maclib99 wrote:

I am nearing the setup of my new AVR, Bookshelf speakers and subwoofer. I will connect the subwoofer with the LFE connection using RCA cable. My sub and speakers will all be less than 15 ft from the AVR. What speaker wire gauge is optimal? The speaker connectors say: Heavy-duty 5-way binding posts and the connectors on the AVR side say: spring loaded. How important are banana and/or spade connectors when I connect my bookshelf speakers?
Thanks

Cables can be tricky. The heavier the cable, the less line resistance, but in the case of multistrand (most common) too heavy can be too much capacitance and too many eddy currents, and slightly roll off your high frequencies and muddy up your mid-range. If you go solid core and too thin, you solve the capacitance but increase the line resistance and possibly hurt your low frequency.

Needless to say, cables are, albeit simple, a component. Anyone who ever says they are the MOST important thing is trying to sell you cables. Anyone who tells you they aren't important at all doesn't understand ohms law.

The best thing to do is, within your budget try different things. I learned in doing so that I like heavy solid core (specifically the same stuff your house is likely wired with), but don't like using it because it's inflexible and unwieldy. I don't like lamp chord. I DO like communication wiring, CAT 5, CAT 6 etc. but the quality varies some from manufacturer to manufacturer.

That covers inexpensive DIY stuff. When it comes to commercial wares I don't like making specific recommendations. For your application I'd use a spades at the speaker end and of you use stranded cable (like most cables out there) strip and have your ends tinned with a good tin or silver soldier. Silver may require a professional do it for you but will oxidize less. In either case if they are tinned just clean them every once in a while. If you don't tin them you will get slightly better sound but should as a question of maintenance cut and re-strip your ends occasionally to remove oxidation from your connection.

And have fun. That's what it's all about.

maclib99 wrote:

I am nearing the setup of my new AVR, Bookshelf speakers and subwoofer. I will connect the subwoofer with the LFE connection using RCA cable. My sub and speakers will all be less than 15 ft from the AVR. What speaker wire gauge is optimal? The speaker connectors say: Heavy-duty 5-way binding posts and the connectors on the AVR side say: spring loaded. How important are banana and/or spade connectors when I connect my bookshelf speakers?
Thanks

Get yourself a Monster XP cable 14gauge is fine. Banana or spade matters little but mostly for convenience; just get a good solid contact to your speaker.

If you have spring connectors on the receiver, most of them will not accept anything larger than 16 gauge stranded wire, so that is your limit.

They also are designed ONLY for stranded wire, and do not make a good connection with solid wire. You cannot use anything but bare stranded wire there to get a good connection; no connectors should be used.

For the speaker end, spade lugs are the best thing to use, and soldering them onto the wire is best.

I suggest that you get the Monoprice 16 gauge 100% copper speaker wire; Monoprice #2749.

That is for 50 feet, and runs around $10. It will do a very good job for your setup.

16 gauge is adequate for up to 20 feet. The total resistance for a 15 foot run is around 0.1 ohm, which is trivial.

I use Belden 10 gauge wire for my Vandersteen Treo speakers, but they are very high-current speakers, and are running on a 300-watt amplifier.