2. cables
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Speaker cable length.

I have a small weekend cabin in the country. I have a modest system there consisting of a set of Polk Audio Monitor 7 tower speakers, an NAD C316 BEE integrated, Schiit Modi 2 DAC and a Denon radio receiver. Sounds much better than you might expect.

Anyway, we recently got a fireplace installed. This means that there will be a speaker on each side of the fireplace with the components on the right side of the fireplace. That means the right speaker is within 2-3 feet of the amp/components. The cable for the left speaker will run under the house from the amp and then back into the house on the left of the fireplace because I don't want it on the floor in front of the hearth. This will require about 16’ of speaker cable.

Will the difference (16’ of cable to the left speaker vs maybe 4’ to the right one) make a difference on a modest system like this? If so, what to do about it? I certainly don’t want 16’ of cable piled on the floor on the right.

Thanks for any input.

P.S.: I have good quality bulk speaker cable from Transparent if that makes any difference.

n80

Showing 1 response by waytoomuchstuff

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff
991 posts
 

There’s a lot going on inside those cables besides just getting electrical energy from Point A to Point B at a fraction of the speed of light. The insulation (dielectric) is not electrically inert, which is to say that it acts as a capacitor absorbing, then releasing energy slightly out of phase with the main signal. So, 5x the length will increase this by a factor of 5, and the cables will sound different.

Whether this effect, and other factors, will be audible to this listener in this space with this system is difficult to predict. As some have suggested, and blind A-B comparison may put your mind at rest.

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