christ1

I was just hooking up a second zone in my house, and using the speaker wire that was already there (I only bought the house at the end of June), when I realized the speaker wire was corroded. The wire is old/cheap enough to be corroded along the whole length. The green tilt was the first clue, and the relative brittleness of the plastic insulation the second, but when I cut the wire in half and stripped it some of the strands were green. The house is only 25 years old. I would not have expected the whole of (even cheap) wire to corrode that much. Hopefully the electrical wire is not in the same condition. Has anyone seen this, out of curiosity?

The problem is the wire seems to be spackled into the drywall, so I cannot pull it through.

The wire can/will corrode over time and will increase the resistance. But the copper wire itself is not changing resistance. It is the corroded oxide layer that forms on the copper surface which has a higher resistance resulting in the overall measured resistance to increase. With regard to speaker wire, you can cut off a small section and re-strip the wire to reveal uncorroded wire. With all that said, the amount of resistance change in speaker wire applications is generally going to be negligible.

I just bought my house and there is existing speaker wire in the walls. The problem is there are a couple long runs but only 16-gauge wire was used and I would like to upgrade to 14 or 12 gauge wire, but I do not care enough to change the wire that is in the wall. I can pretty easily change relatively large sections of the run without tearing into the drywall, but that would create a cable that changed gauge as it went to the speaker (i.e. 16 to 14 to 16 gauge). I can solder the different gauge wires together for a proper connection. Would the changing gauges of the wire cause any problems? My guess is 'no' but I just want to make sure. Thanks.

Ok, so I will not be crawing on the floor-which is good. Even along the wall it want to put it, I have less places that I can put it than I implied. The middle third of the wall is exposed brick with a pellet stove. There is also an central air vent I cannot cover and the back corner has a half width bookshelf angled in the corner. I also have a vaulted ceiling (from 12' to 9' from front to back). The 8' you refer to, is that the height of the ceiling you assumed I have? So I do not want the distance from the wall to equal the ceiling height and to equal the distance to the opposite wall, correct? That would create standing waves, right? Also, the brick, bookshelf in the corner and vaulted ceilings will help to break up any standing waves or other unwanted effects, correct? Right now I have the sub in the corner formed by the wall and the exposed brick the same distance back as the couch which is the main listening area. At this location the distance from the sub to the back wall (which is the corner with the bookcase) is less than the celing height and less than the distance to the opposite wall. The last thing is that I cannot turn the base up too much (using the dial on the sub) before I start getting an "echo" coming from the sub when men with deep voices are talking (it happened with the local newscaster). I guess the lowest voice frequencies get sent to the sub resulting in an "echo" effect. It seems to happen only with deep-voiced males but I like this bass level with everything else. Is this created by the position of the sub? The sub is only a few feet from the listening position, so would moving farther away help (i.e. closer to the front speakers)? Changing crossover frequencies on the front speaker did not change anything. Of course, lowering the sub volume will get rid of it, but then everything else seems like it could use a bit more bass. Or are deep-voiced males a challenge for any system. Hopefully this is understandable and I did not just ramble on.

I have a Paradigm PW-2200 sub that I am going to place somewhere along one wall to find out what the best location along that wall (the right side wall). Thus, I plan on putting the sub at the couch and listening for the location of loudest, cleanest bass. But I have some questions on the details of this procedure. Can I just put the sub on the couch, where I sit, or should it be on a table in front of the couch? And what sound should I pump through the bass for listening? Should it be the "white noise" my receiver will output for calibrating the speaker noise levels? Or should it be a bass heavy movie scene or music? Also, should only the bass be outputting sound, i.e. the other speakers should be disconnected? Finally, should the volume output by the bass be higher or the similar to the normal listening volume? Another thing-when I am listening along the floor, isn't the bass inherently going to increase in volume as I move closer to the sub (just like any other speaker), so that the loudest bass will always come from a spot closer to the sub? In most cases the sub is placed next to or near the front speakers, but in my case that will be the farthest area from my couch, and will not be the loudest location. Thanks.

Thanks a lot for doing that, Scrappy. Oh well, too bad...

That would be very nice of you.

Does anyone know if the RS-62II speaker grills will fit on the RS-62 speakers? I like the rounded grills better than the "v" shaped ones. Thanks.

I am relatively new to advanced home theater audio, or I have never really bought speakers with any thought to the room they were going in. So I have a basic question-can a speaker and receiver combination be chosen such that they are too big for the room? If I hook up say a RF-7 as the left and a RF-42 as the right speaker to my receiver, will the volumes be approximately the same from both speakers? Or will the more powerful RF-7 be louder? I would think they would have the same volume because the receiver would be outputting the same power to both speakers-the receiver does not know what the characteristics are of the speaker that it is hooked up to. And that would mean the main difference between any 75W and 250W speaker is the latter can get much louder (when in the same room) because the power is proportional to the volume (obviously there could be other quality differences too). Thus does each speaker have a power range that it sounds best when within? If the room is too small the volume dial would be turned down (thus lowering the power to the speaker) to be at a comfortable sound level, but then you might not be in an optimum range. My guess is the dB as a function of frequency curve changes as the power to the speaker changes, so that turning down the receiver volume may result in the lower frequencies not being heard, for example. Is any of this true? Do you get to the point when a more powerful speaker and receiver combination for your particular room is just a waste of money because at normal listening levels the cheaper (less powerful) speaker and receiver could easily handle the task and might be a detriment if certain frequencies cannot be heard if the receiver volume is turned too low. As an added complication, I believe I read that if the receiver volume is lowered too much the receiver will stop sending certain frequencies to the speakers altogether. I have not mentioned anything about distortion but I have a hunch that is a large part of the answer. Hopefully it at least makes sense what i am trying to get at. Thanks.

Thanks, but that seems like a ridiculous price for what it is doing-more than I spent on the speakers. But thanks for the link. Any other wall mounts that might work (and which uses the bracket on the speaker)?

I have a couple RB-15 speakers I am going to put in my billiards room for playing music. I want to mount them in the corners of the room and basically fill the room with the music. This seems like a dumb question, but what type of wall mounts will work with the RB-15? The mounting bracket on the back of the speaker has a cylinder that sticks out with a (tapped?) hole in it. The RB-15 is rear ported so they should not be right up against the wall, correct? Any links to suitable wall mounts would be appreciated. Or would just a corner shelf be the best? Thanks.

I should be buying the cherry 2200 this weekend. Thanks for doing your search.

I have already talked to the guy selling the cherry PW-2200 for $300. I have also talked to someone selling their essentially new Klipsch SW-112 for $300, and I am watching a Velodyne HGS-12 on eBay right now. The HGS-12 was manufactured in Dec. 2008 and it was just checked out by Velodyne and confirmed to be in good shape. Out of those 3, what is your opinion (or what you have heard from others) as to which is the best sub or best deal, assuming the Velodyne stays within what I want to pay (eventhough my guess it that it will not)? Thanks a lot for your help.

Thanks. I am looking into them. Does the sound of quality subs (or speakers for that matter) degrade over time, even if they are well taken care of? My guess is not (much) because some people seem to still listen to their decades old Klipsch speakers. But as an engineer, I am familiar with material properties changing as the number of cycles increases, so I would be surprised if there were not some changes. Even if the sound quality does not change perceptively, could they become more prone to failure? Is it better, if the sub is say a decade old, to get one with a higher rated RMS because it will be less prone to failure than a comparable lower rated RMS sub? Thanks.

I am in Bel Air, MD, a little north of Baltimore. My budget is probably $300. I am replacing my Infinity PS212 which just died. It was fine for my smaller living room in my old house, but now that I bought a home I want to upgrade. I am not looking for anything earth shaking, which I likely do not have the budget for, but something that can fill my 20'x20' living room with clean bass.

I have a pair of RB-15 speakers in my pool table room. I want to add a cheap used sub to get a little bass. I am not looking for anything room shaking-just a sub to add some lower frequencies to music. I am looking to spend less than $100 so shipping costs associated with eBay are limiting. I believe I read a comment on this forum where someone said adding a sub to stereo speakers is always benefitial. Is this generally true, even with some 20 year old Yamaha sub someone is getting rid of, for example? Are Polk subs, say the PSW10, a good choice? They are ovbiously pretty easy to find. Thanks.

Thanks. Are there better (used) subs for the money than the 112 (any brand)? My living room is 20'x20' with a ceiling that slopes from 12' in the front to 9' in the back. I will use it for HT more than music. I have RF-62s, RC-62, and S-1s (I am looking to upgrade those to reference series at some point). There is a local seller with a 112 going for $300. Is that a deal I should not pass up? BTW, not versed in the HT language I had to look up "WAF", lol.

What is the difference between these subs? The specs are almost exactly the same, with the 8" driver being more expensive. What justifies the $250 price difference? Is the SW-112 the better "bang for the buck"? Thanks.

I have an existing 5.1 setup with RF-62s, RC-62 and S-1s, and an Infinity sub. (I am starting to look to upgrade the surrounds.) I also have the satellite speakers from the original Promedia 5.1 computer speakers that Klipsch came out with more than a decade ago (link). Would using a couple of the Promedia satellites to make a 7.1 (in either the front or back) system be a good idea? The biggest issue is probably whether the satellites will be overdriven (or at the very least, produce a lot of distortion), but does much sound content get routed to either the left and right back or the left and right front high speakers? The regular surrounds are not driven as much as the front or center speakers. Does certain content (music vs movies) utilize the extra surrounds more than others? Has anyone tried this? If the Promedia satellites are not suitable, what would be good speakers (Quintets)? Even the current Quintets only handle 50 W. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

This might be a weird question, but I was repairing some holes in the drywall in my living room (from running speaker wire). Sanding the joint compound created a lot of dust and my RF-62 speakers happen to be in the same room and one, in particular, has a decent amount of dust on it. So my question is-should I take any special precaution when removing the dust that got in the rear-firing ports? I may be too anal but I just want to make sure. I do not want to damage any electronics or the woofers and tweeter. Obviously speakers sit for years in a single spot collecting dust but this is a relatively large amount accumulated quickly. Thanks.

I have some Klipsch wall mounts that were originally designed for the Promedia computer speakers. The part number of the mounts/brackets was WB-1, if I remember correctly, but it does not look like Klipsch sells them anymore. Here is a link to the wall mounts if you do not know what I am referring to: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Klipsch-Promedia-2-1-4-1-Speaker-WALL-MOUNTS-/110922612248?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item19d380be18 My question is-will these brackets work on any current and/or discontinued home audio speakers? The speaker size these mounts would hold would be an ideal size for turning my current 5.1 system into a 7.1 system. Thanks.