we usually use the Liberty Audiocat(14/4 and cat5e) to KP location then a regulay 14/4 to first speaker then 14/2 jumper to 2nd speaker

the audiocat 16 is a 16 gauge wire and cat 5e

[Link: secure.libertycable.com]

we usually pull direct to speakers as well but found we can cover our butts later if the over runs do exceed, we can spec a different system in if needed

Has anyone used one of the cold heat solder irons??

I haven't used a volume control in about 5 years, but I like to pull 14/2 to each individual speaker and if a system hasn't been predetermined I will loop the wire through the keypad location just in case. No splices=alot of saved time and no chance for a bad connection or problem in the future.

Not picking on Anthony; he's just the first one to say it:


Wire nuts are not appropriate for speaker wire. When you do electrical wiring, and you can twist 12 gauge solid three or four times, then twist it into a wire nut, you have a really tight connection. "Tight" here means metal to metal that won't slip because if it is loose enough to slip, it is loose enough to corrode just from oxygen.

Oxygen. That's the point. If you put stranded wire into wire nuts and twist the wire with just the nuts (because you can't twist it worth a darn with pliers like you can with 12 gauge solid), you will have a connection maybe half as tight, or less, than the 12 gauge solid in wire nuts. And think about it -- if you could make this kind of wire as tight as a 12 gauge connection, you would be able to twist it with pliers.

Use crimp connectors. I like butt connectors, but cap connectors are good too, as long as you are crimping. Crimping makes the metal cold flow and provides oxygen-free metal to metal contact.


This, of course, is almost the ticket. Better is to run 14/4 past the VC location. 14/4 is less than twice the price of 14/2, so you save money. You have no splice at the VC or KP location, so that is good. And it takes less time to slit the wire sheath at the speaker near the kp and pull out the pair of wires for that speaker than it does to do splices.

I have. The "new technology" is really a twist on old technology: resistance soldering. The tip is a divided conductive material. Heat is created by passing current through the material that bridges the split tip.



The iron works okay for average work. I wouldn't want to use it for working on PC boards or attaching multi-conductor connectors to cables.

if we know in advance of prewiring that it might be a keypad system, we, loop (but don't cut the 16/4 at the keypad / VC mud ring location), and continue up to the first speaker location, then run a 2 cond. jumper over to the 2nd speaker... uses a little more 4-conductor, but oh well.

Yeah 14/4 is cheaper than 2 runs of 14/2 but I have found that it is much quicker to terminate the 14/2's at the speaker location as well as a little neater than spending the time to strip out the pair of conductors from the 14/4. Plus I can remember several instances where a tech striped out the red and black pair for one speaker, then went and put the second speaker on the red and black again because they were either A:stupid, B:distracted or C:genuinely thought they had used the white and green on the previous speaker, thus wasting time later trying to troubleshoot why there isn't any sound on the left channel. The wire cost to me is minimal as it is figured into the cost of the prewire, compared to labor.

Hey cma, just curious about why you use the wire color pairings you do.

We use Red and Green for speaker 1, and White and Black for speaker 2. This way, you always have one wire per speaker that is correctly color coded.

Speaker 1: Red = red = positive
Green = black = negative

Speaker 2: Black = Black = negative
White = Red = positive.

Also, red an green are both 'colors', while black and white are both 'shades', so its easy to remember the pairings... and then use color matching (on one terminal per speaker) to ensure phase is correct.

At my old job, we used the Druid's scheme, and at this job we use CMA's. My present boss says that the black/white thing is "electrician code", and the Black/Red thing is "Audio guy code". We now refer to the red/green code as "Christmas Tree wiring"

I don't think it matters, as long as you are consistent.

well if you want to keep to an industry standard...see CEA's 2030 Multi-Room Audio Cabling Standard document, page 11 section 4.3.2 and it states that red is the positive conductor, black is the negative conductor, and if it is a 4 conductor wire, white is positve and green is negative...

So, when using the above convention which pair of wires is used for the left channel and which wire is used for the right channel?

Speaker 1 and speaker 2 designation is great, but isn't it a matter of perspective or should I say cabling direction. I think you may have left some detail out of the explanation.

We always use red/black for right channel and green white/green for the left. If the installer doesn't know which is the left or right channel you probably have bigger problems.

Red/Blk Right
Wht/Grn Left

My theory is that Red and Black is standard audio and Green in the Electrical world is ground.

Either way it doesn't really matter as long as it's all the same. Any audiophiles out there have a preference as to what color combination has the best sound?

Excuse my ignorance guys(nooby) but what the heck does KP mean? lol

We use Xmas tree scheme:

red/black=right (red is always right from an audio POV)
green/white=left (green positive, white negative)

red and green are always positive. White and black are dull colors, easy to associate with the negative (like a ground wire in car audio).

We should probably all try to follow a standard like the CEA one, that way when we have to come fix YOUR mistakes we won't spend half a day chasing down wires! :-)

Larry, thanks for the image to support my post! I didn't even think about using the image itself.

right speaker is red + black -
left is white + green -

been doing it that waty for many moons like , 13 years

ed

When I need to splice anywhere that the splice will be visible, I use terminal strips... When I need to splice in a wall, I use insulated crimp caps. I think this is the same animal that ATOH linked to from Ideal.

They are like butt connectors, and the car audio suppliers sell them cheaply. Unlike the butts, there is only one opening. You twist the wires together and crimp them with the aforementioned Kleins (or the blue Channel Lock versions). I like them more than butts because you only have one crimp to make, and the wire is already twisted just in case the crimp isn't solid (although if this happened, that tech would need to be fired).

I also subscribe to the 14/2 direct from amp to speaker...
For those micro-analyzing the pricing between 14/2 and 14/4, there are more important factors for me than a few bucks... like the extra time and neatness in lacing a rack.

I like to have an individual wire for each speaker in it's sheath right to within a few inches of the binding posts rather than a 4 conductor stripped farther back in case the posts are seperated.

PS:
Green is for ground in the electrical field, but white is usually negative (aka "neutral", compared to black being positive or "hot")... so then what??

I am just busting stones here...
I use the white positive, green negative scheme when using 4c.
To me it's not that it's dull... It's darker.

PPS:
This is for Calito...
KP = keypad
VC = volume control