it all out, though, especially if you say the picture looks okay. What I noticed when I had a 20 ft. section in my cable TV line was vertical bars in the picture for some of the lower channels, like 11, 13, etc. It went away when I completed the run with RG-6.

If it’s not hard to retro some RG-6, what you might do is simply cover the areas where you care the most about the picture. That would be (at least) the main feed into the house, and the split going to the plasma TV.

Re the speaker wire, I’d say change it to 12ga. only if it’s an easy job. However, if the run from the closet to the speakers is long – say 30 ft. or more – it might be worth the trouble to change it out.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[StephenHa]

I have seen many electricians use rg59, they have never been told there is better, I'd upgrade if not too complicated, but make sure and let the contractor know he used an inferior wire

 

[Mario:G]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Well, it turns out that we may be able to have the contractor re-run RG6 cables. So that brings about this question:

Which type of RG6 cables should I tell them to run? I know that there's dual sheild and quad sheild, is there any other type?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Standard RG-6 is fine. Quad-shield is unnecessary. It’s intended for situations where there are extremely high and powerful levels of RF – like if you lived next door to a TV broadcasting tower.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[StephenHa]

quad shield would be used if you were transmitting, but is not neccessary for the average home (if it's the same price it won't hurt though)