Which speaker cable for a Sony STRDH790 amp? pls help

Tattooed

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Hi,
Just bought a Sony STRDH790 amp. The speaker cable I am using now is a bit to wide to fit in the ports at the back of the amp. I have also had the speaker cable for years and would like to buy new cable.

I noticed that amazon are selling their own speaker cable now called
AmazonBasics 16-Gauge Speaker Wire

Would that cable be any good?
 

lucid

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Read the description. It says 'copper plated aluminum' - it's crap.

Follow the simple law of You get what you pay for; basic decent all-copper speaker cable at around 1-1.3mm cross-sectional area (CSA) is going to cost you about £1 per metre for something new. That's your base price. Anything significantly lower than that needs to be looked at very carefully because somewhere there's a catch. In this case they're offering 30m of cable for £10, so your cost per metre is roughly 30p. That's too cheap to be genuine 100% copper cable.


Just because your current speaker cable won't fit the spring clip terminals for the centre and surround speaker connections on the amp, it doesn't mean that you have to change all of the cable. There are more than one way to skin a cat.

Have a look at these banana plugs which are designed to take thick cable (up to 4mm) and give a pin end thin enough for any spring clip socket. The plugs themselves fit to the cable ends using a grub screw. All you need is a small screwdriver, so it's not a difficult thing to fit. Ta-dah!! A solution. Simple, quick and convenient. (Don't forget to say thank you :D )
 

keylion

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Is it the speaker cable for the main front speakers or the surrounds? If it's the main front then lucid has the answer for you above. If it's the surrounds then they appear to be spring clip terminals so you're a bit more limited. I'd just trim some of the copper strands from the outside of the cable to reduce the diameter.
 

area51

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keylion said:
Is it the speaker cable for the main front speakers or the surrounds? If it's the main front then lucid has the answer for you above. If it's the surrounds then they appear to be spring clip terminals so you're a bit more limited. I'd just trim some of the copper strands from the outside of the cable to reduce the diameter.
Click to expand...


Can still use banana plugs in those spring terminals if not to big

79 strand copper cable was always a good start.
 

lucid

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keylion said:
Is it the speaker cable for the main front speakers or the surrounds? If it's the main front then lucid has the answer for you above. If it's the surrounds then they appear to be spring clip terminals so you're a bit more limited. I'd just trim some of the copper strands from the outside of the cable to reduce the diameter.
Click to expand...

No. Read my post properly. The banana plugs I linked to are not for the front left/right sockets on the amp. The plug ends are too thin. They'll fall out.

These plugs I have recommended are specifically for spring clip terminals. You know, where the hole is too small for some of the medium thickness cables. The adapter takes care of the size reduction, and at the same time makes the connections to the amp neater, easier to use and safer too - no risk of stray filaments.

The OP can use standard size 4mm banana plugs for front L/R, but use these thinner ones for Centre and surround L/R.
 

lucid

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For cheap surround speakers - with Atmos up-firing drivers built in - yes.

Better quality products exist, but if what you're interested in is just getting some surround sound with Atmos functionality too then the Onkyos are probably an appropriate match for that Sony amp.
 

lucid

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Tattooed said:
Hi,
Thanks for all the replies. Would this speaker cable be any good for the surrounds. As I have cut the last speaker cable a bit short.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Perfor...er+cables+15m&qid=1556821378&s=gateway&sr=8-3
Click to expand...

£2/m isn't a huge amount to spend in speaker cable, but I'm a big believer in getting the basics right before listening to the exotic promises of the marketing men. In this case, getting the basics right means getting the most power from your amp to your speakers without wasting it as power loss in cables. The simple fact is that thinner cables lose more power than thicker ones.

You may not think that power losses are a big thing to worry about. My view is that its far cheaper to buy a slightly thicker cable and stop the power being lost than it is to buy a bigger amplifier to make up the difference.

The QED cable is 0.75mm cross sectional area (CSA). On a 15m run, a basic copper cable of that size will throw away roughly 15% of the power sent to the speaker. Upping the cable CSA to 1.5mm sees the cable losses slashed by half to roughly 8%.

The DCKs speaker cable @ 2.5mm as listed by @Flibster sees the losses drop to under 5%.

Cable power losses due to capacitance are a real thing. But how much can be put down to the difference between PVC and PE is dependent on frequency. If QED believe they can use PE to overcome the power lost when dropping the cable diameter by 50% then lets see the science and the numbers that backs that up.

IMO, get the basics right first - that means a decent thickness cable - then tinker with more exotic insulation materials.

DCKs also makes a flat 1.5mm cable which comes in at under £20 for 15. The flat profile might help you when it comes to concealing the cable during installation.


Tattooed said:
Hi,
Thanks for all the replies. Would this speaker cable be any good for the surrounds. As I have cut the last speaker cable a bit short.

And the banana plugs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaker-Pi...Q7SD83EEFBC&psc=1&refRID=FRNYHVAQEQ7SD83EEFBC
Click to expand...

You do realise they're EXACTLY THE SAME ONES I liked to in post #2? Are you even paying attention or am I wasting my time?? :confused:

Tattooed said:
Would these banana plugs fit the front ok?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Eas...8JGX7C112KH&psc=1&refRID=67X3R7Q9P8JGX7C112KH
Click to expand...

Yes. Any 4mm banana plugs will do just fine.
 

lucid

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Personally I think 2.5mm is overkill for the surrounds unless the cable lengths are going to be very long i.e 30m and above. The extra cost plus the added complexity of trying to conceal a really thick cable is hard to justify against the marginal difference that it makes to power savings compared to a 1.5mm cable. However, it's your money.

To answer your question though, AWG 13 2X2,5mm2 15m doesn't pinpoint which AWG 13 2X2,5mm2 15m you're looking at. Post a web link.
 
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