Mycenius Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 OK - here's one for the urban mythbusters out there: Is the philosophy of having both speaker cables an identical length an urban myth? I have always tried to work by this logic (and believed it) but have been told over the years by (a couple of) people I consider probably fairly knowledgeable and/or experienced in the audiophile arena (as they are in the industry) that it is a myth, or rather at least that: ...the correct (or better) philosophy is to have your speaker cables each as short as possible, regardless of the length of the other cable(s). Thoughts, Comments, Facts, Hive Mind Consensus?
I will decide! Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 any given length of cable is going to have an affect - given size verses length, what that affect your after, is like saying "how long is a piece of string"
kiwizig Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 I really don't think you can hear the difference if your cables are different lengths. My speaker cables are all different lengths, right front 3m, centre front 3m, left front 6m and rear speakers 6 meters.
rogger Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 Two very different questions there Mycenius. Shortest possible speaker cables has been well examined over the years , as I understand , and is considered optimal. Different speaker cable lengths , and that can be considerable - 1 metre to one speaker and 15 metre to the other - has been heard as making no difference to the [ educated ears ] perception of the listener. I have not made the experiment myself, but was impressed by my learned friend's related experience. Reviewing my reply I see I have not been particularly helpful.
Hooster Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 The speaker cable is not improving the signal in any way, and don't let any snake oil merchant tell you otherwise. I reckon the shorter the better. I can't see any reason why cables have to be of equal length, unless you have some horrible cable that grossly alters the signal depending on length and you want your speaker outputs to be equally distorted...
nixon76 Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 For a short time we had mismatched lengths - 3m and 7m. There was something 'wrong' with the sound in this situation - both my wife and I felt this. When we flipped the channels over on the back of the amp, the wrongness changed speakers. When we made it 7m x 7m that wrongness went away.
eRaS1553552749 Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 I don't understand any of this myself, but I did do some reading about interconnect vs. speaker cable lengths. I thought this was interesting, and somewhat out of keeping with the majority of other recommendations. Empirical Audio http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/audio-faqs/short-versus-long-cables
Mycenius Posted November 9, 2010 Author Posted November 9, 2010 FWIW I currently run 3m to my left & centre speakers, 5m to my right... (I could run only 1m to my left but wanted to at least have a 'set' of 3m cables for future on-selling if & when I upgraded). I do not notice any difference between my speakers when in stereo mode (i.e. just 3m left & 5m right) - and have this set up because of the advice from one of the people I alluded to above...
pagez Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 i doubt i could ever tell the difference over say a few metres, even 5 (or more), especially with the shape of the room my stereo is set up in. but i would like to think that if I could, then at least Ill be losing equal amounts of audio per speaker due to my wire lengths... maybe a little OCD is showing through as well?
I will decide! Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 been involved with the new "fibre to schools project" - all cable lengths cat6 have to be 15m or above, other wise signal starts doing some weird stuff the experts reckon... After the connection at patch panel and outlet they test it, and the machine tells you exactly how long the wire is also........ Wonder if that would be the same for speaker or patch cable's - minimum required
Gainz Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 fisher X 100 A;138558 wrote: been involved with the new "fibre to schools project" - all cable lengths cat6 have to be 15m or above, other wise signal starts doing some weird stuff the experts reckon... After the connection at patch panel and outlet they test it, and the machine tells you exactly how long the wire is also........ Wonder if that would be the same for speaker or patch cable's - minimum required Would you please run some fibre to Massey High? Internet speed is akin to a slug molesting a mollusc for a pearl.
I will decide! Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 i think the school im working on is one of the first to recieve this - St Marys Diocesan school Stratford Taranaki - be good to go back in a couple of months and get their thoughts on the upgrade !
WI=3 Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 For a while I ran one 3 metre and one 4 metre length and could hear no difference - needless to say I went back to equal lengths as soon as practical.
little blue penguin Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 fisher X 100 A;138558 wrote: been involved with the new "fibre to schools project" - all cable lengths cat6 have to be 15m or above, other wise signal starts doing some weird stuff the experts reckon... Short run resonance is the issue, and causes unreliable results when the cables are tested for certification. To the best of my knowledge this doesn't impact on real world performance of the network cable. No back to our show..... Unless you are hoping the resistance, inductance or capacitance of longer audio cables is going to mask undesirable aspects of your system performance there's no point in having cables that are longer than is required to reach from component to component. All 3 of my systems have speaker cables of different lengths to suit the location of the electronics being not between the speakers. Unless every possible aspect of your room is symetrical, the room itself will create more of a soundstage unbalance than cables of differing lengths.
Robocop Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 Personally I keep them short due to the cost. But I pay a price in terms of sound stage by having my rack in between main speakers. As noted in Jim Smith's book "Get Better Sound" he strongly advocates keeping the space between speakers clear of anything. I have contemplated long interconnects but in Nordost they are also expensive. Generally although its probably hard to hear, keeping cables the same length is good practise to reduce any unwarranted anomalies. I find the listening room produces more problems in reality as Cloth-ears says.
Mycenius Posted November 9, 2010 Author Posted November 9, 2010 Coorrr, sure you aren't a politician RC?! That's a wonderful post that, um, says a lot but doesn't... Or are you just being subtly cryptic...? When you say short - do you mean uneven lengths?
Robocop Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 My speaker cables are 2metre pairs equal and all interconnects 1metre equal. I did run a 1.5m to the left for a while and a 1m to the right interconnect. Did not hear a discernable difference. I would as a rule never run unequal lengths of any cable. I have a Bay window to the right side and that unbalances the sound quite badly.
nixon76 Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 Someone on the UK Cyrus forum posted this exact question a long time back. Similar answers as well. Then someone posted a response indicating it's not just the length of the cable in isolation (and the standard electrical properties therein) but the reaction of the amp and the speaker to the length and the current flowing back and forth between them. In conclusion the post indicated it was possible* for length to have an effect. I wish I had the patience to find the post, as it was very informative and 'believable'. * depending on amp, cable, speaker etc
Ernie1553552694 Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 Based on comments and IME, it's the asymmetrical runs of greater difference, length and quality that matter. Over short runs (1-3m) any difference is negligible (quality notwithstanding). Nixon76's example of a 7m and 3m run is significantly greater. Go figure.
wapfu Posted November 9, 2010 Posted November 9, 2010 Here you go start at this web site. http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/speaker-cable-length-differences-do-they-matter Also some on home theater and wire gage which has more bearing. And read the other articles about snake oil. Cheers Bill
T110 Posted November 10, 2010 Posted November 10, 2010 Different length cales make a massive difference. IME one starts to worry that things are not quite balanced, not symetrical, just not bloody right! Then these imbalances begin to manifest themselves by way of degrading ones perception of what one thinks he is hearing. Then come the late nights, consumed by worry and angst, followed by a loss of appetite and an increase in caffiene consumption.... This is only the beginning. There is more, much more... If it sounds fine, it's sweat!
got tinnitus Posted November 10, 2010 Posted November 10, 2010 In a reasonably revealing sound system, same length mos-def. In a budget system, I doubt you'd notice the effect of different lengths. In my rock n roll days it was common to run a multicore from one side of the stage to the other (so 3m vs 10m for example). I'd always find the stack with the extension speaker cable run had to be driven that little bit harder. If using Naim's NAC A5, this stuff is cheap as. $44 appx per metre. So no "excuse" for differing lengths due to cost...
Hooster Posted November 10, 2010 Posted November 10, 2010 got tinnitus;138627 wrote: In a reasonably revealing sound system, same length mos-def. In a budget system, I doubt you'd notice the effect of different lengths. In my rock n roll days it was common to run a multicore from one side of the stage to the other (so 3m vs 10m for example). I'd always find the stack with the extension speaker cable run had to be driven that little bit harder. If using Naim's NAC A5, this stuff is cheap as. $44 appx per metre. So no "excuse" for differing lengths due to cost... $44 per metre for speaker wire!?!? :eek:
got tinnitus Posted November 10, 2010 Posted November 10, 2010 Hooster;138630 wrote: $44 per metre for speaker wire!?!? :eek: Yep, it's the best secret in HiFi! Very good cable too. Not the last word in resolution but as one reviewer stupidly once stated, "you can dance to it". Naim, I believe, suggest 3.5m minimum lengths....(when using Naim amps).
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