copper wires

[Enigmatical]

hey guys. so newbie to setting up a home theater. got my wires from monoprice and have energy classic 5.1 system. once i have stripped the black and red wires, and twisted the copper all in one direction, im having a tough time fitting all of it into the small holes in the back of the speakers. i get approx 60%-70% in, the rest is twisted and wrapped around the outside. is that ok? am i supposed to get 100% in? man, the wiring was definitely a lot harder than i thought! thanks in advance!

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

hey guys. so newbie to setting up a home theater. got my wires from monoprice and have energy classic 5.1 system. once i have stripped the black and red wires, and twisted the copper all in one direction, im having a tough time fitting all of it into the small holes in the back of the speakers. i get approx 60%-70% in, the rest is twisted and wrapped around the outside. is that ok? am i supposed to get 100% in? man, the wiring was definitely a lot harder than i thought! thanks in advance!

Have you thought of getting Banana plugs for the end of the wire .
Also what size wire did you get ?

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

hey guys. so newbie to setting up a home theater. got my wires from monoprice and have energy classic 5.1 system. once i have stripped the black and red wires, and twisted the copper all in one direction, im having a tough time fitting all of it into the small holes in the back of the speakers. i get approx 60%-70% in, the rest is twisted and wrapped around the outside. is that ok? am i supposed to get 100% in? man, the wiring was definitely a lot harder than i thought! thanks in advance!

Your best bet may be to get banana plugs. It will make things a lot easier.

In regards to your question, you do not need to get them all in, but you do want to make sure any stray wires are trimmed and not touching any other wires or connectors. This could short out your speakers or receiver and that could be a bad thing.

[solarrdadd]

no it's not ok, hear of a little electrical fault called a "short circuit" or a "ground fault" well your asking for it; depending on your receiver/amp you might damage it seriously too. it appears that the wire size you are using is too large for the binding post/terminals on the speakers. buy yourself some wire terminals to match your speaker terminals they make straight, spade (don't get me started on that term!) or my favorite banana. when properly done these connectors, protect the wire, safegard against wiring faults and help make for simple, easy connections to your speakers and your receiver/amp. the leason you have learned (we hope) is to buy a small piece of the wire say 1' take it home and strip it to see if the bare wire will fit into the terminal first before buying a 50 or 100' roll and laying it all out then finding out it won't fit! in most cases, not all but most, #14awg is more than enough. I don't know what size (awg) wire your using but like i said, it's too big, from what you say. when/if you do buy the wire terminations i mentioned, do the same thing, make sure that the terminals will be able to accept the wire size that you have, i.e. if you have #12awg then make sure the terminals you get state for wire sizes 16awg - 12awg (or something like that) this way you are sure your conductor will be properly engaged into the connector. also, determine what kind of connector your speaker will accept as not all of the three are accepted by all brand of speaker. do your homework first and in most cases you won't have any problems. when done properly you will end up with 100% of the conductor being utilized as intended and better contact, lower resistance and better sound quality and flow from point to point!

best of luck, keep us posted.

[solarrdadd]

WoW, Lou, Crazy, looks like we are taking the early shift here at the forum! Hope you guys are having a good holiday weekend. I heard some good things about Emo fest, hope they get some good pictures up on the site real soon. Oh yeah, lets go UMC-1 (or if you need the XLR's (Lou)) then lets' go XMC-1

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

WoW, Lou, Crazy, looks like we are taking the early shift here at the forum! Hope you guys are having a good holiday weekend. I heard some good things about Emo fest, hope they get some good pictures up on the site real soon. Oh yeah, lets go UMC-1 (or if you need the XLR's (Lou)) then lets' go XMC-1

Hey solarrdadd , Here is A link to pics someone put up last night ~
http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o...009/?start=all

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

Hey solarrdadd , Here is A link to pics someone put up last night ~
http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o...009/?start=all

cool, so you went, how was it? did you get to see the UMC-1? i'm still hearing that they won't commit to a date for it, but, they have commited to the XMC-1 for late Jan'10

what did you think of their line of cables and such? it looked like a good time.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

cool, so you went, how was it? did you get to see the UMC-1? i'm still hearing that they won't commit to a date for it, but, they have commited to the XMC-1 for late Jan'10

what did you think of their line of cables and such? it looked like a good time.

I wish , it was over 2,000 miles away from me I did not go but A couple of people did ! That link was something someone posted 0n the forums at EMO.com .. There are some pics Here too ~ https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1124

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

hey guys. so newbie to setting up a home theater. got my wires from monoprice and have energy classic 5.1 system. once i have stripped the black and red wires, and twisted the copper all in one direction, im having a tough time fitting all of it into the small holes in the back of the speakers. i get approx 60%-70% in, the rest is twisted and wrapped around the outside. is that ok? am i supposed to get 100% in? man, the wiring was definitely a lot harder than i thought! thanks in advance!

These are Banana Plugs ~
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...t=1#largeimage


This is how you use them , they just plug into the binding post !

[solarrdadd]

hey crazy, i'm surprised and a bit dissapointed that there are no pictures or post about the fest at either the emo site or at the emo lounge site. you'd think in this day and age of digital technology that there would have been hundreds of pictures up by now, but NO!

Oh yes, to keep the post correct, crazy has put up some pictures of banana plugs!

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

hey crazy, i'm surprised and a bit dissapointed that there are no pictures or post about the fest at either the emo site or at the emo lounge site. you'd think in this day and age of digital technology that there would have been hundreds of pictures up by now, but NO!

Oh yes, to keep the post correct, crazy has put up some pictures of banana plugs!

I agree about having pics all over But it is A holiday , Probably tomorrow they will throw them up !

[Enigmatical]

hey guys, thanks a lot for your help! so, i am running 12 awg wires, a friend recommended these because of quality, but i am not running wires over 15 feet. so i am ordering 16 awg wires, my speakers are 8 ohms and i guess that will work just fine in terms of quality. the copper wires are far enough behind the speakers that they will no touch.

i do have banana plugs, however, when i tried to use them for the AVR, the wires would fall out of the back of the plugs. it would not tighten it at the base at all. i guess i will have to use electrical tape. is that the case with most people and plugs? i put the base over the wire first then tightened the top part on next. the next AM, one of the wires had fallen out the back of the plug. will that happen with 16 awg also?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

hey guys, thanks a lot for your help! so, i am running 12 awg wires, a friend recommended these because of quality, but i am not running wires over 15 feet. so i am ordering 16 awg wires, my speakers are 8 ohms and i guess that will work just fine in terms of quality. the copper wires are far enough behind the speakers that they will no touch.

i do have banana plugs, however, when i tried to use them for the AVR, the wires would fall out of the back of the plugs. it would not tighten it at the base at all. i guess i will have to use electrical tape. is that the case with most people and plugs? i put the base over the wire first then tightened the top part on next. the next AM, one of the wires had fallen out the back of the plug. will that happen with 16 awg also?

Use screw type banana plugs.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[Enigmatical]

so i went ahead and ordered the 16 awg wire roll from monoprice as the 14 awg were not in stock
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

The farthest my energy classic speakers sit from receiver are 12-15 ft. Based on the chart from the link below, there should be no audible difference btw 16 and 12 awg, is that right? I guess to the untrained ear there isnt. Just wondering if you guys have had experience with this! Thanks

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

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

so i went ahead and ordered the 16 awg wire roll from monoprice as the 14 awg were not in stock
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

The farthest my energy classic speakers sit from receiver are 12-15 ft. Based on the chart from the link below, there should be no audible difference btw 16 and 12 awg, is that right? I guess to the untrained ear there isnt. Just wondering if you guys have had experience with this! Thanks

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

16AWG would be okay for you. However, I would have used 12AWG with screw type banana plugs. Since you have 16AWG, I expect, it is okay and unlikely you would hear any difference for those cable lengths.

[Enigmatical]

hey syncguy, that is what i have set up right now (12 awg). for some reason, the banana plugs i have from monoprice dont hold the wire at the base. i was going to use electrical tape and keep it in place. the issue was at the back of the speakers. i wasnt smart and ordered 50 ft of 12 awg before making sure it would fit in my speakers and as i mentioned earlier in the thread, i am getting clumping around the entry sites because the wire is too thick. the black and red are approx one inch apart and no where close to touching each other, but previous members on this post have mentioned you dont want this to happen AT ALL. that is why i am re-wiring with 16 awg. i would be ok with leaving this in place as is, and just using electrical tape in the back, is this feasible? the copper in the back of the speakers are no where close to touching.

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

hey syncguy, that is what i have set up right now (12 awg). for some reason, the banana plugs i have from monoprice dont hold the wire at the base. i was going to use electrical tape and keep it in place. the issue was at the back of the speakers. i wasnt smart and ordered 50 ft of 12 awg before making sure it would fit in my speakers and as i mentioned earlier in the thread, i am getting clumping around the entry sites because the wire is too thick. the black and red are approx one inch apart and no where close to touching each other, but previous members on this post have mentioned you dont want this to happen AT ALL. that is why i am re-wiring with 16 awg. i would be ok with leaving this in place as is, and just using electrical tape in the back, is this feasible? the copper in the back of the speakers are no where close to touching.

So, why don't you look for different connectors. You can get Banana Plugs, Spades, or Pins. These come in screw, crimp, or solder types.

I'm not sure exactly why you are having troubles with the Monoprice ones, but I have had luck with both Radio Shack and Monster (don't flame me) banana plugs.

[Enigmatical]

alright guys, so i thought it would be easier if i just showed some pics. the first 3 pics are of the speaker which looks the worst in terms of the copper not going through completely. the other 4 look better than this. as you can see, the red and black are pretty far from each other and in no danger of touching, again 12 awg wires. the last pic is the one of the AVR, and there too, the copper looks fine, however done w/o banana plugs because the ones i ordered from monoprice, not the screw side ones, but the screw in from the bottom ones, did not provide a tight base. so i guess my ?s are:
-i ordered 16 awg, should i just change all the wires because in the end any copper bunching up like that is not a good thing (based on the pics, or does it look ok)?
-i know i could re-order more banana plugs, but is it ok to use the ones i have and use electrical tape to keep wires in place in back of AVR?
-finally, given the distances, 12-15 ft max from AVR, there should be no discernible difference btw 12 and 16 awg sound, correct?

Thanks again guys, really appreciate the help!!!

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by ksohal112

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/Users/Shared/iPhoto Library/Originals/2009/Sep 10, 2009/IMG_4087.JPG
/Users/Shared/iPhoto Library/Originals/2009/Sep 10, 2009/IMG_4089.JPG

alright guys, so i thought it would be easier if i just showed some pics. the first 3 pics are of the speaker which looks the worst in terms of the copper not going through completely. the other 4 look better than this. as you can see, the red and black are pretty far from each other and in no danger of touching, again 12 awg wires. the last pic is the one of the AVR, and there too, the copper looks fine, however done w/o banana plugs because the ones i ordered from monoprice, not the screw side ones, but the screw in from the bottom ones, did not provide a tight base. so i guess my ?s are:
-i ordered 16 awg, should i just change all the wires because in the end any copper bunching up like that is not a good thing (based on the pics, or does it look ok)?
-i know i could re-order more banana plugs, but is it ok to use the ones i have and use electrical tape to keep wires in place in back of AVR?
-finally, given the distances, 12-15 ft max from AVR, there should be no discernible difference btw 12 and 16 awg sound, correct?

Thanks again guys, really appreciate the help!!!

No pics there ! Do you use photobucket !

[Enigmatical]

SORRY! damn mac. now pics are up!