Help with speaker cable and connects for new home theatre setup

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gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#62442 7-Jun-2010 14:16

Hey guys. Long time lurker here.

Have just purchased a new projector setup and speakers and receiver from harvey's (stop throwing things !). Was working to a budget and got fed up talking to the hifi shops in CChurch where they
insisted that I had to spend $5000 on speakers etc. Just couldn't afford that at this time..Also helped with Harveys 50 months interest free payback terms.

I've got a few questions prior to buying the extras that I hope you can help with.

What I bought

Receiver - Yamaha RX -V765 - 4 HDMIs in and 1 out

Speakers - Wharfedale 5.1 Diamond 10 Speaker Pack

Epson TW3500 Projector.

What (and where) is a good place to purchase speaker cable and how much should i be looking at per metre given the components above. The cheapest I found in shop was $10/metre but I'm thinking thats a bit high. It was 10 guage copper stranded wire. The 'branded' stuff was comically priced.

HDMI cables - I've got a mix of el cheapo stuff for the current LCD and one solitary monster cable that was a gift.Never saw any difference when I switched them around. However given the longer run I'm probably looking at an HDMI cable from receiver to projector of approx 6 to 7 metres which I'll need to buy. Any concerns from the knowledge bank if I only spend $50 to $70 or should I be looking to spend more. I've heard that longer run cables do need to be of a better / certain quality otherwise things happen to the image.

HDMI splitter or Switch ? - The new theatre room sits back to back with our current living / family room so I was planning on feeding it from the current Sky / DVD setup and feeding cables through the wall. The new receiver is almost straight through the wall from current setup. Am I better buying a splitter to split the HD signal from sky box into the receiver and current LCD or should I be looking at a switch. I was told that the splitters are temperamental at best and often need reset / powered on and off. I presume the switch means we watch in one room or the other but not both together?

Finally..I'm planning on hiding most of the speaker cable behind the gib so I'll be cutting into it. Regarding the exit point. I was planning on fixing wallplates with black / red speaker posts but was also advised against this and told to exit the speaker cable directly out of the wallplate and connect straight to the back of each speaker, thus avoiding extra connections. Once again, any tips or pointers gratefully recieved. Would a wall plate have a negative effect on the sound given the budget of components I purchased.

Thanks again for any help. Feel free to ask questions that I may not have covered.

Ged

smarsden

118 posts

Master Geek

#339074 7-Jun-2010 17:53

Here's my 2 cents worth:

For speaker cable, the size you need is determined by how far your longest cable run is. This link gives you details of how far a certain size of cable will go, depending on the ohm rating of your speakers, and the relevant guage of cable used. Get the appropriate one for your longest cable, and use the same on the rest of them. As for where to get them, Dick Smith is a good place for not too expensive cable. Mine was $3.50/m for 16awg - my longest run being about 10m.

For HDMI cables, you definitely don't need to spend a fortune on them. If you're doing a long-ish run though, it is worth getting something that's got slightly thicker-than-normal guage wires inside it though. RapalloAV is a good source for cheap but good quality HDMI cables - their Black Diamond range are nicely made IMO.

As for splitters/switches - I can't comment on splitters, but I've got a 4x2 switch connecting LCD and projector, and it works very well. You can take any of four HDMI sources, to either or both of the 2 displays at the same time. So you could be watching two different sources on each display. Just note that each time a display is turned on/off the picture clears as the HDMI handshakes take place again, but if you're only ever using one display at a time, it's not really an issue.

I don't know whether or not wall plates really make a difference on speaker signal quality. I'm inclined to think they don't cause much of a drop, but whether you use wall plates, or just feed the cable straight through might also depend on where your speakers are. i.e. If you've got wall mounted speakers, you can probably just feed the cable straight to the speaker (and in fact, might not have room for a plate behind it?), but if you're using floor standers, you might want it looking a bit neater, and therefore use wall plates. Mine are wall mounted, so I just have straight cable to speaker connections.

Enjoy setting up all your new gear, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the end result!!

gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#339145 7-Jun-2010 20:24

Thanks for your help Smarsden.

Re the switch.

I only need it for SKY HDI as I will be setting up a bluray player and dvd beside the new receiver.

If i follow you correctly I would plug HDMI cable from skybox into the switch then use 2 of the "out" hdmi sockets to feed 1) the current LCD in living room and 2) Projector ( via receiver) in new theatre room ?

scuwp

3880 posts

Uber Geek

#339156 7-Jun-2010 20:44

Sounds like a pretty decent set-up to me, certainly enough to shake the neighbours windows.

Cable - Check out Trade Me before going retail, theres lots of good quality stuff listed that might do the trick. Just got mine in last week at paid $4 per metre for 16g 4xcore including postage (only need to run 1 cable per speaker set...choice!)

HDMI - IMO anything much over 10 metres needs something of a better quality.

Splitter - sorry no experience there

Joiners - Its long been the case that the fewer connections the better. That said would you honestly say you could hear a difference if there were a couple of extra joiners in there somewhere?

Good luck

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

smarsden

118 posts

Master Geek

#339175 7-Jun-2010 22:18

gedc: Thanks for your help Smarsden.

Re the switch.

I only need it for SKY HDI as I will be setting up a bluray player and dvd beside the new receiver.

If i follow you correctly I would plug HDMI cable from skybox into the switch then use 2 of the "out" hdmi sockets to feed 1) the current LCD in living room and 2) Projector ( via receiver) in new theatre room ?

Yes, that's correct, and is the setup I've got (minus the SkyHDi - replace with bluray). Although I'm currently using bluray as my only HDMI source, I decided to get the 4x2 matrix switch in order to future proof things, so I would be able to view any future HDMI source on either the LCD or the projector (so I've currently got three spare HDMI ports on the matrix switch).

Just something for you to bear in mind if you're currently considering getting just a one-in-two-out splitter (rather than switch; Note FYI: splitter=one source -> multiple displays; switch=multiple sources -> one display; matrix switch=multiple sources -> multiple displays).

gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#341843 15-Jun-2010 10:59

Thanks for all the help. Cables are all installed and plasterboard all patched up which is keeping the mrs happy.

Re the Matrix Switchers on rapalloav , whats the differences between the models 1136 at $199 and 1378 at $269.

and whatever they are, will they be required?

Cheers

Ged

smarsden

118 posts

Master Geek

#342073 15-Jun-2010 19:59

gedc: Thanks for all the help. Cables are all installed and plasterboard all patched up which is keeping the mrs happy.

Re the Matrix Switchers on rapalloav , whats the differences between the models 1136 at $199 and 1378 at $269.

and whatever they are, will they be required?

Cheers

Ged

As far as I can tell, there doesn't appear to be much between them at all. The only obvious things I could see are cosmetic - a slightly different (smarter?) front, and the more expensive one is slightly taller too - but still very slim.

I've got this one from Jaycar, and it seems to be pretty much exactly the same as the RapalloAV 1136 model (even down to dimensions). So if it was me, I'd probably go for the $199 option, over the $269. It's up to you whether the cosmetic differences are worth the extra... This I guess answers your last question too!! :-)

Glad you managed to get everything installed in the walls - always good to keep the other half happy!

Enjoy your new system!! :-)

wallop

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

#342080 15-Jun-2010 20:14

For speaker cable you can always try do it yourself as per this link http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=7139&highlight=cat5

wallop