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General discussion

Speaker wire for an old shelf system

Sep 23, 2005 2:52AM PDT

I have an old Dennon ($1100 in 1990) system for my bedroom and a visitor blew out one of the speakers. I plan to replace the whole system eventually, but not right now.

I replaced the speakers with some Jensen C220 Champion Series 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers with 6.5" Woofers for less than $50 for the pair.

I was disappointed in the sound quality and realized that the speaker wires are cheap (came with the original system) and are from 1990. I thought I might improve the sound a bit with better speaker wires --but what to get?

The Dennon Audio system D-200 is amp gives out 40 watts per channel.min.RMS, at 8 ohms from 20 HZ-20kHZ with no more than 0.5% T.H.D. The system otherwise works pretty well, CD changer and Tuner being the items I use the most.

You just wrap bare wire around posts at the amp end and stick bare wire into a slot that then clamps down at the other end.

I have experienced major imporvements on my main stereo system in my living room with good wires.

I know that Monster cables are a ripoff in terms of price.

I plan to use the system for another year at least as I have other things I want to buy in the meantime. And I listen to it all the time.

Anyone have any suggestions?


I don't want to spend much as I see this as a temporary fix--there are other problems with system and it will go completely I am sure in a few months.

Any suggestions as to speakers?

Discussion is locked

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Speaker wire for an old shelf system
Sep 23, 2005 3:01AM PDT

Well first off do you know what gage the old speaker wire is????
Did the old speakers sound good with the old speaker wire??
Just a wild guess but I think the problem is with the new speakers not thw wire.
But if you want to get new wire just go to Home Depo and get some 16ga lamp cord. Or if you want to spend a little more they have some nice 16ga "speaker wire". John

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Jcrobso -- your other post
Sep 23, 2005 8:03AM PDT

jcrobso: I read your post on another thread making hte same suggestion. I was hoping for maybe something of better quality than at Home Depot. The last line of my original post sying that I didn't want to spend much was an error of a copy and pste.... that line should not have been there.

Do you have any more upscale suggestion, or do you think that is a waste of time.

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Excellent Recommendation...Cheap 16 Gauge Lamp Cord...
Sep 27, 2005 6:22AM PDT

..Is the best way to go. to hear any appreciable improvement in sound you'd have to go into some mega-bucks esoteric wires costing as much as $100/ft. For 20 cents/ft you will get 95 percent of the performance of the exotics. Just stay away from that garbage 20, 22 and 24 gauge stuff they try and throw at you in some stores. All that's good for is tying off the top of your garbage bags!

lol

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error at bottom of original post
Sep 23, 2005 7:33AM PDT

I was copying and pasting for my original post from another post regarding replacement speakers.. So the last setnace saying "I don't want to spend much and I am sure it will go in a few months" should be ignored.

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The speakers
Sep 23, 2005 1:57PM PDT

If your old speakers sounded good, it is the quality of speakers that is suspect. There is nothing wrong with Home Depot, Radio Shack or Walmart wire as long as you use at least a 16G wire or larger for long runs. Is Monster better? Maybe. Can you hear the difference? Probably not. An 1100 dollar receiver with a 50 dollar set of speakers just does not make sense. A hundred dollar receiver with a couple 200 dollar speakers will blow it away.

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$1100 shelf system not $1100 receiver
Sep 23, 2005 4:24PM PDT

You my be right that it is the speakers but the speakers that came with the shelf system were nothing special. The shelf system (then called a stackable) came with an amp, a separate tuner, a CD player with a 5 CD cartridge and a tape deck, all for $1100 back then. Denon made one of the first CD Players and this one of the first CD changers.

I just figured with technology advancing 15 tears that the speakers I just bought were at least as good (I presumed actually better -- even at 50 bucks -- these were pretty well reviewed) as the small speakers that came with the system 15 years ago.

My disappointment more was that it sounded about the same as the old ones... I guess I hoped they would sound a little richer.

But I will try the speaker wire from Home Depot.

I just had such a remarkeable change with farly pricey connector and speaker wires with my main system in my living room... I though I could do something like that with this mini-system but maybe with somewhat less expensive wires --mid price maybe. I just didn't know what brands were considered worth the money. I was hoping fotr suggestions.

But as I said, I will try the Home Depot route and see what it gives.

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hate to tell you this bro...
Sep 24, 2005 3:56AM PDT

but I used to sell Jensen home speakers and can tell you that out of all the bargain bookshelf speakers the jensens were really not that good. You would have been better off with KLH or a low end technics/panasonic speaker if you could still find them. If you can take the jensens back then do it. Gold speaker wire won't help...perfume on a pig still leaves you with a pig.

I always advise bringing a music cd you know by heart and demoing the speaker before you buy... even then the acoustics of the room they end up in may take a speaker you liked and turn it sour on you.

MOST IMPORTANT... with a matched shelf system stereo... check the impedance of the speaker you are replacing and don't put a lower ohm speaker on that channel or you might blow the amp. If you still have the old speaker and it only has a driver thats bad but can be replaced then consider pulling the cone driver out and putting in a new one. Check out partsexpress.com for inexpensive replacements but again make sure you match the impedance printed on the magnet of the broken driver.

good luck.
grim

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Denon
Sep 24, 2005 8:42AM PDT

They made a pretty decent mini system back then, but I too would check and make sure the origonal speakers were not some weird ohm that matched up with the systems amplifiers. I agree that 16ga speaker wire would be concidered a minimum spec. Buying fancy wire for a system of this calibre is a waist, the money would have been better spent on the speakers. Heck RS minimus 7's should sound OK on a mini system. One other thing not mentioned above, if your using cheap lampcord type wire, is it all one color? If so, are you sure you have + to + and - to - on both speakers. Wire speakers out of phase and they won't sound very good either.