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Speaker cable length

Hey y'all,

I'm thinking about changing the setup of my rig so the equipment rack is off to the side and nothing is between the speakers. However, that's going to entail a much longer set of speaker cables. Is there anything about speaker cable length I should be aware of? And and am I right in assuming that I need to keep both pairs of cables equal length?
128x128simao
mahlman
433 posts
 
12g zip cord works fine and different lengths do not matter. These guys can spend a ton of your money for little to no, mostly no, gain. I run bigger wire than really needed but there are times I am working on 200 to 600 seat theater speakers and if the customer wants them cranked up I do so. Yes these are high fidelity speakers and poor components would be noticeable.
hobo1452's avatar
hobo1452
85 posts
 
simao;
With the lengths you mentioned, audiophool BS aside, two different lengths will make no difference that any human ear can discern. The only real consideration is the gauge you use as it has more of an effect on the sound than length does. From my personal experience, 10 gauge tends to favor bass at the expense of highs, and 14-16 tends to be brighter. I have always had the best results using 12 to 14 gauge wire. If you are into making your own cables, check out http://www.knukonceptz.com/. They sell quality wire and connection accessories at realistic prices.
aeriya
8 posts
 
OP you can setup a simple experiment as I did years ago to determine the effect of speaker wires. Get a simple analog toggle switch and two sets of wire to compare. Have someone else switch back and forth without you knowing which cable is being used. A blind A/B test with instantaneous change from one to the other. It doesn't get any better than that. Everything else is just hearsay. I did this hundreds of times on Apogee Diva's and Klipschorn's along with other curious golden ears. We all came to the same conclusion.
sumaato
100 posts
 
There are a lot of other audio set-up aspects far more relevant than fretting over unequal speaker wire lengths. I saved considerable money on my 12ft/20 ft pair.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I don't mean to be acrid here, but those of you is spousing really short speaker cable lengths seem to be out of touch with a lot of systems reality. 

Welcome then to the Twilight Zone. None of this actually exists. Nor do I. Nor, interestingly enough, do you. None of this is reality. Couldn't be. No real person could ever figure out how to do this. Could they?
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