JADE AUDIO Cables

Hi Audiobuzz, no harm, no foul. No, I haven't heard a longer length of the PAD Dominus in my system. The only speaker cables that I've heard short lengths vs. longer lengths were a pair of Ridge Street Audio Design Poiema!!!, Tara Labs Decade, and Cardas Golden Reference.
To my ears, I could not detect any real difference due to cable length. The basic sonic charateristics remained the same.

While I do realize that some cable manufacturers recommend at least 6 ft lengths, none, including Steve, have ever had a good explaination as to why this would be. I may have a better grasp on this when my Jade Audio speaker cables come in. The demo pair that I tried was an 8 foot length, the pair I ordered was a 4 ft length. JD has made no comment regarding the shorter length, in fact he also mentioned that it didn't make sense to pay for a length more than you require. Why use 2.5 meter interconnects when all you need for your application is 1 meter? Have you noticed sonic differences in different lengths of cables (i/c's, s/c's or p/c's)?

I'm not really going to argue over the longer interconnect/ shorter speaker cable vs. the shorter interconnect/longer speaker cable debate, that debate is endless, IMHO. Just like tubes vs. SS, or digital vs. analog, each side will have it's proponants. All one can do is listen and choose for themselves.

Cheers,
John

All I can add to the length discussion is I assume the length issue is in regard to whatever filter affect the dielectric, filler and shielding might have on the signal. If these attributes are having a large affect and the cables ability to transmit the signal, then I assume it is important to have the length as close to the length used to voice the cable. If however the combined affect of these materials is small, ie low dielectric value and low dielectric filler with no shielding, I can not see why a few feet of wire should matter.

All cables are basically a filter, having some relationship with the signal. The greater the detrimental value, the more length matters???

I'm just thinking out loud, I do not actually know the answers. Let's see what John and John learn, the two Johns (I'm not talking about a public restroom here) both use short length speaker cables. It would be easy; and now I'm sure mandatory for Jafox to do a side by side.

In fact, I will try and build a four foot set this week and see if Jafox can come over and do a listening test. It would be an interesting experiment, and this will help us not guess what will happen, but have some actual experience to add.

Thanks guys for the support,

jd
Jade Audio, LLC

I too have heard the claim that speaker cables should be 8-feet lengths but this never made much sense.....no more than digital cables need to be 1.5m instead of 1m. Afterall, how long is a speaker cable in an active speaker or a digital cable between the transport and dac stages of a cdp?

I am quite surprised that JD has invited me to return to his manufacturing facility. Last time I destroyed an antique table lamp and a few months before I wiped out a mobile hanging down from the ceiling in the back of his room. I suppose he will require me to stand out on the front porch to evaluate his speaker cables so as nothing else ends up in the landfill.

I have an even better idea.....why not bring the 4' and 8' pairs over here and we can finally hear them in my system? And in fact, why not voice them here! Afterall, with just a few tubes here, I hardly have any colorations in my system. 8-) And I can more readily accommodate 4' pairs as each amp is 3 feet from its associated speaker. So hey, next weekend? Don't forget Lucinda.

John

Hey, you two keep me posted on the 4 ft vs. the 8 ft results. Hey JD, any chance of you moving to Pennsylvania so that I can be you guinea pig instead of John Fox (the other John)? 8-)
I do find that my tastes run very similar to both of yours, so I'm waiting to 'hear'. I did not realize that John was such a 'clutz' though. Honest JD, if you move to PA I won't break anything. :)

Cheers,
John

I have two stories about the length of speaker cables. One comes from long ago and Bob Fulton also of Minnesota fame. His were the first special speaker wires that I ever bought although that started a long series of trials. His speaker wires were 57 inches long! Why? Because he had taken various lengths to the Minneapolis zoo in the babbon area and played alarm calls recorded by him. Only when the speaker wires were 57" long, not longer and not shorter, did the babbons react. I bought some. Although they were yellow, they were identical to welding cables I had used and sounded like them. I never cut welding cables to 57" , however.

The other story is much like this. It comes from my experience with the Omega Mikro charged speaker wires. This company sought to remove all insolation material, and refused to make speaker wires shorter than 8' long. When I asked, I was told nothing more than because shorter did not sound as good. This is also the company that still has two power cords, the Red and the Blue, which sound quite differ one from the other on most components. The power cords differ only in that the ribbon draw on the red goes from the wall plug to the IEC and then back. The blue is the opposite. Having heard this, I trusted them on the speaker wires.

Norm