Speak Wire Outlets in the Wall-Yay or Ney???

[Blu-Benny]

Hello everyone. I tried searching a few different ways and didn’t come up with anything. I’m in the planning stages of fixing up my basement and am looking for some advice from anyone that might have a little insight.

Speaker wire outlets. Are there any pro’s or con’s of running your speaker wire in the wall to a jack and then connecting your speak to the jack?? I hope you know what I’m talking about. Kind of along the same lines as a power outlet.

I worked at Best Buy for 6 years but that was when I was a teenager. I always thought it better to run a wire directly from your receiver to the speaker and avoid any interruptions.

I’m looking to keep everything clean looking and want to avoid zip tying wires together behind my equipment.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

[moviefan]

Go to:
http://www.av-outlet.com
They have everything you need.
The fewer connections the better, but I don't think you lose anythibg with wall plates.
I too have a thing for the uncluttered look.

[Johnny Vinyl]

The best is always to use a direct link from your receiver to your speakers and I'm not a proponant of in-wall speaker cabling. It may look clean and maybe to obtain the cleanest possible look it worthy of consideration.

But here's the problem (which may not be a problem after all..lol). Will you be able to easily fish-out the in-wall speaker wire if and/or when you change to a better quality wire? If this can't be done and there is a likelyhood of you upgrading speakerwire down the road, then don't do it.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by John72953

The best is always to use a direct link from your receiver to your speakers and I'm not a proponant of in-wall speaker cabling. It may look clean and maybe to obtain the cleanest possible look it worthy of consideration.

But here's the problem (which may not be a problem after all..lol). Will you be able to easily fish-out the in-wall speaker wire if and/or when you change to a better quality wire? If this can't be done and there is a likelyhood of you upgrading speakerwire down the road, then don't do it.

the beauty of this whole thing, my basement is bare bones right now. we're talking the foundation walls are my walls right now. i want to put up a wall w/insulation & drywall inside of the foundation and would be running the speaker wire @ that time. i have the freedom to do what i want and this is one thing i'm kinda stuck on.

[Johnny Vinyl]

How big is the room going to be?

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by John72953

How big is the room going to be?

the side of the basement that is going to get finished is 15' x 30 ' i think. i'm gonna concentrate all of my home theater stuff to one side so i'd say 15' across left to right and then maybe the same front to back. the rest will be where the bar and poker table are gonna go. a suspended ceiling is going to be put in as well and i haven't decided on satelitte speakers or floors for the surrounds.

i want to try and narrow everything down 1st and then slowly buy everything as i go so when the time comes to put it all in, i'll have everything.

[Johnny Vinyl]

That's a good-sized room to be sure.

Are you planning on placing your componants into the wall? Or are you planning a more traditional approach (stand, blah, blah, blah)?

Cause if your system is a built-in, then I would consider placing a wall about 3-4' from one of the foundation walls, so you could have access to all of your componants.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by John72953

That's a good-sized room to be sure.

Are you planning on placing your componants into the wall? Or are you planning a more traditional approach (stand, blah, blah, blah)?

Cause if your system is a built-in, then I would consider placing a wall about 3-4' from one of the foundation walls, so you could have access to all of your componants.

i'm gonna put the walls up against the foundation and put insulation inbetween the studs. i'm gonna pick up another LCD (1080p this time!!) and mount that to the wall. i'm gonna find a nice stand to put all of my components on to sit under the tv. nothing will go into the wall except my movie cabinets, but that is in another part of the basement that's gonna be finished.

[Johnny Vinyl]

OK.....so based on what you told me, this is what I would do, if you still have your heart set on running the wiring inside the walls.

Get the best possible quality cabling you can afford. Something that you know you can live with for years to come, cause re-running new cable is gonna be a *****!

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by John72953

OK.....so based on what you told me, this is what I would do, if you still have your heart set on running the wiring inside the walls.

Get the best possible quality cabling you can afford. Something that you know you can live with for years to come, cause re-running new cable is gonna be a *****!

i'm pretty sure i'm gonna pick up some Monster Cable from Best Buy. again, i worked there for 6 years or so in home theater. when it was slow, i would put all of kinds of demo's together to make more sales (i was awesome by the way!!).

one i put together was w/a set of $1500 JBL floor speakers. i hooked up 2 w/standard wire that looked like lamp cord and then hooked up 2 w/the Monster Cable. the difference was phenominal!!! and it was only 12 gauge. everything was so much better, the highs were ear piercing, the lows shook the make shift wall.

some may disagree w/me on this but i've heard it 1st hand and i know what it is capable of. plus, they've got a pretty heavy duty gauge on a spool, or at least they did when i worked there.

plus, i'll probably hook everything up and give it all a test run before i "finish" anything off.

[plowmanjoe]

everything that i've read suggests that monster cables are a rip off. depending on what speakers you'll get i think you should just get some inwall speaker cable from monoprice.com. http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10239

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

everything that i've read suggests that monster cables are a rip off. depending on what speakers you'll get i think you should just get some inwall speaker cable from monoprice.com. http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10239

i'll take this into consideration. i also have an uncle that works for an audio store in town and he does home installs. i'll see what he uses. i dissected all 3 types of cables that Best Buy carried when i worked there. from what i could see, they were all made up of the same insides, the monster cable did have a lot more of the copper and wrapping inside though. from what i could find online, it made for less audio being lost between your source and speakers.

kinda the same idea as a straw in a milkshake. the bigger the straw, the more shake that will make it through.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

i hooked up 2 w/standard wire that looked like lamp cord and then hooked up 2 w/the Monster Cable. the difference was phenominal!!! and it was only 12 gauge. everything was so much better, the highs were ear piercing, the lows shook the make shift wall.

some may disagree w/me on this but i've heard it 1st hand and i know what it is capable of.

Were the wires of the same gauge? Was the comparison properly level-matched? There's no valid reason why Monster cable of the same gauge should sound any better than other similar (and almost certainly less expensive) products.

[Blu-Benny]

both were 12 gauge wire. i did the same w/audio cables, component cables, optical cables, and s-video cables. this was all back before the day of HDMI & what-not.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

both were 12 gauge wire. i did the same w/audio cables, component cables, optical cables, and s-video cables. this was all back before the day of HDMI & what-not.

So, how did you level match for the comparison? Was it an ABX test?

It's your money and you may spend it any way you wish, but spending it on Monster cable in the belief that Monster is superior is not prudent.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by RUR

So, how did you level match for the comparison? Was it an ABX test?

It's your money and you may spend it any way you wish, but spending it on Monster cable in the belief that Monster is superior is not prudent.

what??

i was 17 or 18 when i did this. i hooked up 2 pair of JBL studio floor speakers, $1500 a pair, to an hdtv, dvd player, and yamaha receiver. i used the left over 12 gauge wire from monster we had from a display we set up and then used some 12 gauge wire that came with a home theater in a box.

1 set was set up on channel A and the other on channel B. both channels were getting 100-150 watts if i remember correctly. the sound was much crisper and much cleaner on both movies and music.

the thicker cable didn't have an echo sound to it if you can image that. i used this to sell cables for almost a year before it had to be taken down, customers would listen to the 2 sets and wouldn't bat an eye lash @ the price difference after hearing them. again, that's my own personal experience.

if it's feasible, go out and try it. buy the smallest spool of cable you can and hook up 1 front to the stuff that is supplied right out of the box (if any) and hook a "better" cable to the other. i noticed a difference, others may not.

it's my opinion that it's not only the equipment you have but also the cables you use. why spend $400 on a blu-ray player and use the cables it comes with??? doesn't make sense in my opinion.

[plowmanjoe]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

what??

i was 17 or 18 when i did this. i hooked up 2 pair of JBL studio floor speakers, $1500 a pair, to an hdtv, dvd player, and yamaha receiver. i used the left over 12 gauge wire from monster we had from a display we set up and then used some 12 gauge wire that came with a home theater in a box.

1 set was set up on channel A and the other on channel B. both channels were getting 100-150 watts if i remember correctly. the sound was much crisper and much cleaner on both movies and music.

the thicker cable didn't have an echo sound to it if you can image that. i used this to sell cables for almost a year before it had to be taken down, customers would listen to the 2 sets and wouldn't bat an eye lash @ the price difference after hearing them. again, that's my own personal experience.

if it's feasible, go out and try it. buy the smallest spool of cable you can and hook up 1 front to the stuff that is supplied right out of the box (if any) and hook a "better" cable to the other. i noticed a difference, others may not.

it's my opinion that it's not only the equipment you have but also the cables you use. why spend $400 on a blu-ray player and use the cables it comes with??? doesn't make sense in my opinion.

the thicker cable didn't have an echo sound? so the monster cable was thicker? i can't imagine a htib having 12 gauge wire come with it.

does it make sense to spend more money than you have to on cables?

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

the thicker cable didn't have an echo sound? so the monster cable was thicker? i can't imagine a htib having 12 gauge wire come with it.

does it make sense to spend more money than you have to on cables?

if it's gonna give you better quality, why not??

i'm not trying to argue. i'm not a salesman anymore nor would i want to be, god i hated that place.

i've heard this w/my own ears. the sound was better w/the "better quality" cable.

now, i'm not saying Monster is the best, the only reason i still use the monster i currently have is b/c they had an employee deal through monster where i got it for 60% off.

but, if faced w/the choice between a cable i can strip the coating off w/my teeth (what kind of quality is that??) vs. a cable that has a little more to it, i'll choose the more expensive one everytime.

[plowmanjoe]

a quality cable isn't determined by the price tag. i highly doubt the wire you used to compare to the monster was even close to the same gauge. the 60% off you got with monster really says a lot about monster. that means there's a mark up of at LEAST 60%.

you really need to check out some monoprice cables. for everything, not just speaker cable but hdmi as well.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

a quality cable isn't determined by the price tag. i highly doubt the wire you used to compare to the monster was even close to the same gauge. the 60% off you got with monster really says a lot about monster. that means there's a mark up of at LEAST 60%.

you really need to check out some monoprice cables. for everything, not just speaker cable but hdmi as well.

i definately agree, monster may not be the best but it is what i had access to @ the time.

but i still say that a better quality cable will go a long way w/the quality of the sound and picture you get from your equipment.

as far as the mark up, you'd be surprised at much much a lot of home theater equipment is marked up. when i worked there, speakers were basically 2 for 1, cables, 50-60% off, hdtv's, anywhere from $1000 to $2500!!! depending on the size and manufacturer.

and yes the wire was the same gauge. i set this up w/my sup. @ the time and he'd been doing this stuff for 10 years before i was. he knew his stuff.