How to wire speakers

Discussion in 'Receivers and amplifiers' started by phillyjak, Oct 14, 2011.

  1. phillyjak

    phillyjak Member

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    I'M LOOKING TO BUY NILE CM730SI SPEAKERS (TWO) TO BE USED IN THE SAME ROOM (13'X 25') THESES WILL BE USE MAINLY FOR BACKGROUND MUSIC NOT FOR SURROUND SYSTEM FOR TV.MY QUESTION IS HOW WOULD GO ABOUT CONNECTING THESE TO MY RECEIVER. DO I USE TWO OR FOUR CONDUCTOR WIRE AND HOW WOULD I RUN THEM ? DO I JUMP FROM ONE SPEAKER TO THE OTHER AND THEN TO THE RECEIVER ? I DO NOT KNOW .NEW TO THIS . MY RECEIVER IS AN ONKYO SR 503 .ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED .SORRY ABOUT CAPS BUTTON IS STUCK NEED NEW BOARD.
    THANK YOU
    PJ
     
  2. scorpNZ

    scorpNZ Active member

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    If you want stereo output wiring is in parallel so separate wires for each speaker then - & + of one pair to left channel & same again for the right.The wiring is over to you if the speakers are close enough you could use 4 conductor other wise it's two if they are far apart,as for the type of wiring & whether you should use expensive type my attitude to that is do a web search as for me i use ordinary car speaker wire that's more than 20 years old works fine sounds great the only concern is distance in which case you may need thicker wire etc

    jumping from one speaker to the next using only one pair of wires to connect to receiver will give mono output
     
  3. cactikid

    cactikid Active member

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    dont skimp on cable as it may damage amp,onkyo are great amps providing you use the proper cable and speakers,use speaker plugs on rear and twin cable for each speaker i would go that way.
     
  4. ps355528

    ps355528 Active member

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    you can cheat with solid state amps by running a 3 wire system.. but it usually sounds crap with phasing problems.

    take the 2 - (black) terminals and connect a wire to them and run that to BOTH - (black) speaker terminals (they are usually just bolted to ground at the amp anyway) then run one wire from each + (red or white) speaker terminal to the corresponding terminal on each speaker individually ..and everybody will now point out that the - (black) wire needs to be capable of handling TWICE the current of the red wires !! Only really a trick worth thinking about when cable runs might be very long or using a multi cable arrangement say for stage monitors or large flying stacks. (where we used to use the scaffolding and rigging as the - (ground) returns for everything)

    for best sound on a budget 10A twin core (like lawnmower or vacuum cleaner) flex is the dogs.. cheap and easy to get.. make sure the cables are the same length to each speaker.. don't have one 3 foot and the other 40 foot.. and don't coil the excess up into nice neat coils.. it gets hot if you really wind up the power (apart from adding inductance which a pro can hear)!!
     
  5. Mez

    Mez Active member

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    I would use regular building wire like 15 AMP Romex. That will keep you within the electrical code where ever you live. That will be overkill you probably need less than 5 AMP for a 100 watt speaker but they don't make it and I bet it would not make code. You can buy that for less than $20 for 25 ft. You want to put it in and forget it.
     

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