Need advice for audio and video cable length!

 

charlesw
Unregistered guest
Newbie here..
I have an av receiver and 5.1 speakers system (local made) for HT (for movies). I bought 2 Anthena AS-B2 bookshelf speakers for music listening as my HT speaker are not good enough for music.
Because of the room design, I cannot place theses bookshelf speakers next to the TV. Currently TV is at the North side of the room together with the two Front speakers of HT system. So I have to place these 2 Bkshlf speakers at the side wall eg. in the East side of the room.

Dvd player is connected to AV reciver with interconnect cables. Each interconnect cables are not more than 1 meter long in both connections.

Here is my problem:
1)If I setup the av receiver/dvd player closed to the 2 bookshelf speakers, I need a long dvd component or S-video/RCA cable to connect the TV from dvd player.(about 10 meters length to connect from East side to North side)

2)If I setup the av receiver/dvd player closed to the TV, I need a long speaker cables to connect the two bookshelf speakers.(about 8 meters length for right speaker and 2 meters for left speaker-connected from North to East)

Please suggest me which connection of the followings is better for minimal signal loss.

a) Using long dvd component cable or S-Video cable?
Or
b)using long speaker cable connection?

Any signal (audio or video) lost or noise may notice with these two cable setups?
Which setup do you recommend?

Do I need to use the same lenght for both L/R bookshelf speakers for music listening?

Thanks.
charlesw
 

Silver Member
Username: Dmwiley

Post Number: 764
Registered: Feb-05
I would use 14 gauge speaker wire and keep the video connections as short as possible. I recommend same length for left & right speakers. There are those who indicate that for relatively short runs, equality of lengths doesn't matter.
 

Silver Member
Username: Philman

Richmond, IN USA

Post Number: 108
Registered: Dec-04
Longer speaker cables are best for two reasons. One is signal loss/noise on the component cables over long distances. Second, you'll have to take a loan out for "good" component cables in that length.

Speakers can be run 100x as far without the same issue. Be sure to select a wire size sufficient for your system. Most common size for HT system is 18 or 16 awg. (some prefer 14 awg for higher power systems)

Just be sure to route your wires away from power lines when running through walls or under floors and it should work just fine.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Daedilus

Post Number: 43
Registered: Jun-05
On the cable question, definitely run the speaker cables long.

However i cant help addressing the other issue i see here with the reason for your speaker addition.

If i were you I would replace your current front theater speakers with the Athenas, and add new speakers and receiver as you can afford them, rather than running different sets of speakers to use with different sources.
 

Silver Member
Username: Dmwiley

Post Number: 766
Registered: Feb-05
Michael, if the poster wanted your advice on new speakers, I think he would have asked for it. Keep your opinions unless they are sought. Philman and I understand this.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Daedilus

Post Number: 45
Registered: Jun-05
/shrug, just a thought.

The poster may not realise he can hook up the athenas to his existing receiver and put it in stereo mode to use only those speakers for music sources.

Hense he may not have asked for that reason.
 

Silver Member
Username: Dmwiley

Post Number: 770
Registered: Feb-05
There are a million and one assumptions we can make about why someone did not ask a particular question. If you have the time to figure them out and respond, good luck my friend.
 

charlesw
Unregistered guest
Thanks all of you for the suggestions.

I know I can replace the current front speakers with Athenas. But my Ht speakers are 4 ohms and Athenas are 8 ohms speakers. Are there any problems when I mix the two types of speakers in the hook up?

Another problem is my room layout. Thats why I would like to get your advice how to do the speakers placement in my room. I tried to attach the layout diagram but my file is too big and the forum only accept file size not more than 1 KB.

Please let me know how can I attach the file with the message.

Once again thank you very much for your advice.

Charlesw
 

Bronze Member
Username: Daedilus

Post Number: 55
Registered: Jun-05
Save the layout as a .gif or .jpg file, then open it with a picture editor or pain program and chooze resize option, just reduce the YYY X YYY size until both yyy numbers read 599 or less.

And upping your speakers to 8 ohm will lower the load on your amp, making it work less hard and giving you more dynamic headroom. Your biggest problem will be re-tuning the system to get your speaker levels correct again, but it should not be that difficult, as the Front speakers tend to get most of the sound anyway.

If your problem were reversed, and you were trying to run 4 ohm speakers on an 8 ohm receiver it would be concerning, but in your case its NP. Just adjust the front channel volumes up or the rear centers down to re-tune the system.

Also there are a variety of ceiling and wall mounts available if space is a concern.
 

Chero
Unregistered guest
Is there a recommended limit to how far you should run a video RCA-to-RCA cable? We have to go at least 15 feet from our DVD to our TV ...
 

Gold Member
Username: Paul_ohstbucks

Post Number: 1309
Registered: Jan-05
15' is fine......

Any well made cable will do.
 

Silver Member
Username: Thx_3417

Bournemouth, Dorset United Kingdom

Post Number: 364
Registered: May-05
Hay Paul


You like calling me a "communist" say it to me in person, I'll drop a piano you, you Redneck, YANK!

 

Silver Member
Username: Dmwiley

Post Number: 811
Registered: Feb-05
Hey guys. That's going too far-even for me.
 

JAK
Unregistered guest
Hey im new to these message boards to try and get information abotu stuff but i found this one and saw it was somewhat related to RCA cables.


My questin is if i can run a Audio RCA cable (IE: only the left and right stero channels are a concern im not running video) more than 30 - 50 FT.

The basic question is how far can i run audio RCA before the signal loss becomes a concern.

If the answer is i would be crazy to run it more than 20 Ft. my problem is i want to run the output of my home theater reciever in my living room to a closet on the other side of the house which will house a second reciever that will supply the rest of the hosue/outside with audio. my idea was to do it this way so i could leave the second reciever on "tape in" that way i dont have to adjust both recievers to have the entire house on the same radio station, and so i can play a CD on the speakers in the whole house.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Feot

Texas USA

Post Number: 59
Registered: Apr-04
jak, your best running it through rg6 quad shield cable and my guess is a little over 200 ft before loss is a concern. Terminate each end with cable f-connectors, get 4 f-connector to composite video adapters(male) and you're set.
 

Silver Member
Username: John_s

Columbus, Ohio US

Post Number: 392
Registered: Feb-04
I second FEOT here. RG6 plus these=poor man's Monster cable.
(?)
 

JAK
Unregistered guest
Thanks alot guys!
« Previous Thread Next Thread »



Main Forums

Today's Posts

Forum Help

Follow Us