Home theater speaker question

Elsewhere

I am about to start wiring my house for home theater speakers and I'm wondering what type of jack I should install in the wall behind the TV. I've noticed all sorts of speaker jacks that are available and I have no idea which ones I should use.

Nosferatu

Most speakers today connect by just the bare wires. You can get these from Radio Shack:

RunningMan

My Sony home theatre system uses sort of a clip. You might want to check the brands that you are leaning toward and see what they require.

Matty

Most Hi-Fi enthusiasts would recommend gold plated 4mm banana plugs and sockets.

Terry

Do you have to have jacks?

Better to direct wire if possible.

Also, make certain the wires to all of your speakers are exactly the same length and no longer than absolutely necessary.

In any Home Theatre system, it is a question of the weakest link. If you have all the high end equipment in the world and have one weak component; all else is immediately cast down to that level of the lowest common denominator.

Think of it this way, the weakest link is like wearing dirty eyeglasses to the Louvre.

Matty

Terry's spot on. Any connection like this, even of the best quality, will compromise the sound quality to some extent.

Elsewhere

All the wires the same length... I never would have though such a thing would matter. How would the length of the wire matter?

The signals are traveling through the wire at about 60% the speed of light... and I doubt the human ear could decern an audio delay of a few pico seconds.

I have been looking that those banana jacks. They seemed to be to most common sold but I wanted to check to make sure I wasn't just noticing them more than others.

HoChiMin

Try this link http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/catalog/BuildPage.aspx?BuildPageID=14

You can make up any number of terminals that are needed.

HCM

Elsewhere

Yes... that is very similar to what I was looking at:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/home-wiring.html#spkr

I do plan on using those Keystone Jack and Plates for my netowrk and coax runs.

sleepy

"All the wires the same length... I never would have though such a thing would matter. How would the length of the wire matter?

The signals are traveling through the wire at about 60% the speed of light... and I doubt the human ear could decern an audio delay of a few pico seconds."

It not the speed of the signal , but the uneven impedence levels that matter.
The longer the cable the higher impedence.To cable of different legth will have different impedence values.This can effect some amps.

I would make sure your cable is relativly thick, not some weedy thin stuff.

Of cource it more convenient to use plugs so you can move thing round when you want.What is important is that they are a tight fit try plugging and unplugging some sockets , see which needs more effort to detach, brand or marking hype doesnt mean anything.

Home theater speaker question

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