Ask your Home Theatre questions here...

i would use these hands down... makes it neater also less likey for kids to do anthing to themselfs on exposed wires then

How about banana plugs?

I read that they help prevent loose wires from touching and helps prevent/slow oxidation of the speaker wires.

Regarding speaker wallplates - it depends on what types of speakers you are mounting and how:

If they are going to be mounted with their backs hard up against the wall (or near enough too) then there simply isn't room for wallplates and you simply run the speaker wire through a small hole behind the speaker that the speaker itself covers.

If they are small speakers then the wallplate will stick out and you might not like that look either - it may in fact be less 'industrial' to also simply have the wire poke through a small hole - often these holes can be covered by the base of the bracket itself.

Only if you are using brackets that suspend the speaker away from the wall and the options above aren't applicable would you then consider using wallplates to terminate those speaker connections.

Regarding plugs - I agree with Pugs here - each to their own. I almost never use banana/blade/spike plugs (I only use banana plugs in situations where I actually need to change the speakers over on a regular basis - like demo'ing different speakers...

Anyone know what gauge (AWG) this speaker wire is? The salesmen don't have a clue what AWG is

http://www.radioparts.com.au/ProdView.a ... ABLE+(150M)

AWG is American Wire Gauge... as ithe size of the copper inside...

Its Monster and that IMO says it all!



Try http://www.selbyacoustics.com.au/storef ... =246732474

This stuff is nearly as thick as a small childs finger

For a full range check here: http://www.selbyacoustics.com.au/storef ... 20&c=84104 or here: http://uglycable.com.au/storefrontprofi ... 3&c=698736

HI,
We are building our new house and in the main living area I plan to have a plasma and new reciever with a 5.1 speaker setup (Dont think we need 7.1). The rear speakers will be in the ceiling and I plan to use a wall plate, run the speaker cable inside the wall, accross the joists until I get to the speaker. The run will be approx 8m including up the wall.
My 3 questions are:
- Should I use "insulated" speaker cable or just normal speaker cable (quality of course)
- With wall plate should I use banana plugs to go from the reciever to the wall plate or would binding post be fine?
- With the AWG rating the lower the number the thicker the cable right?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Thanks for that. I didnt know there was insulated or more accurately double insulated speaker cable avaiable until I started searching but will now probably stick with good quality speaker cable around the 10 or 12 AWG.

I did plan to use bananna plugs from the reciever to the wall plate so it would appear I am not too far off the mark with my plans

Thanks again

The cost of 4 runs of Cat5E is more than I would spend on speaker cable to my rears - and I'm planning on using speakers that are considerably more than $1K a pair for rears too.

"Respond quicker"? Please - no one here spends anywhere near what it would take to actually notice any such difference in your rear speakers. Greg is comparing the cost to speaker cable worth over $50 a metre, and I say again, you wouldn't hear the benefit that kind of speaker cable could offer unless you were dealing with very High-End speakers (which I know Greg makes - I've already said in here he actually makes my favourite speakers...) and you had seriously tamed the room they operate in...

Hi,

Even though our house is only at brick stage, I'm starting to look at home theatre stuff so I can keep an eye out for cheap prices. And also, I've read this whole thread, and a lot of others ones on here, and I don't understand anything!!! And I've tried guides on cnet too, but I'm still confused... I know what a Cat5 cable looks like from my work and that's the limits of my tech savviness - I don't even know what they do.

We have bought the LG HT303SU Home Theatre set with a nice big discount as it's enough for our needs. I know it's certainly not the top of any model, but I'm not that fussed about perfect sound, and the guys at work said that it's good value for money, especially at the discount we bought it for, for what we want and the size of the room, and now I need to work out what else to get. And I am not very tech savvy at all, so I would like some advice. Well, more likely I think I need advice.........

We want to put a projector up because it's a room with no windows and they're cheaper than big TVs and it's kinda cool. The length of the room is 4.04m and I'm thinking of mounting the projector very close to the back wall so the picture is bigger (that's how it works, right?). The only thing I would like is to have good picture. I won't be operating it (as I don't think my OH will trust me) so as long as I have a nice, clear picture, and I can hear what people are saying, I'll be happy. I would like to connect the projector to the TV in the family room so when we eventually have foxtel, we can just share it in there. We will have separate DVD players in each room in case we want to watch something different and because we have 2 now anyhow, and maybe seperate set top boxes too, but I'm not sure about that as it's not really needed, I think we'd just watch movies in there... But the opportunity would be nice. I guess it depends how cheap they are. I'd also like to stick my computer in too as it's got some movies on it. So pretty much all we have left to buy is the receiver, projector, maybe a set top box and cables to connect that all together and to the other TV, right? Or have I got it wrong and we'll need other stuff too?

I've been looking at projectors on CNET too. I'm willing to spend up to $2000 (of course, if it's cheaper I'd be happy with that), maybe a bit more if someone thinks that a certain model is too good to refuse. 3 I've found that look good and are quite cheap (to me, maybe I'm wrong) are:
http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater-pr ... 20107.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater-pr ... 49715.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater-pr ... 88317.html
Or am I off and another would be good? And would there be compatibility problems with any of these with receivers? Like I have to buy certain receivers with projectors?

I've also looked at 1080HD projectors which are more expensive (but obviously are clearer). Will they be better for that space? Or as it's only 4m across, would it be better at 720?