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Cable lengths

This is a 2 part question. First I’m wondering if cable lengths make a difference in sound for better or worse. My thinking is that shorter is better and longer would be worse. I’m using all Straightwire  Crescendo speaker cable and IC xlr. For my IC xlr are a 1 m pair. But am wanting to put my CD player by my listening chair which is about 15 ft from my ARC Ref 6. Which I will need about a 5 meter pair. And about $4000 new. I really love the bass with the Crescendos especially with my Krell Fpb 600. But are very hard to find on the used market for them that long. The longest I’ve seen was 4 m. Also $4000 is steep for me to spend right now on ICs. Could anyone recommend a very good xlr IC 5 meter on the used market for about $1500 that has very good bass like the Crescendo? 
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7 responses Add your response
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
Look for cables that don’t use the “signal ground” as a shield. That’s a major issue, especially with phono cables. 
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Teo has to manufacture, by hand, each individual bit of length of cable.

We give a price break for longer cables..due to people expecting it...but our complexities of build are unlike any other cable.
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
The majority of the cost in making cables is paying the human that prepares the ends and solders the connectors on.  I know this because I make my own cables. The raw cable is relatively inexpensive, then next most costly ingredient is the connectors. Getting good quality doesn’t have to cost two arms and a leg if you make your own. 
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millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Of course longer cables sound worse. Duh. The question is, compared to what?

Because, whatever difference there is between 1m and 5m, I can guarantee it is a whole lot less than the difference between what you will get from $4k in a 1m cable vs $4k in a 5m cable.

In other words as always it boils down to what could you do with that same money. Put that way, just about anything is better than what you have in mind. Unless of course sound quality is a smoke-screen for what really matters, not having to get up to change the disc.
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sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
5 meters is trivial for a shielded balanced cable carrying line level signal. You might be worried about increased cable capacitance from 20 picofarads to 100 or so picofarads, but it’s only amounting to 318,000 Ohms of capacitive reactance at 5kHz instead of 1,591,000 Ohms. Given that the output impedance of your CD player is likely around 110 ohms, and that the decreased capacitive reactance is three orders of magnitude greater than the output impedance of the CD player, it would be impossible to detect a difference in high frequency response.
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