Pithy, and directly to the point.
How long should speaker cables be?
My cables are 12 feet long but with my current setup 6 feet would be more than enough. I recall reading somewhere that connectors should be short and speaker cables should be long. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
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- 36 posts total
@larryincmh if single ended works for you, it works, if it does not, it does not. A long single ended cable is often bad, not because it allows you to pick up more noise, because realistically, who has big noise generators near their audio equipment, but because there is higher resistance in the ground connection which could translate into ground loop noise. If you do not hear it, then don't fret about it. If someone with some basic understanding of electrical properties and audio systems designed your speaker cable, and is not trying to trick you, then a bit of length in your speaker cables is unlikely to make a difference in the sound. If you are running Maggies and your cables have a lot of inductance or you are running Wilsons and you have a lot of resistance, there could be an audible difference between a short and long cable. If your cables are some esoteric but poorly designed cable where the resistance is equivalent to 18awg, then I would be shortening them from 12 to 6 feet personally. They may sound different. It could be worse or better. |
They sell them in standard lengths up to 23ft. Obviously these cannot be shortened by the end-user and I am pretty sure Nordost doesn't offer this as a service. I have Purple Flare's which I'm now using for my AV system and they are a few feet too long. My issue with the length (and this design in general) is inflexibility of the ribbon which makes cable management difficult. I'll get rid of them eventually. If you are OK with the extra length aesthetically, then I'd say leave them as is. |
Just who, if not you, is the expert? Try what makes sense , listen and modify, but first get the room acoustics right and only change one thing at a time. If I have to go long, it will be because of bass passed through my second FLOOR listening room and anything that I do to tame vibration issues is far more critical than long speaker, or long balanced interconnects. |
- 36 posts total