Accessories Recommendations

[Furypitcher]

I'm fixing to order the system 23-23 in a few days and just need some suggestions on stands, speaker wires and sub cable. My problem is my location, stationed in Iceland. So it's hard for me to go out and look at stands and wiring. The stands that Ascend offers for the 170 just don't look stable enough to survive the occational bump by my 1 & 3 year olds. As for cables and wiring, my stuff is about 15 years old and in need of replacing. I'm looking for good quality, but not overly expensive, since I need to replace everything. My next purchase will be a Pioneer 56txi or Denon 3805 in a month or so. Any suggestions will be well recieved and appriciated.

[cestlavie]

Can't say that I know about the Denon, other than an overly good reputation, but I'm currently using the 56txi, it's neutral, powerful, heavy, beautiful and fits the bill.

As for cables, unless you have some extreme lengths you are going to be using, IMHO cables provide for the least return on money, and even the owner of mcintosh did a demonstration that people could not tell the difference between really expensive speaker wire and home depot lamp wire. I would just go for the cheapest, I've heard good thing about
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....=374&sm=1&so=2

Hope that helped,
C'est

[curtis]

Fury....if you can, give Ascend a call. Dave has posted before that he offers discounts to our country's military personnel.

I am not sure which internet companies would ship to Iceland, but for stands, check www.racksandstands.com as well as www.partexpess.com.

Partsexpress is also good for cables, I also like www.bluejeanscable.com. For speaker cable, good 12 gauge stuff is usually available at hardware stores and is inexpensive....also available at partsexpress.com.

[Furypitcher]

Dave hasn't said anything about a military discount during our email conversations. Is it something that gets brought up during ordering?

[Lou-the-dog]

I use the SoundKing wire that Cestlavie provided the link for. Good stuff and low cost to boot. I use the 12ga. but 14ga would be more than adequate for most runs.

Randy

[curtis]

I'm not sure when it comes up....I don't think it is something that is programmed into the online system. I think you would have to call Ascend directly.

[Lee Bailey]

What's wrong with the wire they sell right here on the Ascend site?

[MacG]

Fury, I use a Denon 3805 with S33-25 package from Ascend. The only calibration that I've done was with the auto setup. The sound is great!! One warning about the Denon 3805 though, it has a plethora of features. If you don't need them all, you might consider it's little brother, the 2805 and save a few hundred dollars.

As far as cables, Curtis and Cestlavie got the right idea. From the research I've done and reading the many threads on this and other sites, the main factor for cables is the resistance. You should chose the appropiate gauge based on the length of you run. For 8 ohm speakers, 16 gauge would be sufficient for up to 50ft run. I got some 14 gauge wire and banana plugs from Parts Express and put them together for my system. Connecting your sub is a little different though. Resistance is not a big factor, but shielding is.

[Lee Bailey]

As far as cables, Curtis and Cestlavie got the right idea. From the research I've done and reading the many threads on this and other sites, the main factor for cables is the resistance. You should chose the appropiate gauge based on the length of you run. For 8 ohm speakers, 16 gauge would be sufficient for up to 50ft run. I got some 14 gauge wire and banana plugs from Parts Express and put them together for my system. Connecting your sub is a little different though. Resistance is not a big factor, but shielding is.

Well, the wire sold here fits the bill perfectly then. Plus, if you connect the wires together to form one pair out of the two pairs provided, you get a very large gauge of wire!

Since I've already got Monster Z series speaker cable that I won online, I'll keep using it.