If your looking for what type of cable to get, check out the Cable section located in the On Gear portion of the site.

The Right Length
Using different lengths of cable for every speaker can create an unbalanced system causing one speaker to have more signal loss than the other. That why it's important that your speaker "sets" each use the same type of cable with the same length.

Home theater speakers can be broken down into two sets of speakers:

1. main left, right, and center
2. left and right surrounds

Using the same length of cable within each set is imperative to create an even sound field.

If you choose not to use the exact lengths of wire you can try to make up for the difference through calibration. You simply have to set one speaker's volume higher to match the other (see Calibration for more on this). You can't, however, make up for the loss and distortion the extra length of cable will impart on the audio signal. That's why it's best to use matching cable runs.

When deciding the final length of your speaker cable leave 6-12 inches of slack so that you can cut the cable to create new clean connections each year. The reason you want to do this is that over time the exposed wire will oxidize. This oxidization can cause deterioration of the audio signal. It really depends on your environment that determines how fast your connections will oxidize, but once a year is usually a good time to check. If you can't remember the last time you re-cut the leads of your speaker cable you might want to check them for oxidization soon.

Cutting the cable
Cutting thick, high quality, cable can be a tedious task and takes a little time. The thicker sheathing makes it hard to cut off, and you'll want to be careful not to cut the actual wire the sheathing protects. The easiest way to cut wires is with a set of wire cutters that have different wire gauge templates to cut with. These usually run about $15 and are a great time saver.

You want about a half-an-inch of bare wire to attach to the speaker terminals on the receiver and speakers. Don't cut the wire until you're actually ready to connect the wire to the terminal. This prevents the ends of bare wire from fraying apart as you move the cable around.

Connections... Making It Simple
Many people look at the back of a receiver with great confusion. With all those connections it can be hard to do it all at once. The best thing you can do is take a step back and look at connecting each speaker individually to avoid confusion and mistakes. Take one cable and connect one speaker at a time to the receiver. After that, connect that one cable to the speaker. Continue this process until all the speakers are connected and you're done.

Proper Polarity
The most important item to pay attention to is the polarity of your speakers. The polarity is determined by making sure your speakers negative and positive terminals are connected to the positive and negative terminals on the receiver/amp. Having these connections reversed is often a reason for a lack of bass and "off" sounding speakers. Many high-grade wires do not have a black and red marker on the wire to help you, but they will usually have writing on one cable that you can use as a reference. Just consider the wire with writing on it as the positive wire or "Red" connection. Apply this rule during the entire setup process to avoid confusion.

After setting up your speaker cables be sure to double check that the negatives and positives are matched correctly for each speaker. This will guarantee proper polarity so that you can then move on to calibrating your speaker system.

Sound Test
Give your speakers a quick sound test. Listen for solid bass response and imaging to check the polarity. Use music and movies you've heard before so you know what they're supposed to sound like. Turn the sub off so you can hear confirm the main speakers are producing bass. The center and surrounds are a bit harder to check, and rely more on double-checking your speaker connections and listening tests.

Many calibration discs offer test sounds or tones that will let you know if your speakers are connected correctly. See "calibration" for more on this subject.

Advanced Speaker Connections
Many high-end speaker manufactures offer dual connections on the back of their speakers; one terminal for the high frequencies, and one for the low frequencies.

The idea is that by having separate high and low connections the audio signal is better separated resulting in more clarity, more accurate bass, and cleaner sound. There are two ways to connect both terminals, and only one is worth your time.

Bi-Wiring
Bi-Wiring means that you connect both the high and low speaker terminals from a single speaker connection terminal on the amplifier.

Many finicky home theater users contest great sound improvements from this setup. The reality is that this is more of a placebo effect with little or no improvement in sound offered. All you get is to do is spend more money on extra speaker cable for no reason.

Bi-Amping
Bi-Amping is when you connect the high and low speaker connections each to their own amplified connection on the receiver or amplifier.

This is connected either to receivers which accept bi-amping, but most commonly in systems that use separates. Giving the highs and the lows each their own dedicated amplifier DOES improve clarity, bass, and transparency.

There are tradeoffs to how you go about bi-amping your speakers. You can use one 2-channel amplifier to power both the high and low signals of a single speaker, or you can use completely separate amps for each connection.

The single 2-channel amplifier solution gives the most accurate sound for stereo imaging since the speaker's sound is driven by one consistent unit, but this offers less efficiency. Using two separate amps give the best efficiency, but sacrifices some accuracy.

Pass on bi-wiring, but if you have bi-amping capability go for it. You can save bi-amping as a nice future upgrade path if your budget doesn't allow for the extra amps and speaker cable needed. Pay special attention not to tremendously overpower your speakers when bi-amping, or you run the risk of damaging them.