Audio cable 6-10m?

[Joe2003]

Hello

I have a long living room, its 6.3m long. The TV and amp are at the far end. I am having a mains ring put in, and the floorboards will have to be lifted. While they are up I wanted to run some audio cable to the other end of the room so I could put additional speakers in.

What is the best cable to use for this? The speakers have the standard black and red inputs.

Also is there some sort of connector panel that I can buy, that fits into a standard uk backbox so I can make it a permanent fixture? I have done this before in a previous room with the RCA type cables but that was only for a 2m length.

Thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

Rather than audio signal, you just want speaker level?

Presumably you have free space below the floors between the joists and ground?
I say this as it is a good time to leave a bit of rope / string in place for the future

There is a load of crap spoken about speaker cable but so long as whatever you use is substantial you can use either mains cable or "79" strand speaker cable.

Richer sounds would be my preference for speaker cable bought over the counter


I assume this is the kind of thing you want?
http://www.av4home.co.uk/cable-management-av-connection-plates/speaker-wall-plates/

 

[Joe2003]

Yes, it would be speaker level. Unless its more practical/efficent to use audio and put an amp at the back of the room?

Thanks for the link, thats exactly what I was looking for!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Keep signal leads short and speakers long is a good guide

Unbalanced audio (what's used in domestic setups) is prone to picking up hum and interference
Sometimes a long lead will even pick up radio!

 

[Lucid]

Keep signal leads short and speakers long is a good guide

Unbalanced audio (what's used in domestic setups) is prone to picking up hum and interference
Sometimes a long lead will even pick up radio!

BIB That's because most of what's sold for audio is really poorly shielded. It is possible to run very long lengths of unbalanced audio cable with minimal or no hum issues at all so long as the cable has very good shielding. I know this because I make subwoofer leads up to 30m long that overcome hum. They're not cheap, but they work exceptionally well.

The problem with the domestic audio industry is that very few of the people in it have an engineering background or have done any independent research in to the technology they sell. Much of the time the information in circulation is simply regurgitated claptrap originally dreamt up by marketing departments. The curious thing is though that the average consumer seems to prefer to believe a couple of lines of marketing twaddle rather than try to understand a paragraph explaining in a semi-technical way why a product works and what those benefits means in real life.

Back to the OP's cabling: Speaker cable will be simpler and cheaper.

I'm not a fan of using mains cable - particularly solid core Twin & Earth - for speakers. Flex is more pliable but it is still a mains cable and so there's always that risk that sometime in the future someone might try to put mains up it which would be both dangerous to life and terminal for any audio gear connected at either end.

The reasons often cited to justify using mains cable are cost and the guarantee of it being pure copper rather than Copper Coated Aluminium (CCA). Cost is easy to deal with; 25m of 1.3mm speaker cable isn't really that much different in price to 25m of 1.5mm twin core flex. Link At 100W over 10m the difference that the extra 0.2mm makes to the power loss is about 1.5W (1.5%), so hardly significant.

Definitely avoid CCA cables. Aluminium isn't a good conductor at the sort of low voltages used in domestic speakers. Always check whether that bargain speaker cable is so cheap because its simply aluminium with a coating of copper to make it look like the real deal.

 

[Dean Kernoghan]

2 core mains cable is what is used most of the time, even in comercial installs. But as Lucid said, just label it at both ends so down the line theres no confusion what it is.

 

[Sam Gangee]

This M233 thin coaxial cable is quite well screened and suitable for use with low-level audio signals, should you need it:
http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page18.htm?#M233

Obviously it's NOT suitable for loudspeaker connections. You can get better but it tends to be really expensive.