F10 owners-what cable are you using?

vpolineni · « **on:** 11 May 2005, 08:36 pm »

here's yet another thread on the f10:
what cables are you all using with your f10? i've seen recommendations for cat5/6 cable, manet wire, and silver plated copper. is the thickest gauge possible to fit in the spring clip connectors 14 gauge? let's put all the cable info on this unit here so it will be easily accessible in the future. thanks.

fabaudio · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 May 2005, 09:38 pm »

First of all make sure you're in a good mood before dealing with those spring clips-Prozac would help.
I use a pair of Bolder Cable's binding post adaptors for the main speakers and Radio Shack's flex pins for center and surrounds. As for cables I've been using Ixos 6003 with the woofers for their tight bottomless bass and Home Depot's 14 guage extension cords( bare on both ends ) for the tweeters. The HD cable is very slightly grainy but has a bold presentation and-yes,here we go again-musical.

timbley · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:01 am »

I use multi strand Radioshack speaker cable, not the really heavy stuff because of those spring clips, and because I don't perceive the need for it. I've got it running in triplicate since I'm tri-amping my speakers.

vpolineni · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:08 am »

timbley,
you make a great point about the spring clip connectors.. i don't think they will allow for the use of magnet wire due to the weight. when you say "triplicate", are you running all three strands from the same spring clip or are you using three connectors to tri-amp using 6 channels?

timbley · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:10 am »

I'm using 6 total channels to tri-amp, so there's only one cable per spring clip, thank goodness!

vpolineni · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:19 am »

Quote from: timbley

I'm using 6 total channels to tri-amp, so there's only one cable per spring clip, thank goodness!

that's what i thought.... all the cables in one connector would make the springs pop off instantly

.

kck · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:41 am »

I have used 12 -ga magnet wire in the spring clips. Only one and no more will fit - I tried.

fabaudio · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 May 2005, 01:48 am »

vpolineli

" you make a great point about the spring clip connectors.. i don't think they will allow for the use of magnet wire due to the weight."

Depending on where the receiver is placed you can put something under the cables to support the weight. The height will be trial and error but it's doable.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 May 2005, 02:56 am »

I use Mohawk CAT-6 speaker cable....and Alpha-Core TQ2 IC from the front end. They work in tandem nicely....reasonable costing.

The solid core silver TQ2 really highlights the JVC's terrific resolution/clarity. Of corse, put into proper perspective, it costs 65% of what the JVC costs.

Funny audio math these days

Bobcat · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 May 2005, 03:56 pm »

For lack of something better, I have been using 16 guage Radio Shack speaker cable. Yes...16 guage does work without undue effort.

Question: For those of you biamping or triamping (awesome), how are you connecting your CD/DVD players to the F10 in order for the surround amps to play full range? How do you set up your system when the surround amps would normally only be playing surround signals?

By the way, my F10 is currently driving my 89db Infinity IL30 small floorstander apeakers. "Glorious RICH sound", my spouse says! I know biamping will only help to improve things, so please HELP!

Much appreciated!!!

KCHANG · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 May 2005, 08:36 pm »

I am also using the Home Depot 14 guage extension cord as speaker wires with my F-10 receiver, which biamps my main system based on the B&G RD-75 drivers. I now use the HD-14 wires in all my speaker systems. l tried various versions of CAT-5 based speaker cables, DIY copper foil cables, magnet wires, etc., before switching to the HD-14 wires.

Kurt Chang

Bobcat · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 May 2005, 09:50 pm »

Hey Kurt et al,

I would like to try the Home Depot 14 guage extension wire you are using for speaker wire. How do I identify the correct wire when I go to Home Depot? Is this bulk wire, or does it come with plugs on the end to be used as extension cords? What color is the jacket? Is it braided or solid core?

Much appreciate your help, gang!

Bob Coon
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821

fabaudio · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 May 2005, 10:37 pm »

The HD's are orange with a black stripe extension cords

Horizons · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 May 2005, 12:21 am »

FWIW, I believe that the benefit of biamping greatly exceeds any benefits of high end cables. In other words, I think you will get more bang for your buck by biamping with 16GA zipcord than using a single amp with mega $$$ hyperlitz, silver-coated wire.

I have used both 14/16 GA zip (can't imagine fitting anything larger) and Kimber 4PR (MAJOR Pain). I need to try 14 or 16 GA magnet wires.

I did try the HD orange on another prior system and it sounded very good. Could be a good match for the JVC.

Lastly, I usually SOLDER the wire directly to the terminals once I am happy with the setup and wire combo. Soldering makes a huge difference and I have little confidence that the spring clips in the JVC are making very decent contact, they barely hold my Kimber 4PR wires in place!

Horizons · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 May 2005, 12:25 am »

Quote from: KCHANG

my F-10 receiver, which biamps my main system based on the B&G RD-75 drivers.

Kurt:
Wow, that little JVC must be as good as I think it is. Totally happy driving my Maggies but since I used to own the BG 520DX (with the 50-inch BG driver) I would think you could hear any problems with that monster BG driver. In my experience, the BG drivers are close to state of the art.

That little JVC really shows the promise of digital amps.

fabaudio · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 May 2005, 01:05 am »

Horizons
Try Radio Shack's flex pins.They're 24 kt gold plated self crimping for various guage wires-then just stick those suckers into the spring clips. Do NOT use Monster Cables pins - too thick. Once that's done though you'll have to weave something ( I use a thin strip of vinyl) around the pins so that they don't touch each other. Check them out- you'll understand what I mean.
Frank

timbley · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 May 2005, 01:27 am »

Quote from: Bobcat

Question: For those of you biamping or triamping (awesome), how are you connecting your CD/DVD players to the F10 in order for the surround amps to play full range? How do you set up your system when the surround amps would normally only be playing surround signals?

Hi Bobcat.

I've got the F10's set up so that they only have input on the DVD multi, and I only use them in that mode. I'm using an active crossover, with the surround channel inputs and amps used to power the tweeters. It's very important that my tweeters don't get a full range signal because it will fry them as they have no passive network protecting them from low frequency signals. This could happen if someone inadvertently switched input on the JVCs to FM tuner and then turned on one of the surround modes for some reason. To minimize this risk I've told the receiver that there aren't any surround speakers attached. This has no effect on the DVD multi inputs because all settings are bypassed in that mode. But it does prevent anything from going to the tweeters in case someone uninformed tries to do switch to FM/AM tuner.

My Denon CD/DVD player, computer, and Xbox are all attached to the digital inputs of a Panasonic SA-XR50 receiver, which is being used soley as a digital switchbox, which is nice because it has remote control. It sends the selected input out to my Behringer DEQ equalizer via the Panny's optical digital output. The DEQ then sends the digital signal to the DCX crossover, which finally sends the filtered high pass and low pass analog converted signals out to the JVC's DVD multi inputs. I use a universal remote programmed to control the volume of the JVC F10s, but the source selection of the Panasonic.

KCHANG · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 May 2005, 11:06 am »

Quote from: Horizons

Kurt:
Wow, that little JVC must be as good as I think it is. Totally happy driving my Maggies but since I used to own the BG 520DX (with the 50-inch BG driver) I would think you could hear any problems with that monster BG driver. In my experience, the BG drivers are close to state of the art.

That little JVC really shows the promise of digital amps.

Hi Horizons,

Before I switched to the JVC, I used a DIY 200W/channel Tripath amp to drive the B&G drivers through a speaker-level passive crossover. I am not sure whether the JVC is better than the Tripath amp, but since I now use a Behringer digital crossover, the multi-channel volume control of the JVC becomes a necessity. The JVC does sound better than the Panasonic XR-45 in this particular application.

I agree with you that the B&G drivers are fairly special. In the last 8 years since I built the B&G system, I've tried quite a few speaker projects, and the B&G system is still the the flag ship in my fleet. It is, however, quite difficult to extract the best out of the B&G drivers. For instance, the baffle width and shape have a huge influence on the sound. Eight years after building them, I am still tweaking the speakers and the electronics driving them. The biggest improvement was replacing the original bass boxes with two dipolar open-baffle bass modules with four 18" drivers stacked on each side.

By the way, what caused you to switch from the B&G RD-50 speakers to the Maggies?

Best,

Kurt

KCHANG · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 May 2005, 11:22 am »

Quote from: Bobcat

Hey Kurt et al,

I would like to try the Home Depot 14 guage extension wire you are using for speaker wire. How do I identify the correct wire when I go to Home Depot? Is this bulk wire, or does it come with plugs on the end to be used as extension cords? What color is the jacket? Is it braided or solid core?

Hi Bob,

The Home Depot 14 guage extension cord comes in 80' length and has an orange jacket with black stripes, and should cost less than $20 (or even $15). The wires (black, white, green) inside are stranded. I used to remove the orange/black jacket and use only the black and white wires twisted together as the speaker cable, but recently I got lazy and made a few pairs of speaker cables from the extensio cord without removing the out jacket.

Best,

Kurt

Horizons · « **Reply #19 on:** 13 May 2005, 04:32 pm »

Quote from: KCHANG

By the way, what caused you to switch from the B&G RD-50 speakers to the Maggies?

Kurt:
Well, I am a sucker for that Maggie warmth. The other reason is that I think the stock 520DX crossover could use some improvement. In hindsight, I'm sure I could live happily ever after with the BG ribbons if I had removed the stock passive xover and biamped with an electronic xover (Behringer). The 520DX also has a baffle of less than 8-inches width but they cross it over around 500 Hz. Bottom line, I think the stock xover is really holding back that speaker and I have heard that this was the major improvement on the latest BG model. Lastly, the Maggie QR is better in the top octave than the BG driver (without any EQ).

Having said all that I had some amazing audiophile experiences with the BGs. I do miss them from time to time.