black or red or doesnt matter???

SnoOp_005 · Post by **SnoOp_005** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 8:24 pm

Hi,
I picked some a set of Logitech Z-560 and 30 feet of 16 gague monster cable XP. I saw the manual noted that make sure the dotted white part of the cable is connected to the red...but since im replacing the stock cable wit monster XP.....do these rule apply? Theres no color coding or anything on the monster cable.

Thanks!!

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 8:33 pm

It's ALWAYS important that you connect speakers in the proper polarity. If you wire the polarity differently on the speakers, you'll get phase cancellation.

There IS an identifying mark on ALL speaker cables. Look CAREFULLY at the cable. There will be some difference between the two wires. Sometimes the color of the metal strands is different, sometimes there's a pattern of lines or ridges on the surface of one wire.

Makes absolutely no difference which side you make + or - as long as you're consistent. If the ribbed side of the wire is connected to the + on the amp, then it should be connected to the + on the speaker.

SnoOp_005 · Post by **SnoOp_005** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 12:54 am

ohhh yea thats what i did...i connected the same wire from the speakers to the amp...so it doesnt matter right? like for one speaker i can plug in the postive for red and to amp the same wire then other speaker i can plug in neg for red and same neg to the amp?

poop · Post by **poop** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 6:22 am

Yeah, the wire itself doesn't matter. Heck, most speakers don't even care about individual signal polarity. They just all need to be wired in the same way to the amp.

So if you go from the amp's red to the speaker's black, all speakers should be that way.

TruckStuff · Post by **TruckStuff** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 7:43 am

And if you really want to get down to it, return that Monster cable (which I'm sure you paid an arm and a leg) for and go buy regular old Home Depot 16 guage wire for $.50/ft. Its just as good and a lot cheaper. Lots of people use it for their home theater setups rather than shelling out hundreds of dollars for "better" interconnects.

TheSovereign · Post by **TheSovereign** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 9:54 am

unless u have a capacitor on your speaker system it dont matter
i have seen some but only on really low frequency subwoofers

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 2:49 pm

The whole audiophile speaker wire market is a racket.

I've been a sound engineer for 20 years - trust me, as long as it's good quality stranded wire of ample guage, it makes no difference.

Claims that the composition of the wire used in speaker cables can have ANY affect on sound quality is a crock.

At the output stage of an amp, it's very difficult for extraneous noise to be induced. All the noise and distortion is injected in earlier stages before the amplifier.

poop · Post by **poop** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 3:14 pm

Yeah, expensive cables are pretty much a crock. The only thing you gain from 'name brand' cables is that some are pre-terminated. That means they don't (or shouldn't) corrode. If you use plain old zip chord (like most of us do), you may have to reterminate your cables every now and then.

Oh, and 12 Ga Zip Chord goes for $0.24/ft at Lowes.

SnoOp_005 · Post by **SnoOp_005** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 5:32 pm

ohh thanks guys!!
one more thing...when i cuted out my monster cable...i stripped off too much of the plastic, so on some speaker the bare wire is exposed for like couple of cm more...does that really matter?

sorry to bother u guys again...but anyother thing...does it matter how well u connect the wires to ur speakers? how should u connect wires to the Z-560 cuz this speaker uses binding posts or "banana circles" and the center hole is small cuz it meant for the stock 20 gague wire well i keep twisting and rolling my 16 gague wire for it to fit it and i don think i did a professional job on that(some wires didnt go through both holes)...but is there a way u can tell if wires are not properly connected?

thanks

poop · Post by **poop** » Wed Apr 24, 2002 8:11 pm

Does it sound good to you? If so, then leave it alone. It is all about how it sounds to you.

And let's face it, pretty much all computer speakers are fairly low-fi. So wiring and stuff really won't make a big difference.