Adequate Wiring Please!

janmike

Hello Polk Folks,

Could some of you pros recommend some good wiring for my components & speakers. I do not really know what kind of money I should be spending, but I would like quality without going crazy.

MY Equipment:

2 - RTi100’s
2 – Rti38’s
1 – Csi40 (attempting to locate)

Yamaha RX-V1500
Marantz CD-67SE
Panasonic 36” Tau Pure Flat Screen
Panasonic DVD RP56
Old Dual Turntable (for nostalgic purposes)

Thanks for the info.

reeltrouble1

OH BOY!!

JM,

If you were do to a search in the forums on wire you would be reading all day and next and next etc. Wire is one of those very subjective areas. How far are your wire runs? Do you need interconnects? What kind? What type of budget did you have in mind? Based on your system I could make a pretty good guess but still a guess.

As a place to start, you might want to look at Signal Cable and Blue jeans cable websites. Signal Cable will give you a little discount if you tell them you are a Club Polk member. Personally, I really like MIT products check e-bay, audiogon and usedcable.com for deals on them as new stuff is a bit pricey.

If you give us some more info we can help you more, otherwise, well there are many companies to choose from.

RT1

janmike

Reeltrouble1

The front speakers (RTi100)will be approx. 7 to 10 feet from the components. The rears (RTi38) will be approx 20 feet from the components.

Sorry, I do not understand the term interconnects. (A new guy)

As for money, Good Question. I honestly have no idea. I will ask this question. Would $300 purchase speaker wire and 2 or 3 patch cords? I do have some cable. I guess I am looking for what guage (if that is what you call it) of wire to use. What type of wire can I and should I use (Stranded, Coax, Fibre...)

I am so new that I am not sure what plugs into what. Sure, I can match the colour (Canadian Spelling) coded banana plugs with the back of a component. Is this correct, not sure. The new Yamaha will arrive in 2 weeks and I gues I will be able to wire the buit-in sub in the RTi100's. My old Marantz receiver would not allow me to do this. As for preamp and bi-wire, still Greek to me at this point. I'm still learning through asking and research. (Trying to stay away from retailers at this point until I have a better knowledge base)


What would YOU purchase (AND ALL OTHERS WHO READ THIS) based on the above equipment. Sorry, no digital cable in my neighborhood yet.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

sowen010599

12 gauge all the way 'round for speaker cable, maybe even 10.

Patch cable = interconnect

Yamaha is not color coded, unless you're talking red and black.

On your budget, have a look here....

http://www.signalcable.com/

-and-

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

reeltrouble1

OK, three hundred is a good starting place. Since you asked, if I was buying this wire, I would buy MIT cables. Look on audiogon and at usedcable.com, start with the Terminator series the Terminator 4, 5, or 6 for your front speakers, dont worry this is nice big thick wire, the Terminator 6 is fine, you had better get the iconn banana connectors, I am not sure if your Yammer will take their spades. For your sides on a 20 ft run 14-16 guage wire is ok, these speakers do not carry near the load as the front, so if you need to save some dough on wire do it with these, many use lamp cord here, home depot as a source. If you want to use 10-12 guage go for it but it costs more.

As explained interconnects are the cables that carry the signals between your gear, ie. CD to Receiver etc. these are low-level signals and these connects are generally considered to have more sonic impact on the system than the speaker wire. Again the grey colored Terminator series is a good way to go, say the Terminator 2, or go with the signal cable or blue jeans, I like the belden cable, talk to Frank on the phone at Signal if you want, tell him how much you have and what you need to connect, he is a good guy and will help you, same at Bluejeans you can call and they will set you up.

You mentioned bi-wire, I would not do this with your speakers, with a powered sub there is really no sonic benefit, I did this to mine and it works but really, you do not need to. You just plug the sub into the wall outlet you might want to change the binding straps on the back of your speakers to pieces of speaker wire, if you do bi-wire make sure you remove the straps, this is important.

You are also going to need some digital cable to run your DVD for 5.1, you can use optical or coaxial cable, I have both and cannot tell a difference, but given a choice I would go with the coax wire, better flexability and I just like wire more, its a personal thing. You hook the dvd to the receiver so you need enough length to make this connection. Some also use a digital connection for the CD player but this is getting to long already to explain the Digital Audio Converter chips.

Have fun, if you are confused (most of us are) ask questions and post up how you make out, start small get it all hooked up and listen to everything for a while, see what you like and what you dont.

RT1

dorokusai

Go Signal Cable....burn the turntable.

reeltrouble1

TT basher, vinyl covers plastic:D

janmike

No, SELL the turntable and buy some cable.

Ok, $$$ is NOT a factor. I may have a line on wholesale cable. Do my wiring recommendations change? I'm now looking for the BEST.
Thanks.

dorokusai

If you go wholesale DIY, go Belden.

You should keep your first foray into higher quality cable, modest.

Go Signal if you want custom, high quality, hand terminations at a great price.

www.signalcable.com

BlueMDPicker

Originally posted by janmike
Hello Polk Folks,

Could some of you pros recommend some good wiring for my components & speakers. I do not really know what kind of money I should be spending, but I would like quality without going crazy.

Buy these to connect your CDP to your RX - you won't be sorry.

AudioAdvisor.com was running some excellent deals on PS Audio speaker cables. Might want to check that out as well.

Happy wiring!

Mike

sowen010599

The "BEST"? You better be ready to spend 100x your original budget. Even then, you wouldn't be done buying cables.

dbournival

You may also want to check out:

http://www.accessories4less.com or

http://www.cobaltcable.com/

TheGrayGhost

Check out the Ethereal Cable line. Excellent quality without breaking the bank.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Cables/ethereal.asp

janmike

New Yamaha RX-V1500 arrived today. Can you say HAPPY.

I'm seeing this on ebay.

10 GA BLUE OXGYEN FREE TWISTED SPEAKER WIRE 100 FT

Buy for $33.14 Cdn. Is this a good deal and good cable?

Can I use this for all my speakers including the centre channel?

Also, How do I wire the subs on my RTi100's. Not sure where the cables (and what type) go. Some guy at Radio Shack said for $75 he would come over and wire it for me. Ya right!

Thanks folks.

dorokusai

Your RTi100 user manual is pretty useful in these instances, wink wink.

You can also DL it from the Service/Parts area up top.

janmike

The user manual, why didn't I think of that? That's right, the user manual was burned in the fire with the TT, my Beatle & Rolling Stone records and my wife's collection of 78's.
:eek:

dorokusai

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/library/downloads/manuals2001/RTi100Manual.pdf

janmike

Ok, I have download the RTi100 manual & have the manual for my Yamaha RX-V1500.

I am attempting to connect the RTi100's. (Sorry, first time with digital)


According to Option 3 (figure 6) of the RTi100 manual.

1) I have removed the 4 jumpers off the back of the speakers. (safely stored away)
2) I have run a cable from the input jack (Subwoofer Line Level) on one speaker to the output jack (Subwoofer Line Level) on the other speaker.
3) On the one speaker with the input jack free, I plugged in a cable to the back of the receiver. There are 2 subwoofer jacks. One says preout and the other says Multi CH. Not sure of which one or why. Thanks.
4) There are 4 speaker jacks on the back of the RTi100. The top 2 say speaker and the bottom 2 say subwoofer. My assumption is to use the top 2. Why, I'm not sure.

Is this the proper way to do this. I only have the digital TV, DVD and CD player left to go. I know I will have more questions. One piece at a time. Thanks very much for the patience and the help.

TheReaper

To answer your questions on numbers 3 and 4:

3) On the one speaker with the input jack free, I plugged in a cable to the back of the receiver. There are 2 subwoofer jacks. One says preout and the other says Multi CH. Not sure of which one or why. Thanks.

- You should connect to the "preout" "subwoofer" on the receiver.

4) There are 4 speaker jacks on the back of the RTi100. The top 2 say speaker and the bottom 2 say subwoofer. My assumption is to use the top 2. Why, I'm not sure.

- You are correct.

TheReaper

Just some ramblings to maybe help you understand things:

If you don't have any other subwoofer, then the way you are hooking up the subwoofers on your RTi100s is a good choice (According to Option 3 (figure 6) of the RTi100 manual).

"preouts" - preouts are outputs on your receiver, where the level is controlled by the volumn level on your receiver (they go louder and softer as you turn up and down the volumn on your receiver). Preouts are usually used to connect to external amplifiers and powered subwoofers (which contain an amplifier).

"multi ch" - are usually line level inputs, frequently used to connect a sacd player to your receiver.

janmike

STILL WILL NOT WORK,

I have changed the programming on the RX-V1500 to indicated Front = Small & Subwoofer = Yes
This is according to the RTi00 manual. I still do not have sound on the subs.

Then under the FAQ on this web site under this title"All You Need to Know About Bass Management: Setting Up Your Digital Home Theater System for the Best Performance", I read this

With either hook up, select front speakers as "Large" and Sub as "Off" in the speaker set-up function of your electronics.


I made that change, and again NO SUBS. Can you spell confused.
I removed the patch cables, put the jumbers back on, just to hear those beautiful 100's. Thanks.

reeltrouble1

Ok, you have a nice pair of speakers, let me ask some very basic things.

1. Have you plugged the speakers into a wall outlet? Are the little lights on the polk logo lit up?

2. Did you move the toggle switch on the back of speakers to auto?

3. Where is the volume control on the back of the speakers set at? 11:00 is a good starting place.

Your receiver should be set to front=large, subwoofer=no

How are you determining their is no bass coming from the subs on the 100i's?

You are presently getting sound from the tweeter and mid driver?

Dont worry about rehooking the line level right now lets just work with the speaker wires.

RT1

janmike

RT1,

ALL YES to 1, 2 & 3

front=large, subwoofer=no - CHECK


I have the jumpers connected back and I DO HAVE BASS. How do I know; by moving the volume control on the back of the speaker. When the jumpers are OFF, there is NO bass; with or without line level connection. Again, moving the volume control on the speaker.

My understanding is that by using line level, the sound quality would improve. This is the reason I went to this type of connection. Am I correct in this assumption?
Thanks Again.

reeltrouble1

OK, sounds like the speakers are fine.

Look in the yammers manual about the pre-out, see if there is some type of menu setting you have to use. Are you using some sort of DSP like "Direct", receivers normally have at least one DSP that does not output a signal to the subwoofer output, if you are using one of these that would explain it. Can you check to make sure your cable is ok with a VOM (volt ohm meter) if you have one touch the red lead to one end and the black to the other you should get a tone from the meter for continutiy, if not your cable is bad, if you dont have a meter can you try a diff. cable, I kind of doubt this is the problem but it is worth checking.

FWIW, when I first hooked mine up I used the line level connections and found for myself I liked the speaker level connections better, you might want to remove the straps and replace with a small piece of speaker wire, you can use bare wire, spades or banana for this connection.

RT1