Deckard75 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I just received my R-41M speakers and will be getting my Denon AV Receiver tomorrow. However, it is time to pick out some speaker wire that will help make the system sound great. I am a complete newbie to audio equipment and have no idea what kind of speaker wire to get. There seems to be a lot of options, mostly what gauge to use and the use of banana plugs or not. I have been leaning towards these Mediabridge 12AWG with gold plated banana plugs What do you think? My speakers will be about 5 feet apart from each other (that is all the room I have for them). Do you recommend something else? Or are these good enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Welcome...those are way over the top of what is simply needed. You will find the archive full of the subject... enjoy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 22 minutes ago, Deckard75 said: I have been leaning towards these Mediabridge 12AWG with gold plated banana plugs Perfect. They are rated 4.8 stars on Amazon for good reason. I use the Mediabridge banana plugs with 12 AWG OFC speaker wire from Monoprice. The only thing I question is the length of the wire, 12 feet in your case. That seems a little short to me when you could double the length for another five bucks. You may not always have those speakers in that room. Are they overkill? Oh yes, that's the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_M Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 12 ga zip cord with those Mediabridge banana plugs. Works great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polizzio Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 8' individual runs you would be well served with 12 or 14 AWG. My McIntosh Labs amp manual states 16 AWG is good for < 50 foot run, 8 ohm speaker load and 150 wpc max. People go beserker on speaker wire. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Why do you want to use banana plugs versus bare wire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckard75 Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 2 hours ago, wuzzzer said: Why do you want to use banana plugs versus bare wire? Because it makes a better solid connection. That is what I have read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckard75 Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 Thanks everyone for your replies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 3 minutes ago, Deckard75 said: Because it makes a better solid connection. That is what I have read. The least amount of different components in a signal chain the better. For signal transfer purposes, bare wire is always best. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 2 minutes ago, Deckard75 said: Thanks everyone for your replies. Come back and let us know how you like your system... cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckard75 Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 4 hours ago, wuzzzer said: The least amount of different components in a signal chain the better. For signal transfer purposes, bare wire is always best. That makes sense to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckard75 Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 4 hours ago, billybob said: Come back and let us know how you like your system... cheers! I will. Thanks! 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I still have some 12g zip cord, at least 35 yrs old and works fine. Before Christmas I bought some knukoncept kord speaker wire. Very flexible ofc and works quite well. It's the one with the blue jacket. Their cheapest has copper clad aluminum, but this is nice and not expensive at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechEngVic Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I have heard an improvement in sound by using thicker wires, I've never been able to hear a difference in sound when comparing connectors vs. bare wire. Use pure copper. Those Mediabridge look fine. The shorter the better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I have used pretty much everything from 40 year old 16 ga zip cord to 8 ga, O2 free pure copper. Both are pretty much the same. By the time the cables can be switched, you will not remember exactly what the other cable sounded like. Human senses are like that. YMMV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Buy whatever you want to afford. KnuKonceptz wire is very good, affordable and nice quality. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babadono Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 @Cal Blacksmith Wonderful to see you posting again... back to our thread What were we talking about....ground....er...a....no......speaker wire. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr clean Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 On 3/1/2020 at 4:43 PM, jimjimbo said: Buy whatever you want to afford. KnuKonceptz wire is very good, affordable and nice quality. Thats what I use. But im nobody😎. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 I've started using 12 and 14 gauge low voltage landscape wire from home depot. It's got a nice thick jacket, the wire stranding is good, and it lays flat almost immediately after uncoiling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glens Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 I can't believe a "speaker wire" thread has lasted this long without my contribution! 14 AWG has always been more than sufficient for me in short-to-medium runs. Any stranded copper zip-cord configuration more that meets the requirements. Spend as much as you're happy doing, but rest assured that overkill is for ego, not result. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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