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Speaker Cable Lengths - W/ Monos

I'm considering having the manufacturer of my 10 foot cables cut the cables in half and re-terminate them for use with my Monoblocks in a Bi-wire configuration. They are very expensive cables, however, and I'd hate to cut myself short on cable (while also ruining their resale). At the same time, I'd hate to double up the longer length due to costs if I can help it.

My short term listening room will work easily with 4 1/2 to 5 foot cables, however, I'm not sure about a future room I'm planning.

What are typical cable lengths for those of you running monos out there? Is five feet usually enough? How far away from my speakers should my 150 lb. monos be?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
audiopman
alexc's avatar
alexc
265 posts
 
My mono blocks sit right under my stand-mounted speakers. Because the stands are quite tall, the amps are nowhere near the first reflection point. You cna also put them behind or to the side. Depends on the speakers. You of course do not want to block a reflex port or a low hanging woofer!
subaruguru
1,374 posts
 
WAF issues resulted in my hanging my monos under the speakers' floor joists, then running 8' cables through the floor at the baseboards. Nice result: hidden (and cooler-running!) Class A monos, and only 8' cables. (Long UNinsulated Red Dawn XLR'd ICs are DEAD quiet, too). I had thought about sitting the Alephs right up against the speakers, but was told twice that 1.5m was the magical minimum cable length (!)...and then my spouse weighed in....so I decided to hide 'em. Good Luck!
panzercat
41 posts
 
I think you should have the 5 way binding posts of your amps permanently welded directly to the binding posts on your speakers.

Advantages: Shortest length of wire - 0, and the old saying "The best wire is no wire", also you can sell your speaker cables at their current length.

Disadvantages: lose resale value on amps and speakers. Probably will result in an extremely heavy speaker/amp assempbly and make it hard to move around.

Just Kidding.
wellfed's avatar
wellfed
690 posts
 
I am using 4' bi-wire cables and this seems to be a comfortable length for my setup. God bless.
caesar
7 posts
 
I invite you all to take a look to the thread "Silver vs. Copper, Effect of length" started on 3-21-01: there is a very accurate followup that explains why SHORT interconnects are to be preferred to LONG ones.
Now: who's right?
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