Speaker cable length for mono blocks

I have a very similar setup, with Aleph 3's and Quad ESL 63's. I tried it first with 8' Stealth Ultimate Ribbons and then with 18" lengths of the same cable. My experience: it is VERY MUCH WORTHWHILE to go for the shorter length! The 18" cables brought me MUCH closer to the music. I thought it was very good before, and maybe it was by any reasonable standard. But this was one more reminder of the audiophile mantra, "It can always get better."

The shorter the better. I have about one metre of what I think is Ultra Cable, which was highly regarded cable ten, twelve years ago. I have never felt the need to improve on this. One of the advantages of mono blocks, I think, is that you are able to position them close to the speaker. The idea is to keep the amps clear of the speakers so they don't interfere with dispersion (limits this to the sides with dipoles unless the amp is kept on the floor below the transducer element itself) and air circulation, and to keep the interconnects short also. No point in having long runs of interconnect to compensate for extra short speaker cables, unless they are balanced. On the subject of cabling, it is interesting to read what the Bryston site has to say before going off the deep end cable-wise. Interconnects and speaker cables are a fools paradise, so beware.

The shorter the better less resantace. The other point is you can get a much better cable.

this is yet another of those queries that has been posted more than a few times. (suppressing big YAWN here to placate tonite's chosen moderators.) to save all those who find audiogon's search engine impossible to fathom, here's the consensus: shorter is better (but only with cables) unless you care a whit about resale value, in which such case you should use nothing shorter than 4 feet each side. -cfb

Sorry if I bored anyone (cfb.) Ninja, does a better cable really matter in this situation of short short length as long as basic parameters of sensible gauge, low resistance, capacitance,and inductance are followed?

ivanj: now your later question IS interesting (at least to my jaded mind). are there really exceptional cables of which you are aware that do not meet your "basic parameters"? if so, are you implying that one may ignore the superiority of such cables if one uses REALLY short lengths? are you willing to tell us, then, which brands and models of cables you would consider best in your system were longer lengths called for that you feel free to reject given your current configuration? -cfb

I'm aiming to have the same setup with tube monos and I'm about to buy just bulk 5...6ft of Analysis + Oval speaker cable and terminate it myself with Cardas termination kit . 2...3 feet runs figures for each speaker depending on placement. The cost of single 6' unterminated silver Oval is arround $140; coper is cheeper so there is no need to worry about it's resale + $~50(8 spades) for Cardas gold plated spades from music-direct.
Besides, not only YOU who will use monos with short runs and I actually saw ads with short 3' on audiogon.

Ivanj.:

To followup on Cornfedboy's comment regarding previous threads, you may want to do a search for a post I started back in May on this very subject entitled "Speaker Cable Lengths - W/Monos". I received a lot of constructive Audiogoner assistance.

At the time I was inquiring into your very dilemma. In a nut shell, for my particular cables, there was such thing as "too short" per the manufacturer as it relates to the design of the cable. (In my case with Tara "The Ones", the min. recommendedation was 4 feet.)

Ultimately, I did cut my 10 footers down to 4'-3" lengths and biwired, and I was very, very satisfied. I would recommend that you touch base with the cable manufacturer, and ultimately have them do your mods if you use a high end cable.

Good Luck.

"Are Monoblock s worth it?" - I apologize - I looked only in cable forum. Nice stuff in here.

Did Tara give you a reason why 4' was the shortest recommended length?