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Pre-wired in new home.

Hi all, I recently purchased a new home that came pre-wired for 5.1. The wire they used meet's codes, but is probably the cheapest stuff they could find. I'm only going to use the rear hook ups for my surrounds, which will be wall mounted. Would it really matter or make a difference what speaker cable I use from the speaker to the wall jack's, since the wire in- between the wall jack at the speaker and the wall jack coming out by the power amp is the cheap stuff.Using the wire the came with the house to hook directly to the speakers and the amp, is not an option. It's to short on both ends. Thanks for any input.
dbx

Showing 1 response by shadorne

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shadorne
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I expect several people to warn you that it will sound terrible with ordinary wires. Personally I would not worry about it - not even one minute. 80 feet of 16 AWG will lose you about 20% power into a 4 Ohm load. Of course 12 AWG would only lose 10% power into 4 ohms. If your amp is border line then get a slightly bigger amp then you would normally use and use 8 ohm speakers that are not difficult to drive rather than 4 ohm rated speakers.

Check that the cable is UL-rated (labeled CL2 or CL3) - you can see this on the jacket if you unscrew the wall socket and examine the wires.
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