Speaker cable length

another point of view

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXPAjnmhK_g

J.Chip

I have exactly the setup that you are planning on. Keep the Left & Right the same length, it matters. That's just physics. Now people can argue they can't hear the difference but they are talking about their own hearing and not the laws of physics. Of course with that setup you are going to have on the one side a lot more cable to hide (or manage) than the other side.
For this reason alone opt for quality solid core cables that are easier to handle. Your ears will thank you as well with superior sound. Check out DNM's range and pick something you can afford. when looking at their products don't think that the cable's are specific for their amplifiers etc. That certainly true that they are designed in conjunction with everything else but they are tremendous in my setup.
Good luck with this.

Same length and not more than 10 ft after that the sound starts to degrade

Thus is controversial topic and I have heard all sorts of statements. What seems to be consistent at its base (I'm going to ignore brand names and technology to keep this less controversial) is that length of cable and Guage of cable matter. I dont have any hard numbers to contribute but for longer distances let's say 25ft the wire Guage should be higher ie 12AWG. I dont have a sense of low distance and what Guage you can get away with. Theoretically if its a 3ft run the Guage shouldn't matter that much. In audiophile land however I'm sure everything matters and so opinions will be hot on this.

 I keep it really simple and go with monoprice 12awg. I buy terminal plugs and make my own lengths. This might cost you $70-80 or less to make a 100ft run if you chose. Once you get into branding and technologies however the arguments explode. I do know people with monos will argue for shortest length possible as one of the advantages is to be able to place your monoblock right next to the speaker. Ultimately if someone is building a system it seems most prudent to spend the money on the best components and treat wire as the final thought to save up on if one so chose. Otherwise 12 awg from any brand with your own terminal plugs is great. 

Some of you are delusional.   There is no rule on speaker cable length.  Unless you were gifted with God’s ears, you can’t hear a difference from a 4 foot pair of cables and a 20 foot pair.  If you think or believe you can, you can’t. The electrons will arrive at the same time regardless the length as long as the wire gauge supports longer runs.  Do you think the recording studios use short cables?   Think again.  

@stereo5 that's what I'm inclined to believe. I mean, we're talking speed of light here, and unless you're running really thin 18 or 20 gauge wire, our ears just aren't good enough to pick up any difference. Especially with signal strength as low as what's conveyed through speaker wire.

Anyhow, I've already ordered a 20-ft run and a 10-ft run of canare 4SII. This will take the place of my 8-ft length matching pair of acoustic Zen hologram. So we'll see what happens in a few days. Or whenever I get around to actually moving things. Which will mean taking apart my turntable and then setting it back up again which is something I really don't want to deal with at the moment. not because I can't do it, but simply because it's time consuming. 

Good for you, enjoy.

That is quite a difference to what you had. Will be interested in your thoughts.

stereo54,475 posts01-30-2021 9:42amSome of you are delusional.

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And some people use ZIP cord and call it good. That is usually the reason why I can't tell the difference, unless the conductor is to small with zip cord. I can't tell the difference in 1 meter or 10 meters of zip cord.

I haven't used it in 30 years..

BUT if I use some serious cables.. Helix or a really good construct, I know I'm not delusional... 1 meter vs 3 or 4 meters, you'd need a hearing check if you couldn't hear the difference.. BUT then again you got to try it.. I was blown away by some of the helix constructions.. Zip cord vs Helix it's like having ear muffs on.. REALLY..

Great, well designed cables, there is a HUGE difference in SQ vs length.. some of the reasons they sound so good to begin with.. LOW R great constructs, excellent termination, and SHORT. 4 of about a dozen thing you need to think about,  BEFORE calling run of the mill cable good enough..

For some maybe.. for me.. NO.. It's too easy to make a GREAT cable...

Regards

@simao,

let the cables burn in for a few hundred hours (400 is what I have found) before you make a decision. They sound great from day 1 but over time will get even better. I have thundering bass, smooth mids and delicate highs after full break in.

I originally had a 15 foot pair I bought from RAM Labs last year but they no longer offer locking banana plugs. So, I went with Blue Jeans Cable for a single 18 foot Canare cable with locking bananas. No offense to Blue Jeans but the same cable from RAM was finished so much nicer. They used colored heat shrink on the pigtails that go to the locking banana plugs and the plugs themself are much more robust. The Blue Jeans left the pigtails exposed and the plug was not as robust.

I can't agree with the "length makes no difference" crowd.

I'll give you that using one 6-ft. cable and one 12-ft. cable wouldn't be problematic.

But what if the cable length is 1,000 ft.?  Extreme example, but to maintain it still doesn't matter would be be ridiculous.  Obviously speaker cable length makes a difference.  The question is how much?

If my system layout allowed it, I would use equal speaker cable lengths (which I do).  We can't pretend to be able to recognize minor differences, but why not avoid them if we can?

@oldhvymec,

I believe you but I have a 15 foot and 18 foot 4s11 cable in my office system with a Mac MA6600 integrated driving either GE Triton One speakers or JBL L100 Classic speakers. Running a mono signal through them told me there is no difference. Perhaps if the cable was like 50 feet, perhaps I would hear a difference then.

I will say those JBL speakers are breaking in nicely with them playing for 6 weeks. I believe there are about 300 hours on them now and 150 hours on the longer Canare cable.

The point the OP made about not using monoblocks is not a failure of those who are suggesting minimum-length speaker cables.  It is a shortcoming in his system.  We can't be expected to fix his problems.  

@bpoletti  dude, I got so many problems that monoblocks would be the least of my therapy. Besides, to find a set of monoblocks in the preamp that would give me what my line magnetic gives me for even a comparable price is ridiculous. I would much rather spend that money on music

It’s much better to have the speaker cables the same length and as short as possible. I have 6 meter balanced interconnects driving pairs of monoblock Linn Solos which sit just beside my B&W 800 D3s abd the difference to the previous “traditional” set-up is unbelievable.

@simao I believe you are approaching this the right way. You purchased a quality speaker cable (inexpensive as well) and have positioned yourself to try both system arrangements. I predict you will like the soundstage benefit the rack by your side arrangement will provide. 

@mesch thanks. I'll post before and after pictures on my virtual systems page when my amp gets back from being serviced.

Looking forward for your thoughts and pictures.

 With low output impedance ss amps and the typical heavy gauge speaker cables used today, the length is less critical than years ago when high output tube amps and thin gauge zip cord were used exclusively in yesteryear.
 Reasonable differing distances with most speaker cable won't affect time very much, but depending on the cables used might load the amps channels differently.
 Perhaps the best reason to buy identical lengths of speaker cable is to facilitate resale value.
 FWIW, I always use identical lengths.

If you are using 6 or 8 AWG wire and you are not running in excess of 30 - 40 feet, you will not feel any difference in the sound.

Make sure the cable lengths to both the speakers are the same, and do not coil loose cable if there is any.  Bend them and make them run parallel.

@cakyol. My new lengths are 15 and 20 feet of 10g cable. 

Simao,

you will be fine with a 10 awg wire for those distances. No worries. 

Here is what I just personally did. Your mileage may vary.

I had my 2 power amps on the side. Therefore, my cable runs were about 10 feet for the front speakers and about 18 feet for the second set.

I decided to place my power amps in the center on the floor instead. This allowed me to shorten my cables in the front to 5 feet and the sides down to about 13 feet.

I am listening right as I write this. I can hear much more detail in material I am quite familiar with.

Shorter is better. The shortest is best.

I was doing a guitar session once at the Record Plant with a bigtime producer. (name dropping not necessary). This was probably 40 years ago. I brought my whole rig in including my full pedal board of effects. Each effect had a very short cable in between.

The producer asked me, "what the F* is that?" I said it was my rig.

He said, "Get rid of it". I said, What??? That's my sound, that's my tone".

He said, " No it isn't. The tone is in your fingers and not in all that crap on the floor".  He told me that he wanted me to stand right next to my Marshall, and use the shortest possible cord possible. I did this. And guess what?TONE CITY. Les Paul. 6 foot quality guitar cable. Marshall. 

Since then, I have never used any effects. None. The tone was indeed in my fingers. I only use transmitters now live, and if I am in the studio,...

Yep! Les Paul. Quality 6 foot cable. Marshall. Battaging.

Quality of cable is just as important as length of cable. (to me)

Enjoy!

Logic would dictate that if both the left and the right cables are the same in length, regardless of length, and all of the components provide equal balance in volume and tonality, then all things would be the same/equal.

Using one 5' speaker cable and one 15' speaker cable, no matter what, creates a set of different conditions. Now, you may not hear it, but it cannot logically be "balanced". 

You picked good cable with the 4S11 but there is a lot more to it than gauge. At higher frequencies inductance will dominate over resistance. The 4s11 is good in this respect. Worst case use 2 runs to half impedance.  People go gaga over damping factor but cable runs are normally a very small fraction of voice coil resistance and other impedances in the cross over.  Inductance at high frequeny of the cable can be impactful speaker dependent.

An update: The line magnetic is back from being serviced, and I installed NOS 12AX7s and new 6V6 tubes. Equipment has been moved off to the side, replaced by some musical instruments and a more sound baffling absorbing piece of artwork. 

As for the sound, I really can't tell any differences. Maybe a bit less bass with the new Canare cables? Don't know offhand. but the sound is just as amazing as it was before. You can see the results on my virtual system page

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9393