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Knowledge Base on Cables and Wiring

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Speaker Wire FAQs(By Impact Acoustics)What's the difference between in-wall speaker wire and speaker wire?In-wall speaker wire is constructed to specifications set by UL and the National Electrical Code (as written by the National Fire Prevention Association) so that it is safe to be run through the walls of a residential structure. When materials are put inside the wall of a home, they can provide a path for fire to spread from floor-to-floor or room-to-room. The jacket or outside insulation of in-wall speaker wire is manufactured from compounds that help slow the spread of fire.What's the difference between shielded and non shielded?Noise is generated by many electrical and electronic products including fluorescent lights, refrigerators and cordless phones that are common in every modern home. These electrical signals also known as EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) and RFI (Radio-Frequency Interference) can easily find their way onto signal-carrying cables and can be amplified along with your audio signals. Line-level audio signals, such as those run between a CD player and your stereo amplifier, are not at a much higher level than the noise itself. When line level signals are amplified, the noise is amplified too and can be heard along with your music or soundtrack. A well-constructed audio cable will shield the signal-carrying conductor to protect the delicate line level audio from noise.Speaker level signals have already been amplified. Since the signal is so much greater than the EMI/RFI noise, it cannot easily be heard against your music or soundtrack. For this reason, speaker cables are normally not shielded. It is also important to know that running a shielded speaker cable can electrically change the sound of your music. Due to the capacitive effect of the shield to the signal-carrying conductors, you will notice losses of bass and high frequencies, and your audio will sound "tinny".What does so many twist per inch mean, etc.?The conductors in a speaker cable are twisted to help the cable maintain a round shape. This makes the cable easier to pull through wall studs and floor joists. Also, twisted wire pairs will naturally cancel out EMI/RFI noise that can find its way onto the conductors through a process called induction. This is not as important to speaker signals as it is to line level signals as discussed above, but it will help maintain the quality of your audio signals. The more twists per inch, the better the noise rejection.My longest run is about 80 feet; what gauge of wire should I use?There are many schools of thoughtabout cable distance versus wire gauge. In our opinion and from our personal experience, 14AWG speaker cable will be more than sufficient for your application. Keep in mind that as the signal level increases and the cable run increases, you will want to increase the size (wire gauge) of your speaker cable. A good rule of thumb is:* For less than 50 feet to the speakers or volume control, 16AWG is fine.* From 50 feet to 100 feet, use 14AWG.* For 100 feet or more, use 12AWG.If the power output of your amplifier exceeds 100 Watts per channel, you should consider escalating two wire gauges. But remember that your amplifier will normally be pushing less than 1 watt of power to the speakers.I'm also need ceiling speakers and controls; do you have them?Impact Acoustics is a manufacturer of Audio/Video distribution products and not an A/V equipment manufacturer. There is an abundance of speaker manufacturers that all make very good equipment. I suggest that you visit the website www.audioholics.com for reviews about A/V equipment manufacturers.What is USB?Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a new high-speed plug-n-play serial interface designed to connect computers and peripherals faster and easier.How fast is USB?USB has two speed modes: High speed, operating at 12Mb/s and low speed, operating at 1.5Mb/s. High speed devices include scanners & printers, while low speed devices include mice & keyboards. Under the new USB 2.0 specifications recently drafted, the speed of USB will increase 40 times to 480Mb/s! This will enable USB to be used for a new generation of high-speed devices, which can be expected early next year.What kinds of USB peripherals can I connect to my PC or Mac®?Telephones, digital cameras, modems, keyboards, mice, digital joysticks, some CD-ROM drives, tape and floppy drives, digital scanners and specialty printers. USB's data rate also supports a new generation of peripherals, including computer-telephony integration, MPEG-2 video-base products, data gloves and digitizers.How many USB peripherals can I connect at once?Technically, up to 127 individual USB peripherals can be connected at one time. Some devices reserve USB bandwidth, so the practical maximum of devices could be less than the theoretical maximum. However, PCI-USB add-in cards can provide an additional independent USB bus to which even more peripherals can be connected.Can my computer use USB devices?On the hardware side, you will need a USB port in your computer. This can either be built in (most PC's built in 1999 and Apple's® iMac®) or from a plug in card. On the software side, you will need either Windows® 98, Windows 95 OSR 2.1, Windows 2000. For Apple® Macintosh® computers you need MacOS 8.1 or later.Can I add a USB port to my older computer?Yes, by installing a PCI-USB add-in card. You must have a 486 or higher system running Windows® 95 OSR 2.1, Windows 98 or Windows 2000.Can I use USB devices with Windows® NT or Windows® 2000?Windows® NT does not support USB. Windows® 2000 does have USB support.What type of cable(s) do I need?The standard USB peripheral cable has an A male connector to a B male connector. The A connector (upstream) plugs into the computer or hub, and the B connector (downstream) plugs into the peripheral device. Lengths are available up to 5 meters. To extend the length of a standard AB cable, a USB extension cable is needed. These cables can be passive or active. USB extension cables have an A female connector to an A male connector. Active USB extension cables are used when the distance is greater than 5 meters, plus these cables can be chained to reach longer distances. Passive USB extension cables are designed for shorter distances.Ref # Cable Description13171 USB A to B Cable - 1 M13172 USB A to B Cable - 2 M13400 USB A to B Cable - 3 M13401 USB A to B Cable - 5 MWhat is the maximum distance?Five meters is the maximum cable length allowed by the USB specification. You can achieve longer cable runs by inserting a hub every five meters or you can chain Active Extension cables to attain the needed distance.How do I increase USB bandwidth?By installing a PCI-USB add-in card, which provides an independent USB bus to which even more peripherals can be connected. What is the difference between bus-powered and self-powered hubs?USB supports both bus-powered and self-powered devices. Most general-purpose hubs come with their own power supply and therefore are self powered. Bus powered hubs gets power from the bus and therefore has the limitation of only supporting low power devices. Each downstream port on a bus-powered hub typically supplies up to 100mA. On the other hand, each downstream port on a self-powered hub typically supplies up to 500mA.How can I connect two computers via USB?To connect two computers together you will need a USB bridge. A USB Peer to Peer cable for file and hardware sharing or a USB Data Transfer Cable for file sharing. CAUTION: Using A to A USB cables, will short the two PCs' power supplies together, possibly destroying one or both machines or causing a fire hazard.Can I use game port, serial, parallel, SCSI, or PS/2 devices on USB?These devices use different signals, not to mention different connectors than the ones used for USB, so you can't plug them directly into a USB port. However, you can convert game port, serial, parallel, SCSI, or PS/2 devices into USB compatible devices. With these, you can actually attach many more non-USB devices to your PC than you could without USB. Some devices support multiple connections to the PC, and therefore come with special adapters that let them connect to USB or another port.How does USB compare to IEEE-1394?The two serial buses seem similar, but they are intended to fulfill different bandwidth and cost needs. IEEE-1394 can move more data in a given amount of time, but is considerably more expensive than USB. IEEE-1394 is best suited for disk drives, high quality video streams and other high bandwidth applications. USB is appropriate for middle and low bandwidth applications such as audio, scanners, printers, keyboards, and mice. For more info on IEEE-1394, see our Firewire Overview below.Firewire OverviewFireWire® is Apple’s® trademark for the technology known as IEEE-1394 High Performance Serial Bus, or simply 1394. Apple, in the 1980’s, was the originator of the technology which came to be defined as IEEE-1394. 1394/FireWire is a versatile, high-speed, and low-cost method of interconnecting a variety of personal computer peripherals and consumer electronics devices, while eliminating the frustrating tangle of cables most users encounter today. 1394 was designed to be a global interconnect, eliminating the need for many different input/output connectors. The resulting port integration and consolidation of circuit board space results in an overall reduction in product cost and complexity.Sony® was the first to adopt 1394 into the consumer market (companies that want to use the name FireWire in a product using 1394 technology must sign a licensing agreement with Apple) by introducing a line of digital camcorders with a 1394 interface which they call i.Link®. Like other brands that Sony has created such as Walkman® and Trinitron®, i.Link is Sony’s effort to put a friendly face on IEEE-1394 technology. A number of leading companies support this branding initiative.There is much confusion between 1394 and Universal Serial Bus (USB). Both are emerging technologies that offer a new method of connecting multiple peripherals to a computer. Both permit peripherals to be added to or disconnected from a computer without the need to reboot. Both use thin, flexible cables which employ simple, durable connectors. But the similarities end there. Although 1394 and USB cables may look nearly the same, the amount of data and the way data flows through them is quite different.

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