Have a Long run... Use another spkr. cable ? Cheaper

[TroyH]

I'm getting ready to biwire my KLF-20's soon but I have quite a long run from the towers to the Amp I'm using. Probably around 35 feet to my equipment rack. There is no way I can afford a dedicated custom made Bi-Wire speaker cable , say from StraightWire, Monster, or any of the other makers out there, so my only best bet is to use another exact speaker cable hooked up to the towers and connected to the amp. By using a non-dedicated biwire cable with fixed ends , how is this going to work? Any potential problems to worry about. Also, what is the best termination to use and how to connect the neg. and pos. ends and tie them into the amp? Any help appreciated, Troyf>

[dougdrake]

Troy - Well, the obviously simple connection would be bare wire, with both speaker leads fed into the appropriate binding post. Depending on the gauge of wire used, that may not work, of course.

You could use stacked banana plugs. Some are designed to permit a second banana plug to be plugged into the back of the first banana plug. I know they are available at Parts Express, but don't know of other sources.

Probably not what you were looking for, though..

Doug

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My System

[Soundthought]

Hi TroyH,

Running two pair of identical wires is just fine. You shouldn't have any problems.

For the gauge of the cable, I would use either a 12 or 14 gauge. Because of the length of your run, smaller cable could give you some issues.

As far as the terminations.

Just like Dougdrake said,

Bare wire is the best.

Definately, bare ends at the speaker inputs.

If you can't fit the doubled up wire into your amps outputs, try large gauge automotive, crimp on, spade terminals. They are cheap and you can get them big enough to accept both wires at once.

You can buy specially manufctured, gold plated

spade terminals from Rat Shack, if you want.

But, they may not have them large enough to accomodate your needs.

I personally use "Straight Wire" double stacks.

They work well and are user freindly but you can't but them at the corner store.

I'm fortunate enough to have a dealer nearby. You should check out their site.

www.straightwire.com

Good luck with your bi-wiring.

Have fun with it, take your time and enjoy.

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You should of heard just what I've seen.

[TroyH]

Thanks fellas!

[dougdrake]

Say, I'm curious (Hi Curious, nice to meet ya...)

Anyway, I often read about using spade terminals to terminate speaker wire. Yet most every receiver I've seen (and I can't recall at the moment about my Acurus amp) uses a binding post where the screwy-down part goes into a raised shoulder around the binding post. Seems to me that would preclude using spades - how would you get them around the binding post with that shoulder in the way?

Doug

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My System

[Soundthought]

Oh yeah, that's right.

I forgot about the raised shoulder on most amps' speaker output posts. Probably won't be able to hook an spades up to them. Whoops. My fault.

Well... bend them in half.

S**t, I don't know.

Maybe, get out the Dremel and grind off the shoulders. LOL.

You would be better off going bare (if you can) or double banana.

Thanks doug, for catching that.

I'm already on my 3rd Rum-n-Coke and have no idea what's going on. Maybe, the Framptons' up too loud . Naw..... it's just fine.

With that, i'll just lurk back in this corner with foot in mouth and Klipsch in ear..

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You should of heard just what I've seen.