In the new house I plan to have the rear speakers for the surround sound fed by wires in the wall via something like this:

http://www.nexxia.co.uk/Wall_plate_Connectors/images/NX-WM-001_small.jpg

What kind of wire is best to run in the wall/under floor to get from there to the amp? A former colleague said he used ordinary 16amp mains cable and could hear and difference from the propper audio cables he'd used under the carpet before.

I'd personally just use cheap proper speaker cable (ie not bell wire).

Chris

But whats the difference between cheap speaker wire and mains cable going to be ?

Surely a twisted wire isnt going to be any better than soild cores ?

Remember they're only rear surround speakers.

A former colleague said he used ordinary 16amp mains cable and could hear and difference from the propper audio cables he'd used under the carpet before.

I guess it depends on how good is source/amp/speakers were, and what he meant by "proper" audio cables.

How easy is it going to be to replace the wires in the wall, and how likely are you to upgrade your sound system? If you're likely to need to change the wire at some point in the future and it's going to be a 'mare to do it, you'd be best future-proofing by buying cable suitable for the system you might one day own.

I take it from the socket diagram you're not planning on bi-wiring...are you ever likely to own rears which you would want to bi-wire?

Rob.

Doing a lot of theater sound installs in a previous line of work I can tell you that many places use 13Amp Stranded mains cable for the speaker runs

The solid core gives v poor treble response and is a bugger to bend where you want.

TBH flat(ish) Oxygen Free Copper cables are only about £1.50 per meter and will be easier to hide under the carpet etc.

I take it from the socket diagram you're not planning on bi-wiring...are you ever likely to own rears which you would want to bi-wire?

Rob.

They will be b-wire but I cant fint a picture of a bi-wire socket to put in this thread.

i got a cinema system in my caravan!! why not get a wireless system? my mates got a Phillips thingy the rear ones are wireless:) but you should really use proper speaker cable...aint the ones supplied long enough? my cables are like 8meters each..big rooms!

Waht I'm hoping for is someone who has actually heard the difference between speaker wires and "normal" wires.

Going back to physics there is little justification for using twisted speaker wires rather then solid core mains cable.

They will be b-wire but I cant fint a picture of a bi-wire socket to put in this thread.

That's going to be a fair few banana plugs... The other thing they do in hi-fi shops I've been in is just to have the speaker cable poking out of a hole in the wall (obviously finished nicely with a plastic surround rather than just chipped plaster). Not sure how good that would look in a living room though...

The Gale bi-wire stuff from Richer Sounds is about

As I said in the post above, surface effect (you get more of this from stranded than solid) gives you better treble.

Solid or thicker stranded gives you better bass. The more you pay the better the soudn quality, but obviously it is seriously a case of deminishing returns. £1.50 per meter cable will be masively better than bell wire etc, but £100 per meter cable will only be a bit better than the £1.50 stuff.

I have listened to a large range and tend to use speaker cable that is about £5-10 per meter for a good amp and about £1-£3 per meter for cheaper equipment. If you are bi-wiring and doing it as a permanant install then I would definately recomment running some proper bi-wire cable as some are designed such that you get a large surface for the treble run and a thicker solid strand for the bass run, so giving the better characteristics for both wavelengths.

Best thing to do if you are not sure is go into a decent Hi-Fi store say you are looking to buy cables and let them set a rig up with both and you will hear the difference.

Going back to physics there is little justification for using twisted speaker wires rather then solid core mains cable.

Comes down to the quality of the cable - "impurities" and the like will affect sound quality, but wouldn't affect an electrical current.

Of course, there are many factors related to this (quality of your ears/system) - so cheapest way would probably be just to lay your hands on some mains cable, hook that up to your system and see if it sounds acceptable to you. If it does, get it stuck in the walls, if it sounds bobbins then experiment with proper speaker cables...

Rob.

Depending on the source components and that you want something that's better than bell wire there is an enourmous choice of cables from specialist hi-fi companies to choose from. My choice would be this stuff from QED, a first class speaker cable that can transform a system, relatively cheap at around £7.5/m.

My choice would be this stuff [/url']from QED, a first class speaker cable that can transform a system, relatively cheap at around

I need about 30m in total.

I like the idea of rigging up some mains cable and trying it before installing

phil i would also suggest digging deeper channels into the walls pre-installation and putting conduit runs up the walls so if for any reason you want to change the wiring you can with no damage to decoration

and use proper cable you tight ar$ed fake northern monkey!

I need about 30m in total.

I like the idea of rigging up some mains cable and trying it before installing

Don't do it!, mains cable is definately not the way forward. :thumbdwn:

I've yet to read anything from someon ewho has actually tried it though!

I've yet to read anything from someon ewho has actually tried it though!

I wonder why! :rubchin:

My choice would be this stuff [/url']from QED, a first class speaker cable that can transform a system, relatively cheap at around £7.5/m.

Maybe for front speakers, but I personally wouldn't bother with that for rear speakers unless they were very good quality (especially if you need 30m :eek: )

Chris

I've yet to read anything from someon ewho has actually tried it though!

Even then, that would be based upon their ears and their equipment - if you can't tell the difference between power cable and entry-level speaker cable, there's no point paying the extra for the speaker cable...

I can't imagine power cable will sound that all that good, but that's not to say it won't sound good enough!

Rob.

I have tried mains cable. (Said i did a few theatre installs with it earlier on)

Solid is a right pain and sounds very flat, stranded is ok esp at higher volumes where the high currents help to mask any of the slight deficiencies in the cable.

I would really use a reasonable cable.

Also have you looked at the trunking skirting board. An excellent way of hiding all your cables. Also don't forget that an extra set of connectors on the faceplate will degrade the signal anyway due to the extra breaks in the cable.

As rob said, it is down to what you use it with. This is using it with commercial grade Theater PA amps. On home systems spending 5% of your total budget on decent cable would be a good comprimise.

If you do go the way of mains flex, I would strongly recomend you avoid solid core as it will sound nasty, esp if you use good cable for the fronts, as it iwll be more obvious. Additionally be careful where you fun the cables as if you put it to close to the mains cables you can get a really nasty 50Hz hum :(

EDIT Oh and the silver aniversary is a nice cable, but as said not flexible and also quite bright on the sound.

We'll be chopping chunks out of the plaster/brickwork to run pipes for central heating so I may stick some conduit in there with a string to pull wires through. That way I could choose/change my wires at a later date if required

Hope the neighbours like the noise of hammer and chisel !

Hire an SDS drill... cheap and much much quicker

Hire an SDS drill... cheap and much much quicker

Whats an SDS drill ? Like a kango ?

being SDS makes no difference phil, SDS is just a different method of attaching the drill bit to the drill itself. what makes a difference though is using a percussion drill as oppose to a traditional hammer drill