Which Speaker Wire

averb

I'm reading that the performance of the speaker wire I choose should be at least equal to the performance of my Home Theater Setup. I am running an Onkyo 606, Polk T90e L/R, Polk CS20 Center and PSW505 Sub. Surround speakers haven't been ordered but I'm leaning toward OMW3 for their low profile sleek look. This is my first HT setup and I was looking for something more than a HTIB setup. I have the L/R speakers hooked up with what i guess is 12 AWG wire, Center with 14 AWG and SUB with Monster RCA to LFE port. I've calibrated with Audessey but the setup is not impressing me all that much on music or movies. It seems like something is missing.

Can anyone suggest the proper cables, size, connectors, etc... I see so many at different price ranges. I would say my budget is $150-200. I plan to use flat speaker cable to connect the Surrounds since i can run them around the room.

Any help suggestions is appreciated. Thanks..

zingo

Flat Speaker Wire

Speaker Wire

RCA Interconnects

Banana Plugs

grif32

I think your spearker wire is fine. Not sure why someone would post in-wall speaker wire. Since you are not running the wire inside the wall. That wont do anything to improve your sound.

Do you have a Blu-Ray player hooked up? DVD player? Need more info. I dont think up-grading your speaker wire from 14 to 12 awg and fancy Bananna plugs are going to make it any better. Even if you spend $200 on it.

Do you have everything going to the Onkyo 606 with HDMI and out to the TV with HDMI?

HDMI will give you the best sound.

Plus adding your surrounds will help with the movie part.

Mike21

Hi Averb

Sounds to me like you have a well matched up system, including wires.

Can you be more specific as to what is missing? Does the missing part apply to all of your sources (TV, radio, CD, video discs)?

treitz3

Have you considered/tried not running the Audessey at all?

cnh

What about your BASE management? Audessey doesn't usually get that right. So you should see what the system has set each speaker at, check the bass crossovers--and tweak the 505 some both on the unit itself and on the Onkyo sub level.

I think trietz3 has a point above.

cnh

phipiper10

As above, if you think something is missing it's likely not the wire.

We need some more info as others suggested.

Have you set the Onkyo to exclude the rear speakers which you didn't mention being set up? If you have them set to on(large/small) on the receiver and then select Dolby Digital(5.1) or some othe r5 channel processing mode you would be missing those channels completely.

Onkyo has a couple of settings you might need to fool with. Try "Theater Dimensional" which I think combines all channels into the front three and gives the effect of there being 5.1

averb

Thanks for all the responses. It turns out what was missing was bass from the Sub. On the Onkyo there is a setting for double bass which was set to off. I thought with this setting ON the L/R speakers would be assisting in producing bass instead of concentrating on mid/highs so i turned it off hoping to hear the sub. Turns out with the setting OFF it does not send bass to the sub. Everything sounds much better now that the sub it active.

Currently my sources are iPod via line out dock to RCA and Cable TV via HDMI to Receiver then Receiver to TV. No blueray or CD/DVD player hooked up yet but when I do it will be HDMI.

I've been running Audesssy whenever i reposition the equipment to try and find the right setup for the room. Yes the rear speakers are excluded.

I questioned the wiring because I keep coming across threads that premium wiring is necessary and regular wire on a spool is inferior. After reading the following I no longer believe that to be the case just as long as you use the correct sized wire for your specific application/distance.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

I may invest in new wire and put on easy plug connection so I don't have frayed ends but that is it.

treitz3

Don't believe everything you hear on the internet and you will be much wiser. Also, better/upgraded wire is not ever a necessity but if you want or have the desire to bring the best out of your rig then it's definitely worth exploring.