What speaker wires do I need with my Onkyo605?

[Phatferd]

I really am ignorant when it comes to audio, so please forgive me. I am going to buy the 605, and some cheap Polk speakers to get me buy for a little while. What speaker wire will I need? I see that some have actual jacks or plugs on the end and some are just the wire.

Which one does the Onkyo support?

[BStecke]

Either will work, but I found that my investment in the banana plugs was well worth it to skip the hassle of dealing with the bare wire. That way you can just plug the wires into the binding posts without having to unscrew them, stick the wire in, then tighten them down. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but doing five of them in the typically limited finger space gets old fast.

[Phatferd]

Will a cheap set of Polk speakers have the inputs for these wires?

[BStecke]

Hmm . . . they may . . . the 605 definitely will, so worst case you'll save yourself some time on the receiver end (which is usually the bigger hassle). Do you have a model number for the speakers?

[Phatferd]

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Channel-Theater-Titanium/dp/B0002WTK52/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1203237314&sr=1-3

Thanks for your help!

Would you recommend those speakers or this set of onkyo 7.1
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-SKS-HT540-Surround-Speaker-System/dp/B000GU78Z4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1203237378&sr=1-2

I know both are cheap sets, but I have a small budget. The 7.1 are like $25 bucks more than the 5.1 Polk.

[BStecke]

Both of those use the spring clip connectors, not the banana plugs. I haven't heard Onkyo speakers, so I can't offer much for a recommendation. My gut would be go with the Polks, as Polk is a speaker company, whereas Onkyo is more of a receiver/component company. Maybe someone else can give you more input on Onkyo speakers, though.

[Phatferd]

Thanks!

So the Onkyo 605 has 6 locations for the spring clip connectors? When I look at a back picture of it, I only see 2, so I'm just curious.

[BStecke]

Sorry . . . the 605 will take the banana plugs. The speakers themselves do not.

[Phatferd]

Is it just as simple as buying speaker wire with the banana plugs and cutting one end off for the speakers?

I'm sorry for the stupid questions, but this is going to be my first home theater setup. I've never had a receiver before.

Could you possibly link me to some inexpensive wires that will work for my setup?

Thanks again man, I really do appreciate your help.

[BStecke]

It's all good. Usually when you buy speaker wire it doesn't come with the banana plugs . . . it's typically just a spool of wire. So you take one end, strip the wire and attach the banana plug, then just plug that into the jacks in the back of the receiver. For the speaker end, strip the wire and put it into the connector on the speaker.

A lot of people buy wire/cables from Monoprice . . . here's a link to their speaker wire. In case you don't know, the smaller the number for the gauge, the thicker the wire. For what you're doing, a 16 or 14 gauge wire would be sufficient. If you're running them a considerable distance (probably longer than 50 feet) you may want to get something a little thicker . . . anything more than 12 gauge is definite overkill, and even that is probably unnecessary.

They also sell banana plugs as well. They're the first item on this page.

I forget how much Best Buy charges for their speaker wire, it may be pretty close to Monoprice. The banana plugs are definitely cheaper than Best Buy's though.