Pete H Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'm getting ready to order quite a few cables to complete the wiring on a remodel project that includes a HT room as well as adding structured wiring throughout the home. I'm not a person that would ever go out and spend crazy amounts of money on wires and cables and I don't even want to open that discussion up as it has been beat to death on this and many other forums. I have to purchase multiple sub cables (50'-75') Composite video cable (50') as well as many long RCA sets, more speaker wire, boxes, plates, 12v trigger wires and more. Looking at the normal list of suppliers like monoprice, blue jeans, and parts express, there's still quite a difference in price when looking at a 50' sub cable; monoprice 50' for "high quality" $9.70 parts express 50' (only one they have) $11.39 Blue Jeans 50' Belden 1505 (least expensive) $68.50 I've read a lot of great comments on blue jeans, but there seems to be a big difference between them and the others on almost everything I'm looking at and though I'm not going to throw thousands of dollars out for cables, there has to be a good middle ground for quality and price, keeping all the snake oil and BS out of this. Ears are open..........................Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I don't remember the prices I paid... but would this help? I figured I'd need 50' runs to go up my wall, across the room and down other side. Turns out I needed 40/45 so now I have some excess that I can snip into IC's. I bought some length's from http://www.markertek.com/ of Mogami Neglex. I'm thinking it was about $1.00/foot give/take (forget). I wired everything to a closet that is my central location. I'm putting XLR boxes both on the speaker side and in the closet however, for kicks & grins, I've currently left some long pigtails in the closet so I can put connectors directly onto them if I want to and skip a connection point. If I choose to put outlets in there then I can always nip the ends off. As I told the wife... will I use speaker wire to drive the speakers? How about RCA lines with a RCA amp on the other side of room? How about a balanced amp with XLR connections needed? I'm biamping... don't forget. I ended up running a pair of wires to EACH location in the front of the room for: 1 pair XLR for HF biamp 1 pair XLR for LF biamp 1 pair 12g wire for biamp (two runs) 1 pair RCA wire for RCA amp biamp 1 pair RCA wire for RCA amp biamp 2 Cat 6 wires, network and trigger 1 drop of a dedicated 20 amp circuit with three outlets and EACH outlet is hot/bottom, switched on top (I ran 4 20 amp circuits for entire room putting left corner on one circuit, right corner on another, center on another and "closet stuff/ projector" on 4th) If you can or don't mind soldering the connections on, I wonder if you could get bulk wire and custom fit everything? here's the last picture I took of my closet. Wife just rolled her eyes big time....until I asked her if she knew how things would end up wired (no) and would she rather me have the wires strung along the wall/ceiling??? (BIG no!) After that realization, she zipped it up and smiled at the progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 i buy all mine from monoprice. very nice stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivernuggets Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Same here. I think Monoprice cables are the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 If you can or don't mind soldering the connections on, I wonder if you could get bulk wire and custom fit everything?I've considered that and I'm sure to some degree that will happen but I'm going to buy as many completed runs as I can, just to save on the time as will as the learning curve soldering items that I have not done in the past.The picture you posted is definitely the inspiration for all of this and I referred back to it when I started framing up the walls and closets and decided that I needed to run structured wiring and that I wanted to be able to have the amps located out of site in the closet where the rest of the structured wiring will be located. I know that I will end up pulling a few runs that may never get used, but I would rather have options as the room and equipment evolve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 i buy all mine from monoprice. very nice stuffThat's what my gut was telling me and what I wanted the answer to be[]. I've already got a few thousand in electrical materials alone and this should be the last purchase for the rough in on the structured and HT wiring so I can get done and start hanging drywall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 The picture you posted is definitely the inspiration for all of this and I referred back to it when I started framing up the walls and closets and decided that I needed to run structured wiring and that I wanted to be able to have the amps located out of site in the closet where the rest of the structured wiring will be located. Sure... blame me.... [8o|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Not that it matters, but I'm really tickled with all the wiring I've done. To describe it to you.... looking at the picture, put it in the context of four columns (forgetting left wall for the time being) The first column starting on the left has 5 boxes. The LEFT column is dedicated to the LEFT front speaker. (second columh is middle and third column is right and last is "closet stuff") I don't remember right now, what goes where, but for simple conversation, the top box might have two pair of 12g wire going through them so I can use speaker wires to biamp the Jubilee's or anything else. Next box down might have two runs of XLR for XLR connections in the closet to mated XLR connections in the corner. Next box, another pair but this time, RCA connections and two CAT-6 runs. The bottom two boxes will have two outlets (each) in them (8 plugs total). As stated above, the upper half of each one is switched and the bottom half of each one is always hot. This goes pretty much all the way across except for the last column where you see the third box down with a thicker wire in it. This is where I have two HDMI runs going from closet across room to TV location. Oh, I forgot.... I also have RG6 runs going to each spot so they are mixed into this as well. I can now run from my satelite output directly to the tv input or, I can put my sat box across the room next to the tv (since I don't know how things will evolove) Last... since I might literally 'hang' three Crown K2 rack mount amps over head I might need some power higher up OR, I might have a cord that is too short or in a weird location. On the left wall, I have a single column of double outlets with three of them higher up and one down low. These are directly correlated with the main boxes you see. The top box is on the 1st circuit (the far left column), second box/second column, third/third.... EACH column is on it's own 20amp circuit. Then, over across the room by the speakers, I have the other 2 outlets (1 double, 1 single) and they are also half switched, half hot. Now, I can walk in the room and have four 20 amp switches that control each circuit and in essence, have four master on/off switches. Those items that need power full time, I will simply plug into the live portion of the outlet. More than my wife has rolled their eyes upon seeing this monster I've created. I had fun doing it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sure... blame me.... I was........[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'm not going to throw thousands of dollars out for cables, there has to be a good middle ground for quality and price, keeping all the snake oil and BS out of this. If you are not choosing wire for the sonic characteristics, it really doesn't matter, buy what you are comfortable with. Most guys here run zip cord, YMMV.Sound characteristics are not determined by price. Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 I'm not going to throw thousands of dollars out for cables, there has to be a good middle ground for quality and price, keeping all the snake oil and BS out of this. If you are not choosing wire for the sonic characteristics, it really doesn't matter, buy what you are comfortable with. Most guys here run zip cord, YMMV.Sound characteristics are not determined by price. Thanx, Russ Hi Russ, YMMV (?)..........The point of the post was to try and determine the best value while throwing out the extreme high and low. Sonic characteristics are part of the question as well as a fair and reasonable price. The best example I can use is with a few sub cables I have, one being a very expensive "Monster" cable that was included in the purchase of one of my RSW 15's, and one's a no name and another is a radio shack $20 cable and I have switched these out and listened to the same material over and over and couldn't hear any difference in the performance of the sub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Orange County Speaker Repair - http://www.speakerrepair.com have good cables for excellent prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Monoprice! Their stuff is excellent quality and ridiculously cheap. I recently bought two 50ft HDMI cables from them for around $30 each! I also am using a 50ft RCA cable from them. All of it is heavy and works perfectly. Nothing wrong with Blue Jeans cables, but I think Momoprice stuff is at least as good. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Monoprice, absolutely. I get all my wire and cabling from them and have never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 ...one being a very expensive "Monster" cable that was included in the purchase of one of my RSW 15's, and one's a no name and another is a radio shack $20 cable... If they all sound the same, it's an easy choice isn't it? Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 If they all sound the same, it's an easy choice isn't it? Yes. Big order to monoprice has been placed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 If they all sound the same, it's an easy choice isn't it? Yes. Big order to monoprice has been placed. [Y] Another satisfied customer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 If they all sound the same, it's an easy choice isn't it? Yes. Big order to monoprice has been placed. Now the bad news, when your system gets good enough that you can distinguish the sound of different cables, you are going to find out what real money feels like when it slips through your fingers, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 If they all sound the same, it's an easy choice isn't it? Yes. Big order to monoprice has been placed. Now the bad news, when your system gets good enough that you can distinguish the sound of different cables, you are going to find out what real money feels like when it slips through your fingers, lol. He may have come to the realization that cables are for hooking things up electrically and tone controls are for addressing tone control issues. Here's a device that can do all the tone shaping you could possibly want: http://www.dbxpro.com/231/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCliff Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 i buy all mine from monoprice. very nice stuff MINE TOO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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