wall terminals good or bad?

drballard33

I have limited space in my room, and obviously the 65" takes up quite a bit of space on my one wall. I have two front speakers and a surround that are coming through the hardwood floor. I am changing out the speaker wire for 14 gauge, and am thinking about using wall terminals to ease when I need to clean behind the TV. This way I can unhook the speakers from the wall terminal not the speaker, and also to make it look better. Will this actually hurt the sound quality by adding one more interuption in its path? Should I just wire to the speaker directly from the receiver? I have a 25 foot run, I do not know if that makes a difference. Thanks you to any help!!

TrappedUnder Ice

A decent wall terminal should not have any "measurable" effect. Most usually like too run direct, however, this should not degrade anything you will hear.

BobMcG

This question is similar in ways to the one on coiling cables and equal lengths. Good or bad? Wall terminals won't be all that bad an idea for some and not even remotely considered by others. The same as with the issue of coling cables or making sure they're the same length or not. Can they enhance a system's ability to say, be more easily cleaned behind? Yes. Can they enhance the sound quality of a sytem? No. Could they be considered a detriment to the sound quality instead? Yes. Where do your priorites lay?

It very much depends on the type and level of the system, what it is used for, what you expect of it and where your priorities are.

Is it an HT or an HS?

Is it an HT used for HS duty?

Is it a general HT or HS or is it a serious sytem?

If serious, is it a somewhat serious system or a very serious system?

Are you a casual hobbyist or a devoted hobbiest or dead serious Audiophile?

AND TO ME: Being an "audiophile" dosen't mean you necessarily have some of the best, most expensive equipment and cables going. It's a frame of mind. It means YOU take the sound quality of YOUR system seriously enough so that NOTHING ELSE matters. Nothing gets in your way. Even the WAF. You do ALL that you possibly can to make sure you are achieving the absolute best sound possible with the equipment you have and the listening space you are in. You are fussy about your sound and update and upgrade when you can but you use every workable tweek and trick in the book going to try to squeeze every POTENTIAL DROP of performance out of your sytem. No half-assed, half-hearted attitude or approach taken. Period.

What is the purpose of and level of quality of your equipment, your expectations of it and what is the level of your commitment to the hobby?

drballard33

I am relatively new to this forum, and have learned quite a bit of things. I am very serious about my sound quality, but as you can tell by my equipment I do not have the most money to spend. The system I have is something that I have built along the way, just tweaking when I get the extra money. It works very well for me NOW. Also the home I live in is my first home, not the one I plan on living in forever. When I move into that home is when I hope to not only have the time and money to create the best system for me, but also the space to where minimal cleaning around my equipment is needed. So I guess the answer is, wall terminals are right for me NOW, but not somtheing I will use when I can afford to be serious about my equipment selection. And as I have learned from this site, I have a lot to learn about sound quality. I guess I am an audiophile wannabe. I appreciate all for helping me with this question and I hope I get great advice in the future. This is what forums are for. Hopefully in the next few years I will report back to everyone with a 100X better system, until then I will push the limits with what I have to create the best system for me at this time in my life.

BobMcG

drb33

Welcome to the Forums.

Like I basically said, it's not how much you got, it's how you use it and your attitude. You sound like you have a plan and know what direction you want to go in so......... have fun doing it!

Bob