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Need help with in-wall speaker wire

post #1 of 12
4/6/12 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
I need to pre-wire my entire basement, most will be short runs, some long.
My main question is would you use in-wall 2 conductor or 4 conductor speaker cables? I could just install the wall plates designed for two speakers everywhere. Wouldn't this future proof my ability to bi-wire any speaker in the future?

This is a huge decision, so I wanted to check in with you guys to see what you all may have done.
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post #2 of 12
4/6/12 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jes3287 View Post

I need to pre-wire my entire basement, most will be short runs, some long.
My main question is would you use in-wall 2 conductor or 4 conductor speaker cables? I could just install the wall plates designed for two speakers everywhere. Wouldn't this future proof my ability to bi-wire any speaker in the future?

This is a huge decision, so I wanted to check in with you guys to see what you all may have done.

I did a mix of 2 & 4 conductor depending on the destination, I now wish I had gone with all 4s as if I decide to add L/R wide or high then I need to re-run/add additional runs to my screen wall.
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post #3 of 12
4/6/12 at 11:41am
I bought 2 core speaker wire, but ran extra runs where I though it would be nice to either have redundancy or expansion capabilities. The reason I didn't use 4 core was that it almost twice the price, and you lose the flexibility of move the two pairs independent of each other. Also, I figured if a line gets damaged, it's likely all 4 cores would be damaged where, with two 2-core lines, you have a better chance of one line surviving since they're separate.

Also, if you run 3 lines for your LCR's, and 2 for your spares/backups, then that's 10 cores. If you ran 4-core, that'd be 12 cores, so you're kind of wasting a pair. It's nitpicky, I know, but it might offset the amount you save.

I can't speak to any of the technical advantages, but those are my opinions on the logistics.
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post #4 of 12
4/6/12 at 3:53pm
Thread Starter 
Steve - I actually ended up doing similar to what you did. I bought 600ft of 14 AWG speaker wire and am going to simply double up all the runs. I will be wiring these into those wall plates that are actually meant for 2 pairs of speakers with the 4 connectors. I just think this way gives me a bit more flexibility.

I also read the sound quality was a little better because there can be interference within the 4 conductor wire....sounds like BS to me, but who knows.
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post #5 of 12
4/6/12 at 5:14pm
I have to ask, what flexibility do you gain from having a second pair of wires run to the exact location as an already existing speaker? Unless you are putting another speaker right next to the existing one, your wire is too short.
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post #6 of 12
4/6/12 at 6:11pm
Bi-Amping would be why you would need two pairs, even though one of the pairs may not be used for a while.
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post #7 of 12
4/6/12 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cybrsage View Post

I have to ask, what flexibility do you gain from having a second pair of wires run to the exact location as an already existing speaker? Unless you are putting another speaker right next to the existing one, your wire is too short.

gregzoll has it right, it's for bi-amping. Even the Polks I have now have bi-amping capabilities (4 connectors).
So say you have an Onkyo receiver pushing 125W/channel, well you would hook that into two of the speaker connectors. There is a copper plate that connects all 4 connectors for now, but maybe down the road you add an Emotiva Amplifier pushing 100Wx2, you can then remove the copper connector and hook the amp into the other 2 speaker connectors. Now you're pushing 225W into each front speaker. Essentially the speakers by design are split. So 2 of the connections may run 2 of the 5.25" mids/woofers and tweeter and the other 2 may run the bottom 2 5.25" mids/woofers.
I didn't understand it at all either until I started reading about bi-amping.
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post #8 of 12
4/6/12 at 7:07pm
That is bi-wiring and has zero impact on performance. The key would be if you went with custom speakers using Active crossovers instead of the common, power robbing, difficult inductance driving passive crossovers (99% of speakers). The output feed from each crossover (tweeter, woofer) is sent to its own dedicated dedicated amplifier, which then directly attaches to the driver. The you get an increase in efficiency and power handling.

http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#bi_wiring
http://sound.westhost.com/biamp-vs-passive.htm
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post #9 of 12
4/9/12 at 8:25am
One advantage for me is that it can serve for bi-amping, if I choose, or I can run them to new stereo speakers if I ever decide to set a pair in front of my screen for a music setup. I don't currently have them there, but I may in the future. Also, if I ever buy into the high/low fronts nonsense in a 9.1 setup.

EDIT: Also, I'd like to add that I could theoretically plate the 4-core and still accomplish this, but I prefer to keep my wire unbroken from amp to speaker.
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post #10 of 12
4/9/12 at 3:06pm
How could you run the wire to a different location? Do you leave several extra feet of speaker cable coiled up behind your speaker?
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post #11 of 12
4/9/12 at 3:49pm
I left enough behind the right and left front speakers so that it could be pulled to in front of the screen, like you said. It's probably another 10 feet or so. If I choose to bi-amp instead, I'll snip them or leave them coiled.
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post #12 of 12
4/11/12 at 10:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevegravley View Post

I bought 2 core speaker wire, but ran extra runs where I though it would be nice to either have redundancy or expansion capabilities. The reason I didn't use 4 core was that it almost twice the price, and you lose the flexibility of move the two pairs independent of each other. Also, I figured if a line gets damaged, it's likely all 4 cores would be damaged where, with two 2-core lines, you have a better chance of one line surviving since they're separate.

Also, if you run 3 lines for your LCR's, and 2 for your spares/backups, then that's 10 cores. If you ran 4-core, that'd be 12 cores, so you're kind of wasting a pair. It's nitpicky, I know, but it might offset the amount you save.

I can't speak to any of the technical advantages, but those are my opinions on the logistics.

So I mostly agree with you but in my case I ran 2x4 core and 1x2 core, so I ran 10 cores but I have 2xsubwoofers in my screen wall in addition to my LCRs, so I've used all 10 cores. I regret now not running 3x4 cores to give me the spare capacity to add L/R high/wide or 9:1 etc. in the future.
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