[Mozhoven]

I'm currently building a studio and will be running my speaker wires in-wall to drive my Monitor Audio 303's. I will be bi-wiring them but need to know if using wall plates will counter-act what I'm trying to achieve by bi-wiring.

Will introducing a second set of binding posts and spade connectors degrade my sound quality at all? Should I simply poke a hole in the wall and pull my wire though it for a straight run? (obviusly better, but sloppy aesthetically)

Any advice will be much appreciated as I will be putting up my drywall soon and would like to do this while it's still easy. Thanks!

 

[BigJohn]

The purists will say to steer away from the plates, but I doubt you will hear any difference... Good luck!

 

[Fitz]

Put up boxes or rings regardless of whether or not you want to use binding posts. You can drill a hole just big enough for the wire in a blank plate if you choose not to use the binding posts, which'll look a whole lot better than running it straight through the drywall, and still allow you the option to easily change it later.

 

[Herandu]

There are wall plates and there are wall plates. Look for a type that you can unscrew the existing connectors on it from. Then replace those with better ones. I used a set of replacement Yamaha NS1000M banana plug binding posts to fit into a wall plate. The standard wall plates are in the whole made in China from low quality PCB material using poor quality soldering material and connectors that are just as bad. This might satisfy those on a $1 budget, but I wouldn't connect a set of $500+ speakers through such a poor contraption. So get the best, or modify an existing one to a higher standard.

 

[VeipaCray]

By the cheap $2 wall plate from monoprice.

For only $1.47 each when QTY 50+ purchased - High Quality Banana Binding Post Decora Style Wall Plate for 1 Speaker - Coupler Type | Banana Binding Post Wall Plate

You could buy more expensive ones as others are suggesting. If you THINK you hear a difference... let me know.
Using a calibrated mic + RTA listening to frequency sweeps... the mic recorded two identical wav files between having these plates installed an not having plates. Buying more expensive plates is a waste of money.

 

[Mozhoven]

VeipaCray,

Those look great, but are they too good to be true? Reviews seem promising (I looked at the 4-plug version), but it's always a gamble trusting reviews on the web. Do you own them yourself?

What do you think Herandu, are these like the ones you mentioned in your post?

 

[VeipaCray]

I've been installing these very plates for years now for various friends / customers. No problems at all.

The other option that's slightly more expensive but more configurable is to go to the local hardware store and get the keystone style wall jacks. You can get them with 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 keystone holes. You can then get the keystone inserts for whatever type of speaker binding post, rca jack, cat5 etc. monoprice sells them as well.

I use the keystone jacks at my house as I've run cat5 to every room + a few other wires (security, whole house audio, etc). I would absolutely use the monoprice binding post wall plates for myself, but I wanted to cram as many connectors onto a single wall plate as possible. For me personally, the best option was the keystone approach.

The cables from monoprice are cheap and very good. I wouldn't hesitate on ordering from them.

Buying an "audiophile" wall plate is silly. The signal path through the wall plate is minimal. Measure the resistance with any DMM from the back side of the binding post to the front... I bet your meter shows 0.

There is more conductivity in the binding post metal than there is in any speaker wire you will be using. Think about the gauge of wire compared to the amount of gold plated metal used for the binding post.

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mozhoven /img/forum/go_quote.gif VeipaCray, Those look great, but are they too good to be true? Reviews seem promising (I looked at the 4-plug version), but it's always a gamble trusting reviews on the web. Do you own them yourself? What do you think Herandu, are these like the ones you mentioned in your post?

I'll tell you something: I have the utmost respect for Monoprice in terms of quality and value for money. They wouldn't list it unless it was kosher. The plates have the right type of connection post sturdiness and are gold plated.
Well worth the very small outlay.

On a side note: Monoprice sells a TOSLINK cable that I rate as one of the best I ever tried. AT U$2.00 for 1m I don't know how they make money on it. The same cable can be found on ebay at 10X the Monoprice price.

 

[Mozhoven]

Thank you all for the excellent recommendations, saved me a bundle!

 

[firefold001]

A wall plate might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you a thinking about setting up an office space or home entertainment system. However, they can be an extremely useful in terms of both safety and aesthetics. Wall plates give a professional, modern appearance. Mozhoven, you can use wall plate.

Fire Fold