Speaker wire length

[bkfk]

Should the length of the speaker wire supporting your front left,right and center speakers all be the same.Thanks

[gidrah]

In theory, yes. In the real world though it's usually better to have each one as short as possible. If this means different lengths then so be it.

[Tour2ma]

Pretty much agree with gidrah...

Being a bit on the anal side though, I at least like to keep my mains wire runs "equal". It does not stress me out too badly if the center's length is different from the mains, or the surrounds are what they need to be.

[amulford]

I don't think it would matter very much. It's when you run LONG distances where it would be a factor. That given, I personally like to keep the mains length the same, just for sh!ts and giggles.

[Tour2ma]

Like I said, anal... :p

[mantis]

I always have left center and right equal lengths. Then I can rest ashore the timing is exact.


Anal I may be but nevertheless correct it will be.

[nemos2]

...Ditto, like everyone else said, It should not matter, ideal would be the shortest for each speaker, but.....most people dont. On the other hand, it's not a great idea to "coil" extra speaker cable on a run that might be long......this was just talked about in a post not to long ago.....

[TroyD]

Originally posted by mantis


Anal I may be but nevertheless correct it will be.


Huh? WTF did he say?

Sorry, I don't speak 'fortune cookie' and I've lost my decoder ring.

Can someone translate? :rolleyes:

BDT

[RuSsMaN]

Lucky Numbers: 7 18 23 28 36 49

[HBombToo]

Originally posted by TroyD


Can someone translate? :rolleyes:

BDT

I ate what?

HBomb

[Tour2ma]

Originally posted by TroyD
Huh? WTF did he say? I've lost my decoder ring. doro found it under your bed and gave it to me...

Appears there are two possible translations...

1. I believe that equal length runs to the mains is the only way to go, and if that makes me "anal", so be it...

OR

2. My name is not Dan, it's Diane. My body is a temple that all may worship at... I can show you the door as I kick your ass out into the street. I believe that a good car stereo and a clock radio is all one needs to achieve audio nivana... so long as it is hooked up to a B&K AVR and all tied together with the proper grade of MC...

Of course I could be wrong... ;)

[TroyD]

My guess is more simple, he's watched Return of the Jedi WAY too many times. :rolleyes:

I wonder if Dan has tried to drive his new Beemer Jedi-style, blindfolded.

BDT

[BlueMDPicker]

Originally posted by mantis
Then I can rest ashore ......

Mongo LIKE shore leave. :p

[RuSsMaN]

Well, I've had about all of this I can stand

[LittleCar_w/12s]

(funny cause we get our posts deleted all the time in C/A for that...)

Anyway I felt I should bring this up, and I'll give you a reference chart for your enjoyment...

There are two things I have against being anal about the length of cables:
Timing:
Let it be known, and it IS proven, that the transferrance of electricity into and out of a conductor is done AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT!!!!! Timing is NOT an issue. Yes, it is true that the speed of an electron itself is not at that speed, but when you put an electron in one end, the other end emmits one at C.
Resistance:
The resistance of what we use for speaker cable (ga-wise) is negligeable at the length differences we are speaking. So much so that it is almost guaranteed to be less than the tolerance of the voice coil in your audio drivers.
Using 16AWG, the difference in a 8 foot wire to a 16 foot wire is 0.032 ohm per side (0.06 ohm for both leads.) We're talking very low resistances here.

I am not trying to start a fight, but I just want yall to know. Also, please don't buy silver cables instead of copper, they have almost the exact resistance, and Gold has DOUBLE it.

Sorry for the rant - Jerry

[LittleCar_w/12s]

I also have to say that your connectors , just one, has more resistance than the entire line... That's where I focus my energy when constructing connections. A crimped connection can have less than a mm^2 of contact, that the same as about a 28ga wire... so I use lots of solder, why plenty? because Lead has around 15x the resistance of copper, and tin about 8x.

Use good connectors, and if you really want good connections, spade terminals are the greatest for surface area. make sure everything inside the box is soldered as well as that spade. Want a better connector? Use SILVER solder, about the same as welding the copper to the terminal, but you will need a really clean and high temp soldering equipment.
Hope this helps you and your wallets.
-Jerry