really boring techie stuff cables etc?

[Marc1t]

Ok I’m really new here & trying to get my head round all this stuff.
Iv just put togeather some old hi fi gear.
Nad 3130 amp
Duel 510 TT
Dennon DCD1000 CD player
& Iv just acquired a pair of Mordaunt Short Aviano 6 speakers at a bargain price (haven’t picked up yet) all switch on & is in mint condition so no reason to believe it wont fire into audio life once hooked up.
So I need some cables.

I assume I can bi wire the speakers to my amp, am I correct in this as there are 2 channels A & B 4 posts each on the amp? & 4 posts marked hi & low on the speakers.
Been looking at Bi wire cable, seems really expensive, any recommendations or is ordinary speaker cable x2 per speaker just as good?
The TT phono cable out of the back looks really naff & is hard wired to a din plug I had with it a din to audio adapter which I seem to have lost. Can I replace this cable for something more decent? Any suggestions.
Cheers
Marc

[CageyH]

IMHO, You will gain very little from Bi wiring the speakers as you are suggesting.
You will be better of getting a decent quality (not necessarily expensive) cable and using a small part to make a jumper between the speaker posts.

[struth]

You can yes. Remember to remove the links on speaker if you do and replace them once you go back to standard wiring. Personally I wouldn't bother but won't do any harm trying

[Macca]

If you have the brass bi-wire links that originally were supplied with the speakers, use them and just use a single run of speaker cable. If you don't have the links cut a couple of little stretches off of the speaker cable and use them instead.

Plug the speaker cables into the bottom set of sockets on the speakers and use the brass links or the little runs of speaker cable you cut off to link the bottom terminals to the top ones.

Don't use both sets of speaker outputs on the amp, if you cock up you will blow a fuse in the amp.

Replace the DIN plug on the TT with RCA plugs, it will then fit into your amp without an adaptor. Or buy a DIN to RCA adaptor, will cost you about a fiver.

[walpurgis]

Keep it simple to start with. Get the system up, running and sorted first. Better to ensure you have a decent enough pair of cables to start off with rather than bi-wiring. You can always try that later, but I've never beard any improvement from it myself, some people even report negative results from odd phase effects.

You don't need to spend a fortune on cables, just buy a respectable make. Ixos are good on a budget (although they do make rather nice expensive ones too).




.

[Primalsea]

Yeah, I wouldn’t bother with bi-wiring either. You can buy decent speaker cable from Amazon, nothing special, but not terrible either. At around £8 to £15 it will be fine to get your system up and running and you can then look into other cable later on.

As for the TT cable, it depends how DIY capable you are. You could buy a half decent set of cables, take the phono plugs off at one end and then use the lead to rewire your TT. This will require you opening up the TT and performing a bit of surgery. Or you could snip off the din connector and solder on some phono plugs, or just go for an adapter for now.

[Minstrel SE]

Yep I wouldnt bother biwiring. buy some QED 79 strand as it would have been recommended then and it will do the job now. Other than that pop into Richer Sounds and see what they have on the reel for even less cost than 79 strand. The sales people will help you. Some good budget value copper cable will be fine

You have some decisions about soldering banana plugs on or not..... so if you can give us a maximum budget that you want to spend.

I have done some experimenting with cables and if you keep your wire lengths reasonable you dont want to be spending too much.

Check your manuals about wiring the cable which is straightforward red + to red and black -to black on each channel. Everything switched off when wiring up.

Does the amp have two sets of speakers supported? Pair A and Pair B?? Yes according to what I see. Just use the one output set left and right. One set of four with your Mordaunts!

Get it up and running with more left over for records. Then you can decide in the longer term where you want to go with it

[walpurgis]

As for the TT cable, it depends how DIY capable you are. You could buy a half decent set of cables, take the phono plugs off at one end and then use the lead to rewire your TT. This will require you opening up the TT and performing a bit of surgery. Or you could snip off the din connector and solder on some phono plugs, or just go for an adapter for now.

Yeah. Good info.

Avoid going for screw fit phono plugs, they are bad news. If you haven't soldered, try it. It's not hard or expensive to get set up and everybody here can advise.

[Marc1t]

Thanks guys for all your sugestions

Iv had a busy day today.....
Picked up the speakers £60 they look awesome they are big,! Came with 2x4 meters of 10 gauge bog standard cable so screwed on some banana plugs from Maplins, these will do for awhile until I get something better The speaker bridge plates on the posts were missing so made up some jumpers with some short pieces of the cable.
While I was there also got some phono plugs for the TT salderd them on not the neatest saldering but eventually I want to replace the whole cable anyway.
Anyway connected it all up & fired it up"

Wow am I a happy bunny"......all working fine & loud 😀 sounds amaizing.
I played an old David Bowie record Hunky Dory which has been in the loft for 20 years sounds as good today as when I bought it.
So I’m really pleased.
Thanks again for all your advice.

[walpurgis]

Good result. :thumbsup:

[Marc1t]

Good result. :thumbsup:

Yes my system
Duel 510 turntable
Dennon DCD 1000
Nad 3130 amp
Mordeant Short Aviano 6 speakers

Total cost about £ 90 including a few plugs phono cables etc.

Of course I purchased the amp CD player years ago but that doesn’t count