Length of Cable...Does It Matter?

[gareth133]

Hi,

As a result of my wife watching too many episodes of 60 Minute Makeover and other similar TV Programmes, I am having to relocate my hi-fi speakers. In fairness, they are probably being relocated to a better area where they will have more room to breath, however it means that I will require new speaker cable of approximately 6m in length.

I am planning on buying good quality cable such as the Chord Silver Carnival (although I am open to suggestions) but I am concerned that being connected to an amplifier 6m away will mean a drop in signal quality. Should this be a consideration or is 6m nothing in terms of good quality cable?

I have an Audiolab 8200CD and Audiolab 8200A Amplifier connected to Usher speakers.

Thanks,

Gareth

 

[CnoEvil]

Ideally, cables should be as short as possible and the same length. In reality, I would be surprised if you could tell the difference (though try to keep them a similar length).

Personally I'm not a fan of Chord cables, prefering those from Atlas.

Regards

Cno

 

[Anonymous]

Van Damme are good cables, cheaper, and you won't notice a difference. 20m would be a concern, but 6m is fine.

It makes sense to use equal lengths only if you're on of those people who seem to trade in cables and will be selling on. There's no other reason why.

 

[CnoEvil]

Van Damme are good cables, cheaper, and you won't notice a difference. 20m would be a concern, but 6m is fine. It makes sense to use equal lengths only if you're on of those people who seem to trade in cables and will be selling on. There's no other reason why.

GA and I agree on most things, aside from cables....and in this case I can't guarantee he's wrong.

The arguement is not a timing issue, where the signal arrives "late" on the longer longth (propogation speeds are at 80 - 90% of the speed of light).
It is about differing electrical propeties.....ie. different lengths give different inductance and capacitance, which put different demands on the relevant sections of the amp....a few cms won't matter, a few meters may.

I am no expert on this, but wanted to flesh out the reason for my comment. How important it is, I can't tell you.

Cno

 

[Anonymous]

That's correct, but not really of concern given the lengths being spoken of here.

This issue was addressed by Dynaudio, and also by the pro cable manufacturers. Basically, unless you have a 3m cable one side and an 15m cable the other, you won't hear any difference, because the signal degradation doesn't enter the audible threshold until about the 15m mark, from memory, and that does depend very much on the type of cable. Amps themselves are quite flexible in this regard, except some earlier Naim types, for example, where cables had to be a minimum of 3.5m, again if memory serves.

Since I doubt the OP is going to do anything extreme, I wouldn't think it a problem.

 

[Olli1324]

A pair of 6m cables will be absolutely fine. Don't worry about it. If they cause issue, then you need to begin questioning the quality and reputation of the manufacturer. It would take some pretty serious design flaws to make a cable 'not work properly' over 6m!

 

[Anonymous]

I have 4M one side and 16m the other, I sure cant hear a differance, and very much dougt I would with alot more distance between them.

So I would say your fine.

I think you will relise this,

All the best

Chris

 

[aliEnRIK]

Even chord have said on their website that although they do believe in cable 'burn in', no one has managed to tell any difference in cable lengths (without going into silly cable lengths)

I wouldnt worry about it