Speaker wire HELP! (1 Viewer)

[Geoff MK]

Hi, I am new to HT and I am planning on putting together my first HT myself. I have bought all the components except the speaker wires. The main reason is that I want to buy good quality speaker wires from a certain internet store, they sell raw cables, but I don't know how to assemble them to use between my receive and my speakers. My speakers accept bare wires and I would like to use bananas for my receiver. Thanks.
Geoff

 

[Allan Jayne]

Get a 12 gauge stranded wire, any brand. (14 gauge is adequate for a distance less than 20 feet from amp to speaker) Solid wire is stiff and therefore not fun to work with. Home Depot wire is just as good as any other except that the selection of color (esthetics) may not be as desirable.
If your receiver accepts bare wire, you are better off without bananas since connecting up bananas makes one more joint that can oxidize over time. Otherwise Radio Shack sells bananas you can screw onto the bare wire end yourself. The only advantage to using bananas is the ease of disconnecting and reconnecting if you do this often.
Wire with banana plugs already attached will on average cost you more but there is no need to pay more for speaker wire just for a certain brand or reputation or lack of oxygen or special advertising claim.
Other video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
[Edited last by Allan Jayne on October 07, 2001 at 07:21 AM]