Speaker cable length

@bkeske,

my main system has a pair of 22 foot Canare 4S11 speaker cables going to my speakers. There is no loss of current.  My 11 gauge speaker cables are good with no loss up to 50 feet away.  My speaker cables go under the floor as my rack is across the room in an alcove.  I would never run an interconnect under the floor as the signal is just a few volts.  I have had numerous systems over the years with this configuration and I have always gotten excellent results. 

If you have a basement, consider doing what I did.  I put my amp in the basement to reduce hum in the listening room.  My preamp and its power supply are also in a room adjacent to the speakers, in an equipment cabinet, with balanced IC's running through the floor to the amp.  Thus, the speakers are the only equipment in the listening room.  The power supply/vacuum for my SOTA Star Sapphire TT are also in the basement.  I didn't want that vacuum unit anywhere near the rest of my equipment.

All of this physical separation is important.  And, yes, there are plenty of holes drilled in the floors.

All cable pairs are of equal length.  The rule I learned decades ago was to keep IC's short and worry less about speaker cable length.  But with your amp in the basement,  speaker cables can still be kept relatively short, saving money.

Other than convenience and tradition, I have never understood why folks spend so much on high quality equipment, then place it all so close together. 

The best speaker cable performs at a maximum distance of zero.  Any longer than zero colors the signal.   

That said, you can usually get away with a couple of feet, no more than 4 feet, if the cables are of sufficiently heavy gauge wire.  Any cable less than 14 gauge should be avoided at any length greater than zero.

I don't mean to be acrid here, but those of you is spousing really short speaker cable lengths seem to be out of touch with a lot of systems reality. I know if you have monoblocks and it isn't a problem, but I don't and I don't think many other audiophiles do. plus, setting up your speakers so you are in that .83 ratio of the triangle means at a forefoot cable is virtually impossible.

I can assure you, my feet are firmly planted in reality. I simply provided another alternative should you have equipment that would make it easy for you, and perhaps provide an opportunity of spending a bit more for better cables themselves. You didn’t specify your equipment, so....


It worked for me, and was able to spend a bit more on speaker cables vs my previous setup of 20’+ (ran under the floor and through the basement to make things ‘tidy’).


One thing is for sure, removing your equipment from between the speakers will probably be an improvement regardless. So, get longer speaker cables an enjoy the music.

cheers.