Flat speaker wire

bigben
bigben Posts: 7
edited September 2007 in Troubleshooting
I just bought a new house and have to set my system up over there.
I currently have my speaker wires running through the walls and coming out of the ceiling, but it looks like it might be difficult to do the same at the new house.
I have seen speaker tape used in some houses I looked at and thought it was a great idea, you can even paint over it, but I am wondering whet kind of power I can push through them and how it would sound.
Has anyone here ever used the flat style wire?
Post edited by bigben on

Comments

  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,337
    edited August 2007
    bigben wrote: »
    I just bought a new house and have to set my system up over there.
    I currently have my speaker wires running through the walls and coming out of the ceiling, but it looks like it might be difficult to do the same at the new house.
    I have seen speaker tape used in some houses I looked at and thought it was a great idea, you can even paint over it, but I am wondering whet kind of power I can push through them and how it would sound.
    Has anyone here ever used the flat style wire?
    Im not sure about the speaker tape, but there are flat speaker wires out there by quality manufacturers such as Nordost here is a pic of there older super flatline.

    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
  • bigben
    bigben Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    I saw some the other day that had adhesive on one side, you stick it to the wall and you can paint or spackle over it.
    It said for low voltage applications. Wonder what they consider "low voltage"?
  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited August 2007
    bigben wrote: »
    I saw some the other day that had adhesive on one side, you stick it to the wall and you can paint or spackle over it.
    It said for low voltage applications. Wonder what they consider "low voltage"?

    I saw that too on the H&G channel. I would be dubious of the quality of that though until I could hear it. It did look cool. The Nordost Flatlines will at least sound good and you can run them under rugs etc.
    Sharp Elite 70
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited August 2007
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
  • ilikesound
    ilikesound Posts: 355
    edited August 2007
    low voltage implies that it doesn't take a signal greater than 24 volts supplied by a transformer, battery or the like.
    At Home:
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    stock system in new car for now:(
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    bigben wrote: »
    I just bought a new house and have to set my system up over there.
    I currently have my speaker wires running through the walls and coming out of the ceiling, but it looks like it might be difficult to do the same at the new house.
    I have seen speaker tape used in some houses I looked at and thought it was a great idea, you can even paint over it, but I am wondering whet kind of power I can push through them and how it would sound.
    Has anyone here ever used the flat style wire?

    Yes, to answer your question. I used MicroFlat Cable 0.5mm (thickness) for surround runs. Since the room has a cathedral ceiling, running up, over, and down was out of the question. So, the flatwire was placed on the slab with the flooring glue going on top of the flatwire followed by the hardwood floor proper.

    Please be aware that the flatwire is not intended to connect to any hardware, rather it is intended to have twisted wire soldered to its extremities with the latter connecting to speakers and amp/receiver. I tacked on four feet of wire at both ends of the flatwire. Being a first time user of flatwire, some 2.5 hours were involved in prepping the two runs of flatwire for installation. Hopefully, next time in a post-learning curve setting, the prep time will be less. ;)

    The wire is three ply -- one white, one pale red, one clear. The pale red gets peeled away to leave the clear ply which in conjunction with the white ply insulates the flat copper wire. The external side of the clear ply is highly adhesive; so adhesive in fact that it stuck to rough concrete like typical tape will stick to a clean smooth surface.

    The power rating for the flatwire that I used was 800 watts -- Acoustic Research part # PR-391. This link has a picture of the particular wire
    ( http://www.amazon.com/800-WATT-Micro-Flat-Speaker-Wire/dp/B000IBTCXW/ref=sr_1_2/002-6635811-4704801?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1186961069&sr=8-2 )

    I hope this helps, and good luck in your endeavor for sound.
  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited August 2007
    Welcome Eau Rouge,I take it you too consider Spa and that corner to be the ultimate?
    Testing
    Testing
    Testing
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    GV#27 wrote: »
    Welcome Eau Rouge,I take it you too consider Spa and that corner to be the ultimate?

    Indeed. :D

    Not everyone makes the connection. Kudos to you!
  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,775
    edited August 2007
    That Nordost looks great, and a real bargain at $432 for a 50' roll, or $265 for a 16' length pre-terminated.:rolleyes:

    http://www.madisound.com/nordost.html
  • bigben
    bigben Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    Wow, thats a lot of money$$$
  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited August 2007
    Eau Rouge
    Welcome and stay awhile.
    What part of Florida?
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    engtaz wrote: »
    Eau Rouge
    Welcome and stay awhile.
    What part of Florida?

    Thank you.

    I'm on the Emerald Coast, in Panama City.
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 7
    edited August 2007
    bigben wrote: »
    Wow, thats a lot of money$$$

    That's why a became a welder... ergh, solderer for a day. :D
  • rtart
    rtart Posts: 832
    edited September 2007
    I have used it in the past, and had pretty good results. It does show through paint, and you can see it if you look hard.
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