# The truth about cables?



## sunnyc06 (May 17, 2012)

I am building a dedicated home theater and will need to run some speaker wire and an HDMI cable inwall. The speaker cable runs will go up to 60 or 70 feet and the hdmi around 25 to 30 feet. I understand that I should use 10 to 12 gauge speaker wire. So, here is the question, what audible difference will I get if I spend several thousand versus a few hundred? What HDMI cable should I get going from an Onkyo TX NR 5009 to an Epson 6010 projector? What difference will I see or hear from Blue Jeans cable or something like Audioquest? Would really appreciate your inputs.


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## GoNoles (Jul 7, 2012)

I currently use Series FE under 10 foot runs in my home and like their flexibility. For my speakers Im using the Belden 5000 series 12 gauge, but do not have near the run you do.

As far as seeing or hearing a difference, nothing via HDMI, and I really dont feel anything via speaker, but someone may know more than me on speaker cables...


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

AWG 14 or 12 should be fine for your speaker runs. Be careful about terminology. Since copper prices have gone up, some companies refer to "gauge" instead of AWG. AWG is American Wire Gauge, a standard. "Gauge" is whatever the manufacturer wants it to be and most often is much smaller than an equivalent number AWG. I have seen "12 gauge" wire that might be AWG #16 at best.

Blue Jeans cables are fine. So are Monoprice, especially for long HMDI runs - get the AWG 22 HDMI cables. They are stiff and thick, but give very good performance at low prices.


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## andy_c (Aug 8, 2006)

For the speaker cables, make sure you get the in-wall rated ones for code compliance. Monoprice has them in 12 AWG for very reasonable prices (the CL2-rated ones are for in-wall application). If you wanted to get fancy, you could use the 4-conductor AWG 12, paralleling 2 each for the equivalent of about AWG 9.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

You can't go wrong with Monoprice for HDMI. For RCA audio and component video, Blue Jeans and RAM make good stuff out of the same stuff the broadcast companies use (Belden, Canare, etc). No nonsense, no marketing budget.

For the most part, better connectors and good terminations (the wire to connector interface) are all that are needed for a great cable. That's usually what separates a cheap cable from a good one. But once you are at the BJC or RAM price points, they are as good as you need.

Monster, Audioquest, and others spend more on marketing and build up a lot of hype. But in the end it is not worth the extra money.

For speaker cable, BJC has good in wall, as does Parts Express, Monoprice, and RAM. I've bought stuff from all four of those places and you can't go wrong with any of them. The higher strand count cables are usually more flexible and better for tight spaces (that's what I usually get).


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Check out the new monoprice HDMI with redmere. Cool tech that allows longer runs of hdmi with very thin and flexible cable. I have a 50 footer and it works great!


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

One suggestion is to run at least 2 lenghts of CAT5 with your HDMI cable to your projector....it can serve as 
1. a backup should your HDMI cable ever get damaged... HDMI over cat5 baluns work very well and several of my installs where the client moved the AV Receiver and broke the end off of the HDMI cable had to be reconnected this way...
2. can carry IR signal to projector for remote control...

If you want to go with HDMI over cat5 all together use the ZUUM HE1BIR.... expensive but also works flawlessly and carries an IR signal simultaneously


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Back when I was doing installs, I used to always run an extra Cat5 to any destination that would allow it.

I ended up using it for IR distro, phone, data, a pull for wires added later. Very versatile.

This was before the HDMI over Cat5 products were available and cheap(ish). Now I'd run two cat5 lines!


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## vacuumtuber (Aug 26, 2012)

14 gauge copper is about 2.5 ohms per 1000 feet and 12 gauge is around 1.5. You have to consider the "round trip" distance, so 14 gauge cables at your 70 foot run length would be abour 0.35 ohms. If you are using speakers with nominal impedance of 4 ohms a little less than 10% of the power output of your amplifiers will be dissipated as heat in the wiring. With 12 gauge copper about 5% would be lost in the wiring. 

Being a cheapskate, I tend to shy away from audio boutique speaker cables and go to Lowes or Builders Square and get ROMEX that meets code for embedding in walls, at least here in NC. Being a bit stiffer than stranded cables, you can crimp on a stranded pigtail of lighter gauge to attach to your amp and speakers without much impact on the power transfer.
Joe


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Be careful about using the term "gauge" when selecting cables. It is NOT the same as "AWG." I found this out the hard way, after purchasing 12 "gauge" cable, which turned out to be about the size of AWG 16. Vendors are playing games with this, especially cable from China. That is why you will see AWG 12 quite a bit pricier than some 12 gauge cable.


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