Speaker location & cable question

FrankGrimes

Edit - the file upload failed so until I get that sorted the main questions are: powered speakers or amp fed? and can I use Cat 5e cable as speaker cable?


The first fix of wiring in my extension is almost complete and the last thing is to run in some cable for speakers. It's an extension to the side of the house allowing for an open plan kitchen dining room and I'd like to run cabling to allow me to wall mount some speakers in this room.

I was thinking of two in the kitchen part, and two in the dining room part, and I'd use a speaker switch to control it so that only those in the kitchen were on, or the dining part ones were on, or even have all 4 on at once.

Does this sound like a good idea, and would wall mounting at about head height at the locations marked in red (A1 to B2) in the attached file make sense? I'm not an audiophile but would like a decent sound but doubt I'd go with more speakers than that in these rooms.

Would it be best to run these cables to an amp or go with powered speakers (what cables would I run in this case)?

I have run out of speaker cable but have plenty of Cat5e left over - can I use this for speaker cable and would it be a good job?

Muchos gratias

Hoagy

CAT5e is twisted pair cable, unsuitable for speakers.
The correct cable for speakers is a figure eight twin, which is what you probably have run out of.
The problem with twisted pair is the capacitance, which doesn't matter for digital signals but acts as a treble cut on analogue audio.
The figure eight cable keeps the cores apart.
Same whether you go for powered speakers or not.

cormac_byrne

Agree that CAT5 wouldn't be very good, if you're really skint try 2 CAT5 cables with all the pairs wired together at the ends. Could do a test if there's surplus cable lying around.

Definitely proper speaker wire would be better for anything other than very short lengths. Was a thread on here recently that discussed using electrical wire for speakers see http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#thetruth

As far as I know you would need shielded phono cable for powered (active) speakers. They would connect to a line out or headphone socket on your amp rather than the speaker terminals which are for ordinary (passive) speakers

Active speakers would also require a power supply at each speaker location.

The advantage of active speakers would be individual volume control of the different speakers and also not having to worry about getting the impenances wrong and damaging amp and/or speakers.

If you were only going to turn on one set of speakers on at a time then there's no need for active speakers.

With 2 sets turned on you could find that one set is louder than the other (that's how it is in my house) Even if the speakers are identical this could still happen due to different acoustic properties of the two areas.

With passive speakers it's important to get the impedance right or you could blow your amp.

If the amp is rated at 4 Ohm per channel it probably came with a pair of 4 Ohm speakers. However if you want to connect 4 speakers they should be double the amp rating i.e. 2 pairs of 8 Ohm speakers. (yes it doesn't look right, but that's the way it is)

You should get away with under powered speakers if you keep the volume down, or only use one set at a time .... but then the next time you have a party ....

noby

Cormac,

I assume my thinking is right, but I don't want to blow my stereo. I'm going for the simpler option: two speakers in the family room (original ones with the stereo), and two similair speakers in the kitchen. All I want to do is have either set of two on, kitchen or family room. A simple matter of switching, I presume?

cormac_byrne

noby,
yes, but just remember that if the switching box allows both sets of speakers be turned on then at some point someone will do it. Even then you should be fine unless you really turn the volume up.

FrankGrimes

thanks for the info lads.

Wasn't skimping on the speaker cable - just had Cat5e sitting there and thought I heard it could do the job. I'll pick up some speaker cable - where in Dublin can I get it? Harkness Bros electrics didn't have it. Wonder where's best to get it and what am I asking for?

Xennon

Just use ordinary 2 core flex, 0.75mmsq or above is fine for domestic use. Do not fall for that marketing muck about speaker cable being special.
Next you'll be telling me its directional :rolleyes:

Idleater

I bought 100% OFC speaker wire at €1 per m (well per arm span) in XMusic (related to RicherSounds) on the quays a while back. Tis good Gale wire too (directional and better than bell wire )

L.

Hoagy

Radionics have a range of speaker cables, for example

item no 357 -592 figure eight 2A cable €17.18/100m plus VAT ex stock.

If you're not near Rialto, you can always buy online.

FrankGrimes

nice one - am up the road from Radionics so will try them. So "item no 357 -592 figure eight 2A cable" is what I'm looking for?

I've some spare flex lying around but not enough so will just buy a roll of the above.

FrankGrimes

Hey Hoagy - I picked up that speaker cable this morning. It's a little slimmer than the white one I was using before, but I'm assuming it'll still do the job?

Hoagy

Should be fine for what you need.