How important is it to have identical speaker cable length?
I have a situation where my speakers are different distances from my amp. Would it be wrong to pair a 3-meter cable to one speaker and a 2-meter cable to the other or is it really just a theoretical issue? Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Now with over 40 years of analog design, I have come to the conclusion that the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know.
Ala… Dunning-Kruger. There are other practitioners of DK are also present here, so no offence intended towards you @spatialking … it is a wise observation and consistent with the DK findings.
I recall being worried about this question years ago. After asking a lot of knowledgable people at that time. I decided it is not worth being concerned about.
I would ask why not keep the length the same? Are you trying to save money? This hobby is all about frivolous spending any where and any time you can. Richard Vandersteen has written and commented on this subject extensively. His conclusion is speaker cable need to be the same length and as short as you can get away with. You are better to have long cable runs in the components than to the speakers.
Truly great sounding systems come from fanatic attention to details. The little stuff adds up to be of major importance if you are working towards a truly great sounding system. You can get good sound out of a system made up of really good synergistic components. But for truly amazing sound you need carefully chosen cables, interconnects, power cords, cable lifters… tweaked room… etc. it is a question of what your end objective is. While you may not hear a difference outright in a difference in length, it will have a very small effect on the sound… it is a shortcut. Short cuts add up to a sub optimal. For me, instead of spending a couple hours trying to figure out if I can hear a difference, I’ll just go along with the recommendations from the professional reviewers and use equal lengths.
At least arch2 is keeping it real. I would also be more inclined to have same length of cables for L/R speakers purely due to OCD. I would speculate though that coiling one cable vs other being straight has more chance of resulting in actual audible difference.
It is very important to have the same speaker cable length because the sound will change with different cable lengths but, you will only hear that on certain types of speakers.
"This forum…..first answer: absolutely no problem. Second answer: oh my god no. Third answer: perhaps yes perhaps no. Unbelievable."
I think it depends on the education of the poster. When I got out of college I had a EE degree in analog electronic design. I thought I knew a lot. Then some time later I went back and got another engineer degree when I realized there was a lot I didn't know. Now with over 40 years of analog design, I have come to the conclusion that the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know.
I do agree with the same length concept. Even if you don't sell them later, odds are you will change your system and have useless cables.
I’ve always used the same length. The draw back is one cable may have to be coiled, the one nearest to your components or rack. Alternatively, the cable could be looped I suppose. However, I do not detect any detrimental effect on the sound by coiling. I'm a perfectionist, so I am compelled to use the same length, whether I hear a difference or not.
Don’t do different length…otherwise you always will fill stigmatized time to time…also when you will be ready for upgrade experiments, same length cables are much easy to sell.
To the speaker, no, a small difference is not a big deal. But holmz is right, the additional pFd and uH could make a difference to your amplifier. Remember, the output is also the input due to the feedback network. As long as your cables are low in inductance and not too high in capacitance, you should be okay. On the other hand, I have had good amplifiers tendency to oscillate when the capacitance in the cable is too high..
But when the capacitance is # pF/meter, and inductance is @ uH.meter then the number of meters can matter.,, and the resistance is also expressed in @/meter (or per foot in freedom units). It should make a measurable difference, which is better than a physiological difference. IMO. But I doubt one would hear much of a difference. The room would likely have more of a difference.
My deep seeded neurosis won’t allow me to do that. I would lay in bed staring at the ceiling. But for normal, well adjusted people it’s no issue what so ever. Only issue I can think of would be value when it’s time to sell. All the best.
This has been debated many times and there already multiple threads regarding this. My speaker cables in my office system are not the same length and there is absolutely no difference.
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