Soon to be proud owner of Hsu

[mystro]

Hi, Ordered the Hsu Enthusiast 2 sub with speakers, finally.

Anyone, selling MBM-12, please let me know, I am interested.

Also, any suggestion for cables, for the subwoofer and speakers? I was looking at this and not sure if they are good enough:
Speakers: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Subwoofer: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Also, ordered this sound metering on suggestion from skool here in this forum, radioshack is out-of-stock got to get it from ebay instead:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...sIn Session=1

I hope I missed nothing out. Any suggestions is most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[shadyJ]

It looks like you are set. My question is do you really need 35 ft of cable for the sub? How far are you going to place it from the receiver? With all that length though, will will have a lot of freedom for sub placement, so that is a good thing.

[cacihome]

Congrats!
You will enjoy it!
Let us know your thoughts after hearing it...

[skool]

Congrats on your purchase. You will not be disappointed. Measure how many feet you need for your sub and buy one that's long enough. Don't buy one too long; it's unnecessary.

[mystro]

Yes, I think so too, it might be too long for me. How about speaker cables any suggestion?

[skool]

Speaker cable gauge will vary depend on how long your speakers are from your receiver. 12 Gauge will be fine, but may not be necessary. I suggest you get some banana plugs so it'll be easier to plug-and-play later. Here's a chart for you to check speaker gauge size necessary depending on distance and impedance size.

[shadyJ]

He has 12 gauge cable, he is set for almost any type of run.
About the subwoofer cable though, sometimes long passive signal cables can pick up electrical hums and distortion and degradation (even if the cable is shielded). If you want to use the cable and be sure you have a decent signal, run the cable to where your sub will be and hook it up to an amplifier and some headphones, then turn the amp on and turn the volume way up but don't play anything back- just dead air. If you hear noise, or a electrical hum, or whatever, the cable is probably too long. However, if you turn the volume all the way up and only hear a slight white noise, that is fine. All you have to worry about is a sound that shouldn't be there which would be audibly played back in most listening situations.
On tip to avoid electrical hums is to avoid running the cable alongside or parallel to power cables.

[mystro]

Thanks skool and shadyJ for the feedback. The link is very useful skool, by the way, I have this sliver cables that I use on my vintage pioneer speakers and stereo. I bought it thinking it could improve sound quality, but I thought wrong, couldn't hear any improvement, maybe it is me. Do you think it might work with the HB1 MK2 with Onkyo 607. Unfortunately, it is not long enough for the surround HB1 MK2 speakers, it is sufficiently long for the 2 HB1 MK2 front speaker to be.

Man, I was thinking of getting the Veneer sub and speakers, it look nice but it cost $250 more, so I thought instead spending it on 2 more HB1 MK2 and now I have a 7.1 systems. Can't wait to try it on my Onkyo 7.2 receiver.

By the way, I also ordered these speaker stands, I hope it will work with the HB1 MK2 for the surround speakers. http://www.stationstreet.ca/detail.a...eaker+Sta nds , not thinking to mount it to the wall.

[skool]

If those silver cables are speaker cable, then it should be fine.

I do love veneer rosenut color myself, but it does add a more substantial cost. Many of us buy sub are after bang-for-the-buck performance and value, rather than aesthetic looks. Thus, sometimes it's hard for someone to justify spending additional money for aesthetic values rather an increase in performance.

Anyway, those speaker stands seem to have small base plate. I would go with something that has bigger base plate such as this on PartsExpress.

[mystro]

skool, these stands may be solid, but their hight are not adjustable. Yes, the ones I choose might have small base plate but they can clam together the sides of the speaker, I don't think I will use screws but velcro instead.

skool, which kind of banana plugs I should go for? I am looking at this http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

I need like 14 plugs since I have 7 speakers now.

[shadyJ]

good idea about the stands, you don't want to mount those speakers against the wall since they are rear ported. You will want some space between the back of the speaker and the wall.

[skool]

Originally Posted by mystro

skool, these stands may be solid, but their hight are not adjustable. Yes, the ones I choose might have small base plate but they can clam together the sides of the speaker, I don't think I will use screws but velcro instead.

skool, which kind of banana plugs I should go for? I am looking at this http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

I need like 14 plugs since I have 7 speakers now.

Is there a particular reason why you would prefer adjustable stands? Adjustable stands tend to be weak and are best for satellite-type speakers. All you really need a pair of stands that will ultimately place the HB-1's horn at ear-level or slightly higher for surround placement.

I prefer the closed screw type rather than the one you gave. That's what I am using.

I would not mount the HB-1, like ShadyJ said, unless necessary. Since the HB-1s are rear ported, consider at least 3-5 inches of clearance space behind them.

[mystro]

Originally Posted by shadyJ

good idea about the stands, you don't want to mount those speakers against the wall since they are rear ported. You will want some space between the back of the speaker and the wall.

At first I was looking at this http://www.jr.com/btech/pe/BTH_BT77/ but my celling is not very high and I don't want to lay wires all over my celling, plus once mounted I can't move them around as I might move my couch or sitting in the future. So, I was looking and wanted to get this http://www.amazon.com/VTI-BLE101B-Ad...26382&sr =8-1 , but it is a little high and can't really see how the placing of the speaker base plate is like. So, I when for this instead "Audio Research DSP-002B" they have 3 different mounting options, and I think the stand base are solid/heavy and won't topple easily.

Originally Posted by skool

Is there a particular reason why you would prefer adjustable stands? Adjustable stands tend to be weak and are best for satellite-type speakers. All you really need a pair of stands that will ultimately place the HB-1's horn at ear-level or slightly higher for surround placement.

I prefer the closed screw type rather than the one you gave. That's what I am using.

I would not mount the HB-1, like ShadyJ said, unless necessary. Since the HB-1s are rear ported, consider at least 3-5 inches of clearance space behind them.

skool, I choose adjustable because of my couch not very sure about the sitting height and don't want it to be too high over my head or too low. Also, in the future I might also change my couch to something else.

By the way, I was thinking about the same banana plug you recommended, but I thought the side with holes might be better? Because wires can also be inserted from the top or below. Maybe I am wrong?

[skool]

With the closed screw banana plugs, what you'll do is unscrew the bottom part, splice the speaker wires and screw them back in.

Here's a manual I actually found scrolling through AVS Forum.

[mystro]

Thanks skool, I went for the plugs you have suggested. Initially I thought I needed 7 pairs of these, but nope, I actually need 14 pairs and the other 7 pairs were for connections to the HB and HC.

As for the the subwoofer cables instead of the 35ft I went for the 25ft thats about 7.5 meters, hope it is okay at that lenght.

Thanks.

[shadyJ]

banana plugs are a good idea with 12 awg wire. That wire is think, and threading them through the posts on the receiver can be a real pain. You might've saved yourself a big headache there. I wish I had been that prescient when I was wiring my setup.

[mystro]

shadyJ, I never had to use plugs for my speakers before. As I have mentioned I am still using the speakers I've inherited from my parents, all you need is to push the speaker plugs inward and insert the wire into that small little hole and then release the plug and it will be secured. Those vintage speakers are not meant for thick wires, as I recall back then you just use normal electric wires will do.

Well, I just want to get all these in place before I set up my sub and speakers. By the way, the sound level meter just arrived and I don't have a clue how to use it on the sub and speakers.

[bsoko]

Go to this thread and it will clear up any mystery of HT and how to do it: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=824554.

Bill