Yup, another newb speaker wire question

Docsab

So I recently refinished the basement, and intending to set up a home theater area, wired the walls with 14 AWG previous to drywalling/finishing. Now I am ready to set up my system(Onkyo 606 and Polk RM6880) but because of some unforseen issues, I need to move the location of the receiver from where I had previously anticipated.

So a couple speaker wire runs are now short. They are drywalled in and would be hard/impossible to rerun in their current location. Would it be a poor idea to splice an extra length of wire to the end? Would I loose fidelity with a splice, say a couple wire nuts, to add an extra few feet to the run or would I be violating some basic audiophile commandment that I should have known about since the third grade? Thanks for your comments!

TNRabbit

Depends on you level of analness. I'd solder & shrink wrap, though.

ben62670

Solder the joints with good solder, and heat shrink them;)
Welcome to Club Polk.
Ben

ben62670

TNRabbit wrote: »

Depends on you level of analness. I'd solder & shrink wrap, though.

That's a quick rabbit:D

thsmith

WOuld solder using silver solder or something else ?

Willow

Silver would be a great choice

jeeper_nick

Absolutely silver for condutivity purposes. If it were me, I might consider putting the "patched" area in a junction box to keep it away from insulation, etc. In essence you are creating a weak link in the chain and if something is going to fail/overload/short, it will most likely be where the solder/heatwrap job is. Better to be safe with a $.79 single-gang junction box than an in-wall fire. I'm a big better-safe-than-sorry sort of guy, though.

thsmith wrote: »

WOuld solder using silver solder or something else ?

Docsab

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses! I'm feeling better about not having to redo the run. The patched area will be outside the wall- actually just adding a few feet in an unfinished storage closet, so it should be cool.

One other question though, I was reading Crutchfields guide to installation and they stated the three front speakers should all have the same length speaker wire, as well as the surround speaker wires should equal each other in length, to assure the signal reaches each speaker at the same time. This surprised me, as I wouldn't think a difference of 5 or even 10 feet would matter, given the speed of the signal. Agree? Disagree? Thanks again:)

AudioGenics

suggest staggered (non-adjacent) westinghouse wire splice technique , solder , then shrink wrap .

mmadden28

Docsab wrote: »

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses! I'm feeling better about not having to redo the run. The patched area will be outside the wall- actually just adding a few feet in an unfinished storage closet, so it should be cool.

One other question though, I was reading Crutchfields guide to installation and they stated the three front speakers should all have the same length speaker wire, as well as the surround speaker wires should equal each other in length, to assure the signal reaches each speaker at the same time. This surprised me, as I wouldn't think a difference of 5 or even 10 feet would matter, given the speed of the signal. Agree? Disagree? Thanks again:)

Not suggesting that it needs to be done, but if you were to do it, I guess using the old wire to pull the new wire though won't work for you? Was the wire secured anywhere behind the wall?
This is one of those times when your kicking yourself for not thinking of running the wire in conduit huh?

Not familiar with the Onk 606, but if it has an AutoEQ (where you use a mic to calibrate), it should account for any delays. If it doesn't you should at least be able to manually adjust the delays if something doesn't sound right.

WilliamM2

Docsab wrote: »

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses! I'm feeling better about not having to redo the run. The patched area will be outside the wall- actually just adding a few feet in an unfinished storage closet, so it should be cool.

One other question though, I was reading Crutchfields guide to installation and they stated the three front speakers should all have the same length speaker wire, as well as the surround speaker wires should equal each other in length, to assure the signal reaches each speaker at the same time. This surprised me, as I wouldn't think a difference of 5 or even 10 feet would matter, given the speed of the signal. Agree? Disagree? Thanks again:)

It's nonsense. There won't be any delays unless the differences in length are a mile or more.

dkwrrt

Hello all,

i am fairly new to this arena and would like to know a couple of things. Firts off i just got montour 50's for my fronts and a cs1 center yesterday to replace a 16 year old bose cube speaker system, now i just read an article by roger russell about speaker wire and if i read it right i could use good 16 guage lamp cord and get the same results as buying "monster cables". So is that right and if so will it hurt my onkyo 705 receiver. Gee that is a mouth full, and should i biwire my fronts? Thanks for any help!

gdb

Just a little trick.... groove the drywall within 3" of the floor,and run a new length wherever you want. The base molding will cover it up, just DON"T NAIL THROUGH the wire ! No more need to splice/solder;)

F1nut

i just read an article by roger russell about speaker wire

Forget you ever read that crap.

dkwrrt

F1nut, thanks for the reply but are you saying to buy as good as you can afford on the wire. And do you think I should biwire my front speakers. Thanks for all your help.

Knucklehead

The Truth about Speaker Wire

Despite the effectiveness of Gordon's cable demonstration and the truth about speaker wire, people visiting the McIntosh room at the shows, who had not experienced the cable demonstration, were disturbed that we were using ordinary heavy zip cord instead of one of the popular brands of speaker wire. Instead of listening to the McIntosh speakers and electronics, they recalled "bad" things they had been told about "common" speaker wire and this promoted questions about the "inferior" wire being used. When we changed the wire to a popular brand of wire, customers were happy with the setup, and directed their attention to the McIntosh equipment.

The demand for high quality speaker wire was increasing and appeared to be a new marketing area for several companies. McIntosh did not make or sell speaker wire. The solution seemed very obvious--rather than spend time and effort to create negative sales for McIntosh dealers who were beginning to sell speaker wire, it seemed best to encourage the speaker owner/customer to consult with the dealer about what speaker wire to use. Consequently, I no longer recommended the kind of wire or wire sizes in the speaker manuals.

By 1988, McIntosh no longer supplied audio interconnects with the electronics. Again, many kinds of special audio cables were available to the customer/owner. The dealer could also be consulted about what cables to use.

I credit the success of the speaker wire industry to their expert sales and marketing ability. However, it is my experience that ordinary copper wire, as long as it's heavy enough, is just as good as name brands.

Looking at this from a different perspective, there will always be those who will want expensive wire, not because there is an audible difference, but because they may value pride of ownership and prestige in a similar way to that of owning a Tiffany lamp or a Rolex watch. BY Roger Russell

Lowell_M

If you play around with this hobby enough your ears will hear the difference and you'll realize that the Roger Russel stuff is ****.

F1nut

dkwrrt, I would suggest you buy wire that fits the level of your system. A general guide line would be to spend about 10% of the total value of your gear on wire. I would also suggest to stay away from the M brand.

Personally, I haven't found a benefit to bi-wiring, but you should try it for yourself as that's the only way to know for sure.

Knucklehead

if it works and your happy....use it, who cares what anybody else thinks