I'm going to be rewiring my system in my new townhome in the next month once I move there. My equipment follows:
Fronts - Infinity RS5's
Center- Infinity CC3
Rears - Infinity RS1's
Reciever - Denon 3806

Now my farthest rear speaker will be about 45 feet from the reciever (speaker wire run) and the shortest rear will be 34 feet from the reciever. This is because I will have to run the wires (4 of them) down one wall, up the cover of the room, then to the speakers on the walls.

The question is without Monster is crap disscusion, will the Monster XP-CI100 for the rears, Monster XPHP-CI100 for the fronts and center be OK? The problem is trying to get 4 pairs of wires up the corner of the wall and to the speakers, it gets to big to hide. I planning on using the wirehiders from Home Depot to accomplish this. Please advise. :)

Anyone?

I just upgraded some old 55 feet of 22 gauge wire to 20 feet of Oxygen free 12 gauge wire from mono for my R15 I use for computer speakers. I HEAR no difference.

You should hear absolutely no difference in any of the wires you choose. go with the cheapest.

I just upgraded some old 55 feet of 22 gauge wire to 20 feet of Oxygen free 12 gauge wire from mono for my R15 I use for computer speakers. I HEAR no difference.

You should hear absolutely no difference in any of the wires you choose. go with the cheapest.

Its not about the cheapest, its about if those wire will work for my rear speaker runs. Longest distance is about 45 feet. I think the Monster cable is 16 gauge.

Why don't you just get some 12 or 14 ga wire and call it a day?

16 gauge is too small for 45 feet.

14 would be a minimum, but 12 would be better.

I was afraid you guy would say 12 gauge. Thats what I would like to run. Its just really hard to hide the wires when you cannot go through walls. I need to get all 4 pairs up one corner wall and across to the surrounds. I attached a really bad picture of the way it needs to go, but you can get the idea.

How about Philips 14 gauge speaker wire for the rears? I just saw it at Lowes and it was pretty cheap for 100 feet.

16 gauge is too small for 45 feet.

14 would be a minimum, but 12 would be better.You should really write Roger Russell (http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable) and point out where his calculations are wrong, a lot of people are using that table and would get 14 or even 16 gauge wire for 8 ohm speakers at 45 feet! I'm sure he'd appreciate your explanation of why 12 gauge is better.

Maybe you could install one of these surface conduits (http://cableorganizer.com/cable-raceway/) beside your crown molding and it won't be too noticable.

BTW, how are people supposed to tell what kind monster speaker cable to get for thier specific run length if monster doesn't publish the effective wire gauge?

Maybe you could install one of these surface conduits (http://cableorganizer.com/cable-raceway/) beside your crown molding and it won't be too noticable.

BTW, how are people supposed to tell what kind monster speaker cable to get for thier specific run length if monster doesn't publish the effective wire gauge?

Thats what I'm going to use to hide the wires. You can get those at Home Depot and Lowes. I like the corner piece and will have to use the larger ones for along the bottom of the crown moulding. I wish I could hide the wires under the crown moulding but its not my place. Will 14 guage be enough for the rears and is the Philips any good for that?

You should really write Roger Russell (http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable) and point out where his calculations are wrong, a lot of people are using that table and would get 14 or even 16 gauge wire for 8 ohm speakers at 45 feet! I'm sure he'd appreciate your explanation of why 12 gauge is better.


Considering he said 48 feet would be the MAX for 16 gauge, I am sure even he would recomend going a little bigger if possible. I can get my wife's beat up Corrolla to 100 MPH, but that doesn't mean it's attaining max performance. IMHO, whenever you get pretty close to something's theoretical max performance, it makes sense to step up a bit if possible.

I'll concede 12 gauge is probably overkill.

I just always think about how the money spent on wires (that are thicker than they need to be) could be spent on speakers instead. Much, much better payoff there.

If you read the text below the table you'll see there's some conservatism in there, too, in his opinion. Maybe by a factor of two. So that Corolla's still going under 55 mph, maybe under 30 mph.

I was just reading an old manual for a good speaker company which recommended 16 gauge, but that was back before they were afraid to tell the truth.

Though despite all that I wouldn't use 16 myself, especially for anything semi-permanent. But best to give people the facts and let them decide what works for them.

I just always think about how the money spent on wires (that are thicker than they need to be) could be spent on speakers instead. Much, much better payoff there.

Trust me I am not one for spending alot on speaker wire. But at parts express you can get 100' of 16 gauge in wall wire for $20.87. 14 Gauge costs a whopping $25.54 and 12 gauge is $42.34

There's not a lot difference there, and certainly not enough that you could get better speakers by going with the smaller gauge.

Has anyone used wire made my METRA. I seen them on E-Bay and Amazon? Is it any good? What about the silver and red with pictured below? It looks like the Monster stuff that is twisted.

BTW: It is 12 gauge wire.

If the wires are truly going to be in-wall (it's not totally clear if this is true or not), do get wire rated for such usage, since the minimal additional cost is good protection against your insurance company denying a claim in the unlikely event that you have a house fire.

-Max

honestly, use 12 guage from monoprice and get any friend of yours that knows anything about drywall to run the wires in-wall and patch the holes afterward

How about Philips 14 gauge speaker wire for the rears? I just saw it at Lowes and it was pretty cheap for 100 feet.

Thats what I have, bought 2 rolls at walmart, I have not seen it in the local one, they must have stopped selling it.

Thats what I have, bought 2 rolls at walmart, I have not seen it in the local one, they must have stopped selling it.

Lowes has it on 100 ft rolls. How has it been holding up? I plan on using it only for my rears.

14 gauge is perfect, I don't think you need anything thicker unless you plan of going over 45-50ft.

I like the 14gauge it's not too small, not too tick. I love it, can't go wrong, biggest rip off is the monster cable, they buy the cable cheap from china or something like that then make it ticker so 1$ goes to china, 5$ goes to the store and the other $44 towards monster.

Now I need to upgrade the speakers, what do you guys recommed? I been looking at the Cambridge Soundworks M80, mc300 center.