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just setting up for the FIRST time...

hi, all - i'm new...and need to learn a little more...have been browsing for about 4 months and am in over my head . so i watched some threads and tried to read between the lines and start a new system on a careful budget. so here is what i have -- an onkyo tx-8511 and a pair of paradigm atom v2 speakers. now i am looking at speaker cable and have found numerous references to Audioquest F-14 speaker cable. would this be a good choice? the room we are setting up is very limited in what we can do, the space is very strange (den to loft / 45-degree ceiling) with no place to hide any cords except behind the 7-foot entertainment center. (the ceiling has no crawl space...it is the roof, literally). thanks for input, mona
monamotz
5 responses Add your response
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
The speakers should ideally be at the "short" end of the room, meaning that they should be firing out along the rise of the ceiling, and hopefully you can position your listening seat in the part of the room where the ceiling is highest. You can get pretty darn good sound that way.
I also favor Frank's Signal Cable speaker wire. Great value.

Cheers, and welcome aboard!

narrod
1,064 posts
 
Get the speakers out into the room. Don't position them on either side of the entertainment center. Those speakers don't produce low bass under any condition but that's not really important. They can still sound quite musical.

Good luck,

Wendell
sbrtoy
122 posts
 
Not sure how much the Audioquest is, but I have used Signal Cable Ultra shotguns in a very expensive system and they performed extremely well, so it may be one to look at as well.

I second the stands, for monitors this is your biggest tweak. Make sure you get the tweeter at or near ear level with the height of the stands, and make sure the stands have some decent spikes. I have used VTI stands in the past and they are pretty decent and very inexpensive, Target (not the retailer) makes some decent metal stands as well for low $$.

Your next challenge will be the room, get the speakers placed where they have decent bass and the stage doesn't collapse against the wall. This will take some time and trial and error.
celtic66
1,656 posts
 
The Audioquest will work fine. The Atoms like a decent speaker stand (steel) with a little mass. Buy some poster board putty ($1.50 Office Depot), break up the putty and roll into balls with your hands, place a ball at each corner of the top plate of the stands, then center speakers over the plate and push down to set.

This room may be acoustically very strange. I tried setting up a room similar and gave up as the bass disappeared completely. Good luck.
arni
313 posts
 
It is hard to beat Signal cable for its value. I got Frank's basic speaker cable for my office system, and I was amazed at the improvement from basic Home Depot zip cords.
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