New 970/7075 owner and board member

Hi all.

Long time lurker, first time poster and excited new owner. (I know....lame but had to do it)

I just took advantage of the 970/7075 "Virtual Receiver" deal and am looking forward to getting everything hooked up. I'm currently waiting on a 50" plasma and a complete new wall paint/refurnish of my listening space before installing everything.

Since there are obviously many informed and valuable users/owners on here I thought I'd tap the knowledgebase on a couple of questions.

One thing I noticed and am confused about in reading the 970's manual was under the "Connecting Video Components" section on page 16.

I plan on connecting my DirecTv HD-DVR via the component hookups, however I read in the shaded box directly below that heading, and I quote: "NOTE: For the greatest flexibility, connect composite or S-video cables from all of your video source components to the Model 970 even if you are already using a component video or DVI connection."

I'm curious as to why that is?

Second question is I'm only running a 5.1 system and although I had my new home pre-wired for rear surround speakers, I want to run a thicker gauge (i.e. 12 AWG) speaker wire to the rears due to the length of the run which is about 30' to 35' per channel. Note: the run goes up the wall, across a vaulted ceiling and down to a decorative beam.

I'm planning on banana plugs for connectors on all of my speaker connections but need a suggestion on where to get some good quality but not ridiculously expensive speaker wire that I can buy for those two long runs.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long newbie post.

Can't wait to enjoy all my new toys.

PS - gonk, I'm going to be disappointed if you don't respond seeing how you are obviously the "Wizard of Oz" when it comes to this board and brand.

Blue Jeans Cables has some nice 12 gauge Belden speaker wire that is not overly expensive.

Ahhh... A challenge. Welcome to the saloon, and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
I believe that this note relates to the way the record output works - component and DVI inputs are not available at the composite and s-video record output connections, but if you also have a composite or s-video connection from your sources you will be able to use the record output with those sources at the same time that you are watching via component or DVI. This can be extended to audio, as well - if you are using a coaxial or optical digital connection but want to be able to record, you'll need to connect the stereo analog audio output of those sources.

If you don't have anything connected to the record outputs, you can disregard this step.
I'll second chas's suggestion of Blue Jeans Cable - they will even pre-terminate one or both ends of their speaker cables with bananas or spades. I haven't ever used any of their speaker cable, but I've used some of their interconnects and found them to be a good value.

plex03,

You might also look at Best Deal Cables.
Jason is very easy to work with and he can probably make any combo you might want in speaker cables.

Here is his link.

http://www.bestdealcables.com/

Thanks for the info guys.

Much appreciated.

Let us know how you like the 970/7075 combo...I would guess that Music Hall will sound pretty sweet in analog bypass mode.