Doozer Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Just curious... My RS-42 surrounds should be here in a couple days. I have a spool of 14g speaker wire.. Should that be enough or should I go 12g? And when running the wire, is it ok to run both speaker runs together laying on eachother? It looks like I may have to run the wires for both speakers out to one side of the room along the wall to the first speaker, than to the back wall, (6ft) acroos the back wall about 15 ft to where the other surround speaker will be. I am assuming I should keep the wire runs the same length, even thought the second will be almost twice as far in distance...?? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Factors that determine speaker wire size are current flow, which we know from your speaker/Amp type and length of the wire. If your length of run is less than 50 feet 14 Gauge should be fine. See link from Adcom pick a GFA-545 http://www.adcom.com/manuals.aspx Try to keep the wires the same length not a biggie if they are different as long as the same guage is used. Keeping them apart, couple of inches, is better so that EMF from one channel does not distort the other but in lots of good installations they are close together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 1, 2010 Moderators Share Posted February 1, 2010 Keeping them apart, couple of inches, is better so that EMF from one channel does not distort the other That is the first I have ever heard of that. I have always been taught that you just don't want to cross signal with power. I've never thought twice about running speaker wire next to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Check out this link and think about how an electric motor works. AC Power cords running next to your interconnects are bigger offenders, try to keep those isolated from the rest of your lines -- If cords have to run side by side try to keep like cords by like cords: Interconnects by interconnects, speaker wires by other speaker wires, power cords by power cords etc. I used to work in a factory that used a Dielectric Welding process to join two thin sheets of plastic, they would keep a loose flourescent bulb on top the machine, if the bulb would "light" a few seconds during the machine cycle, they would know a significant amount of current flowed through the machine and the part probably had a good weld. No light called for an inspection. Optical connections do not have high bit rates but are unaffected by EMI and do not affect other lines or each other. If the lines have to cross close together try and make the crossing perpendicular to minimize the affect. Keeping this in mind when running your lines can reduce or remove hum and improve the clarity of the sound. Don forget this on internal speaker wires also, I have improved the sound of speakers by routing the wires away from each other but more importantely the cross-over and magnets. Cross-overs that have wound wiring that can really generate bad things. See ALK website on building Unversal networks. Current in speaker wires generates a Magnetic field, so wraping extra cord around the throat of a horn or around the magnet itself is not recommended. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_field Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Running surround wire side by side would most likely not create a noticable issue to most people. One channel is on the other is off a lot, they are not used alot, volumes/power levels are low when they are used etc. but for the same reason as power cords you would try to avoid running them next to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I run speaker wires next to each other all the times. If you have to run speaker wires (or interconnects) next to power cables, make sure that they are placed 90 degree from each other. That is the first I have ever heard of that. I have always been taught that you just don't want to cross signal with power. I've never thought twice about running speaker wire next to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Agree, I have run lots of speaker wires side by each and never had a problem. While in theory, the EMF does induce a magnetic field around the wire, to my ears anyway, the amount of cross contamination between speaker wires is for all practical reasons, non existant. But on paper anyway, the transformer effect is true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 2, 2010 Moderators Share Posted February 2, 2010 If you have to run speaker wires (or interconnects) next to power cables, make sure that they are placed 90 degree from each other. Yes, I had heard that as well. You want the least amount of contact with power and signal as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 you can also use a twisted wire to prevent any emi/rfi interference. since the wire runs are long, if any emi/rfi do get it, it's too long of a travel to make any issues. also the power level is very low along with the freq. so u will most likely (99.997%) not have a problem with your rear surrounds. keeping wire runs at equal length only really matter if you have 1 wire run of 2' and the other 100'. as long as it's close you should never have any issues. if you like you can change the setting on the receiver by .5' and see if it sounds better (when it comes to the effects). i have 4 of those speakers as surrounds and i love them! just putting in my 2cents. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nezff Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 i had 12 running to mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 If you have to run speaker wires (or interconnects) next to power cables, make sure that they are placed 90 degree from each other. Yes, I had heard that as well. You want the least amount of contact with power and signal as possible. what about at the back of the receiver or pre/pro - there are that many speaker wires and power cables back there and i dont think mine are 90 degrees from each other, if they are it would be by a miracle.. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 4, 2010 Moderators Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yes, the back of the receiver would be the same thing. You want to try and route as best you can power away from signal. IMO, as long as you have that, you will be fine. It would be almost impossible to totally keep every wire away from each other. Not very practical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 ok - i'll check it out tonight.. better safe than sorry.. but im a bit scared to look behind there as who knows what i'll find back there.. although.. i might find an unchecked tattslotto ticket [ap] [ip] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I just bought 100 feet of 12AWG wire from monoprice and re-wired my entire system with it. I also replaced the wires going from the input terminals to my crosovers with it. I think I ended up with 5 feet left. My right surround speaker used at least 40 feet of the roll and I used to have 18AWG going to my surrounds. I figured I'd go with 12AWG all around just to be on the safe side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 My receiver is sitting below my line conditioner. You just have to place all of your interconnects and speaker cables 90 degree from the power cables. what about at the back of the receiver or pre/pro - there are that many speaker wires and power cables back there and i dont think mine are 90 degrees from each other, if they are it would be by a miracle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 My receiver is sitting below my line conditioner. You just have to place all of your interconnects and speaker cables 90 degree from the power cables. what about at the back of the receiver or pre/pro - there are that many speaker wires and power cables back there and i dont think mine are 90 degrees from each other, if they are it would be by a miracle. i'll check it out tonight, it doesnt sound too hard... so 90 degrees thats to the left or to the right... just kidding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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