mains cable used to speakers

eddy99

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Hi, just moved into a new house and found the 20 KEF ci ceiling speakers are all wired using mains cable! Using a Denon amp rated at 8 ohms it can only drive the speakers close to the amp, all the other speakers only work when connected to a amp rated at 16 ohms load.

Not sure what to do about this, and if using mains cable adds such a high load to any amp that you run the danger of over loading it?

Ideally I'd just replace the mains cables, but this will turn into a huge job probably involving chasing new cables around the house

Any advise on what to do most welcome

Simon
 
Mains cable is not an issue, it should really be over 1.5mm2. How are the speakers wired, daisy chain or all individually back to the central point?

Are you sure the speakers are not 100V line, answering the above may give us a clue.

Dupe...
 
Believe it or not, stranded mains cable makes some of the best speaker cable. As DJ says, sounds like you're trying to drive too many speakers in parallel (or series) for the amp, nothing to do with the cable.

Graham
 
Each speaker is wired back to the amp on its own cable, but some of the speakers must be 20m - 30m away from the amp. This might be a stupid question but can you double up speakers off one feed from the amp?

I did test the speakers using a Denon AVC-A1SE but for some speakers only a low sound came out when the volume was turned up, while others close to the amp's location worked fine.
 
Assuming the mains cable is 1.5mm2 then those distances should be fine with 8 ohm speakers, with 4 ohm ones you will probably be able to detect that some are lower level. If the cable is 0.75mm2 then the drop over 30m is going to more noticable. If some speakers are very quiet then they could be designed for 100V line applications.

Dupe....
 
Well a bit of time spent last night I have managed to get 15 speakers working leaving just one downstairs to fix, and the four upstairs. But I only have three cables left - so I'm guessing the 4 speakers upstairs might be run on just cables for L/R.
 

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