In-Wall speaker wire preferences?

Toxis

I am looking to rewire my HT and possibly relocate my equipment to a remote location so I'm wondering who here has some quality but inexpensive speaker wire they've used and prefer. I know Monoprice has some thick 12awg for decent price. I can get 250' of wire and 9 pair of banana plugs from them for about $125 shipped. That seems right up my alley but at the same time, almost too cheap. Anyone have other suggestions for anything out there?

mantis

Yes , Use Audioquest Flx 14/2. I use it myself.

Toxis

Is it solid core or stranded?

ZLTFUL

Toxis wrote: »

Is it solid core or stranded?

Stranded.
Used the same stuff myself and had zero complaints at all.

ViperZ

There is nothing wrong with Monoprice in-wall speaker wire. Many people I know use it for in-wall wiring their HT (with keystone conector boxes on the wall). If it's cheap, it's not always bad.

Toxis

The only reason I was considering it was the fact it's 12awg. I'm not pumping huge amounts of power but I don't want the wire to be a limitation if I ever get into more juice.

PolkieMan

Yea monoprice works for me, just ordered
2816 50ft 12AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Loud Speaker Cable (For In-Wall Installation) 1 $16.42 $16.42

use CATALOG12 to save 10%

Toxis wrote: »

The only reason I was considering it was the fact it's 12awg. I'm not pumping huge amounts of power but I don't want the wire to be a limitation if I ever get into more juice.

txcoastal1

14/2 will be more than adequate for in wall use

Toxis

Well I'm looking at 250' to be over prepared. And then I could even bi-wire the fronts to make sure I have plenty of amperage. All in due time.

I'm sure 14/2 is adequate but I'm using Cobalt 10awg speaker wire for my fronts now and when I move my equipment, I don't really want to lose much power/SQ.

BlueFox

DSkip wrote: »

I need a professional to come up and run some wires for me. There's no pay involved, but there will be all the beer you can drink, maybe a pizza or two thrown in. Hell, I might even have a couch he could get some shut-eye on (sorry, extra bed is long gone).

Make sure the work is done before providing the compensation.

txcoastal1

DSkip wrote: »

I need a professional to come up and run some wires for me. There's no pay involved, but there will be all the beer you can drink, maybe a pizza or two thrown in. Hell, I might even have a couch he could get some shut-eye on (sorry, extra bed is long gone).

If I get a break in between my Buc-ee's projects around LSAF I could come up early or stay longer my man, I'll keep you posted...remember I get thirsty around 4 o'clock.

I will be setting up a small system in my room again with beverages and tunes

dracoskeeper

Is this a good price for the AQ? 150$ for 125' http://www.nhthifi.com/s.nl/sc.3/.f

Phil17108

The first time I set up my system, 14/2 cl2 from monster and a few years ago during a home redo got the monoprice 14/2 cl2 and found that the only deference is that the monoprice is a little stiffer and is easer to work with. Take a look at this http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/exoticmaterials.htm. and make up your mind about HI priced cable.

throner

What is wrong with zip ties for cable management? Get some that are the color of your cabling (or just black), and make sure to cut off the excess when you've tied the cables together. Other than that, you could go out and buy a piece of furniture to hold your A/V equipment that has special channels in it for fishing cables through, but if you already have other furniture, what's the point? Zip ties done properly can look very nice indeed.

mantis

throner wrote: »

What is wrong with zip ties for cable management? Get some that are the color of your cabling (or just black), and make sure to cut off the excess when you've tied the cables together. Other than that, you could go out and buy a piece of furniture to hold your A/V equipment that has special channels in it for fishing cables through, but if you already have other furniture, what's the point? Zip ties done properly can look very nice indeed.

In general there is nothing wrong with using zip ties for cable management but I prefer Velcro due to it's ability to be re used. Zip ties are one and done unless you use the reusable design , and then you wouldn't want to cut off the extra as more wire down the road maybe used. I buy Velcro in rolls.
Here are some examples of my work with both Zip ties and Velcro

zane77

Dan, Great wiring job, that looks very clean. One question, would it better to run the power leads separate from the signal and speaker leads?

pablo_rodz

I just finished running monoprice 12 ga. inwall and I liked it, and for the price I think it's a no-brainier. That cabling job is awesome. I don't know if I have the patience to fight cabling long enough to have that outcome...

I have the same question as above, would it be better to separate the power cords from the speaker cables, what about interconnects?

mantis

zane77 wrote: »

Dan, Great wiring job, that looks very clean. One question, would it better to run the power leads separate from the signal and speaker leads?

When Possible , I like to keep power wires away from IC's but for short distances I have not had any issues , hums or anything of that nature. When you use cheaper quality cables , this becomes more of an issue.
If you look at my first picture , you will see all IC's are bundled together and the power cable is by itself. It does have to travel out the same hole in the cabinet which there are times where I'll drill 2 holes and keep the power cable completely separate.
Check out picture 2 more closely and notice that the power cables only combine with the IC's for inches , they are hidden behind the Stand rails. IC's are on the back.
Picture number 3 the IC's are on the very back of the Rack while the power cables are ran on the inside. This rack didn't have Lacer bars which are what you use to wire manage the back of a rack. I can provide a pic of what proper lacer bars look like and how they are used to manage wiring.

Msabot1

Use the Velcro type for cabling management, if ya ever have to add,they pull apart rather than having to cut em,and yes powered lines should be routed away from signal lines even if they are shielded!

PubFiction

IMO solid wire would be better for in wall, the entire point of stranded wire the best I know is because wire which is moved around alot because it is used as a connector outside of wall often breaks. Stranded wire can break a single strand and the the signal can hop over to the other strand then hop back. So you can have various breaks down the line and it will not kill the signal. With solid wire 1 break can kill the whole run, but when you put something in the wall no one is every moving it, vacuuming over it and so on so there is no reason for it to break. Having recently run straned wire in a house I would much prefere stiffer wire, the junk hangs down everywhere and requires a ton of staples to keep it neat, the only reason I ran it was because I already had it, and I small motivation was that solid wire would be better if it was an odd color so no one in the future mistook it for an electrical wire and tried to wire a box in or something.

math wizard

Toxis wrote: »

I am looking to rewire my HT and possibly relocate my equipment to a remote location so I'm wondering who here has some quality but inexpensive speaker wire they've used and prefer. I know Monoprice has some thick 12awg for decent price. I can get 250' of wire and 9 pair of banana plugs from them for about $125 shipped. That seems right up my alley but at the same time, almost too cheap. Anyone have other suggestions for anything out there?

I use Monoprice 12 ga. speaker cable inwall with no problems. have been using it for years.

Toxis

Anyone know where I can find the AQ 250' for under $199 online? Crutchfield can't be the cheapest... The always are too high IMO. But I can't find it cheaper... Did CF become competitive?