Wiring front speakers and surrounds (1 Viewer)

[Sergio Stephano]

Do all the wires on the center, surround and fronts have to be same brand and equal in quality? i was thinking of using monster or some good brand for my fronts and the center and surrounds have homedepot wire? can anyone help me out please. I am also connecting using banana plugs to an onkyo ds595 receiver

 

[ColinM]

Go ahead and spend good money on the L/R/C wires, and get less expensive sets for the rears. Just make sure to use at least 16 ga for runs of up to 50 ft, 14 or 12 if longer.

The front 3 see quite a bit more action, so why not be consistent.

My .02

- Good Luck -

- CM

 

[Evan S]

I side with Colin on this one. Make sure you use very good wire on the F/R/C speakers as the Center carries most of the action for HT and the F/R carry all the information for 2 channel stereo music sources. Surround speakers can be fed with lesser quality wire, but make sure it's at least decent stuff.

Whatever you do, make sure of two things. If you are wiring the surrounds, try to make the runs the same length, even if the speakers aren't equidistant from your receiver or amp. This will limit timing anomolies. Also, make sure you use the same type wire for the R/L pair as well as for the surround pair. If you use one type of wire for the R and a different type for the L, you will get timbre differences potentially.

Good wires for the fronts come from Kimber, Cat Cables, Bettercables.com DH Labs, Audioquest, Monster, etc.

The Home depot stuff should be fine for the rears.

 

[Marc H]

I concur, go with the best you can afford for the front three.

Premium wire will make an audible difference on the rear channel too, especially because of the long runs involved but it's just hard to justify the expense, unless you're overly picky or filthy rich.