[JonBoi]

Guys, some guidance please. I have got a onkyo 505E reciever, tannoy fx5.1 rears and sub with Wharfedale diamond 9.1 centre and front speakers. Question is what cable should i use and what connectors will work with this set-up?

[gurpswoo1]

Hi there Jonboi

Your setup has a major flaw, your Wharfedale diamond 9.1 can go down to 50 Hz but your tannoy fx 5.1 can only go down to 140 HZ, this means most of the extra quailty mid range you get by using the Wharfedale go down to the sub instead. This is because the onkyo 505 does not allow individual crossover setting for each speaker.

The only time you get the ture potential of your front speakers will be in direct stereo music mode when the subwoofer is not used.

That is not to say that the Wharfedales don't have any benifit, they are big improvement over the tannoy, just keep that in mind when thinking of any changes to the system in the long term and the modes you uses on the amp to get the best quailty.

Amazingly all the speakers have the same power, impedance and sensitivity so don't have any problems with load problems with the amp.

So with that in mind the best speaker cable depends on what you want and how much you have to spend. The minimum should be Oxygen free copper with a minimum of 18 preferably 16 gauge thickness. This will bring out better bass response and detail in mid range.

The more expensive silver cable are better for high frequency and may be a better choice for this setup. Personally the difference in minimal unless you spend thousand of pounds on a system. Even then its little.

I got my speaker cable from ebay, a 100m pack will cost about £20-50 depending on length and thickness.

Ebay link OFC copper

Try not to go with the thin speaker cables, that this will make the sound tin-ny at high volumes.

What's the sort of length and budget you are looking for, we will be able to help you source the right cable better.

Gurpswoo1

[JonBoi]

i haven't bought the 9's yet but have earmarked them as a good upgrade following some advice from a fellow member under a different post. The idea is to upgrade the fronts now and then look to change the sub and rears as money allows.

As for the cable....the two speakers at the rear will need max 10m each and the fronts not more than about 5m. so about 30m should do it. Is it best to have the cables lengths matched for the fronts and then rears? Budget wise probably no more than £50 but that is with a discount at richer sounds who will also make them up for me.

What connections will i need for my reciever/speaker set?

[MarkTaylor]

You don't need to worry about matching cable lengths, you'd need some very large differences before you could notice anything.

You may want to check the VanDamme cable being sold in the Power-Buy section on this forum as many other members give good feedback on the performance.

[gurpswoo1]

As long as the difference isn't more than 10m i worry about about the left being for than the right. The same goes for rears.

Both the Tannoys and Wharfedales use binding post so can accept banana plugs, however your tannoys being small aren't really suited to big banana plugs, you could simply strip 1cm off the sleve and tighten the wire onto the post. Some people choose to solder th ends of the wire to avoid stray wires and shorten the speaker post.

The same for the amps, be aware that for the amp you will need to remove the dust covers on the back and with the plugs in will add at least 25mm to the depth of the unit.

If you can hide your cables you don't need to worry about the shape, but it may be more useful to go for flat cables to put under carpet.

If you are going with richersounds for termination of the cables your restricted on what you get, they are not renowned for good deals on their cables unlike there tv,amps cd, etc. Richersound will not terminate the connection with a air sealed unit so you can do them your self as theres no difference.

As stated by Marktaylor powerbuys maybe a better bet, but there is a £11.50 postage cost, you could go with a etailer such as Audiovisualonline.co.uk where postage is free. they also have a good selection of other cables aswell.

Any OFC cable that is 1.5mm or more will fit your system and future system fine.

Personally I go for the Ebay 2.5mm ones but you may want branded 1.5mm one instead.

[JonBoi]

thanks for all the help guys. i have just bought 100m of the 2.5mm OFC cable from ebay (followed link below) . Hoping it should turn up tomorrow

All i've got to sort out now is how to do the connections

think for time being, whilst still trying to sort out full speaker set, i might just remove 1cm of sleeve as suggested by gurpswoo1. Would it be worth making the connections to reciever more permanent with banana connectors? any good ones to look at?

[pwood]

I would get banana plugs at the amp end as the binding posts are not the easiest to bare wire and its easy to get a stray wire.

[JonBoi]

has anyone got any recommendations for the connectors. thinking that might do banana plugs at reciever and possibly y connectors at speakers. Would y connectors be better than bare wire?