Speaker Wire length help.

[BigHerc]

Hello everyone, so years ago I ran all my speaker wires and hdmi behind my walls and finished them up nicely. Surrounds are another story with trying to strategically figure out the best route to take with the least amount of wall damage became a challenge which is why I haven't done it yet. But now I' m tired of looking at these wires behind me and running through the floor so I'm tackling the project this weekend. Question I have is that when I originally ran my wires it was suggested by my buddy that I should have all the speaker wires the same length going to my receiver. That area behind my wall plate is gonna get pretty crowded once I run the surrounds. Is same wire length that important? I would like to cut all the excess and clean it up. Front speaker furthest from the plate is 19ft away and the surround furthest from the plate is 35 ft away. Any help would be great!
Thanks

 

[Swerd]

Question I have is that when I originally ran my wires it was suggested by my buddy that I should have all the speaker wires the same length going to my receiver. That area behind my wall plate is gonna get pretty crowded once I run the surrounds. Is same wire length that important? I would like to cut all the excess and clean it up. Front speaker furthest from the plate is 19ft away and the surround furthest from the plate is 35 ft away. Any help would be great!

As long as your speaker wires are long enough to connect the amp or receiver to the speakers, you're good to go.

Electric signals travel through wires at roughly half the speed of light. That speed is 3×10^8 meters/second. Even without doing the math, I think you can see that speaker wire length won't matter… until you get to ridiculously long speaker wires.

 

[BigHerc]

Kinda figured that but needed to make sure. Awesome, now I can minimize all that excess. Thanks

 

[ScottAllenLogan]

Use good 12 gauge wire and the lengths will have negligible effects. Especially if your receiver has built in room calculation, such as Audysey.


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[MR.MAGOO]

plan on using a bit longer length wire, better to have a bit too long, than not long enough.

 

[lovinthehd]

Use good 12 gauge wire and the lengths will have negligible effects. Especially if your receiver has built in room calculation, such as Audysey.


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What connection would there be between using Audyssey and length of wire?

 

[ScottAllenLogan]

Let’s say you have a left channel with a 3 foot 18 gauge speaker wire and a right channel with a 57 foot 18 gauge wire. The different lengths of wire will offer different resistance and voltage drop over distance and introduce a slight delay between them, comparatively. The larger gauge the wire, the less voltage drop and resistance will occur over distance and therefor less delay caused by your wire. Using room correction software like Odyssey measures the real actual delay you are experiencing and corrects it by compensating with more or less delay per discreet channel, which should then eliminate or at least disguise any delay caused by voltage drop over a longer lower gauge wire.


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[lovinthehd]

Let’s say you have a left channel with a 3 foot 18 gauge speaker wire and a right channel with a 57 foot 18 gauge wire. The different lengths of wire will offer different resistance and voltage drop over distance and introduce a slight delay between them, comparatively. The larger gauge the wire, the less voltage drop and resistance will occur over distance and therefor less delay caused by your wire. Using room correction software like Odyssey measures the real actual delay you are experiencing and corrects it by compensating with more or less delay per discreet channel, which should then eliminate or at least disguise any delay caused by voltage drop over a longer lower gauge wire.


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You're equating voltage drop and resistance to delay?

 

[highfigh]

Use good 12 gauge wire and the lengths will have negligible effects. Especially if your receiver has built in room calculation, such as Audysey.


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12 ga is overkill for most systems and definitely for surrounds.

 

[highfigh]

You're equating voltage drop and resistance to delay?

Ever see a crowd trying to go out the same door?

 

[lovinthehd]

Ever see a crowd trying to go out the same door?

Are you equating voltage drop/resistance to time delay?

 

[highfigh]

Are you equating voltage drop/resistance to time delay?

The smiley didn't tell you anything?

 

[lovinthehd]

The smiley didn't tell you anything?

I just didn't know where you were taking it with your comment....smiley or no. Glad to know that' you don't equate delay with those electrical properties....

 

[TLS Guy]

Let’s say you have a left channel with a 3 foot 18 gauge speaker wire and a right channel with a 57 foot 18 gauge wire. The different lengths of wire will offer different resistance and voltage drop over distance and introduce a slight delay between them, comparatively. The larger gauge the wire, the less voltage drop and resistance will occur over distance and therefor less delay caused by your wire. Using room correction software like Odyssey measures the real actual delay you are experiencing and corrects it by compensating with more or less delay per discreet channel, which should then eliminate or at least disguise any delay caused by voltage drop over a longer lower gauge wire.


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The negligible voltage drop has nothing to do with delay. There is also no discernable delay, due to the speed of travel. So no correction required.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There is no reason to consider or worry about speaker cable length. Here is the why on that...

Long vs Short Speaker Cables: Does it Really Matter?

This article explores if varying the length of speaker cables between speakers really makes a difference in audibility. Watch our related YouTube videos to see what truly matters in speaker cables.

www.audioholics.com

You absolutely do want to consider speaker wire gauge, but you are likely fine with 14 gauge wiring. But, there is reading on this as well...

Speaker Wire Gauge Guide: How to Choose the Right AWG for Any Speaker

Learn how to choose the right speaker wire gauge (AWG) based on speaker impedance and speaker cable length to maximize amplifier performance and minimize signal loss to ensure best sound quality.

www.audioholics.com

You can use whatever gauge cabling you would like, but it impacts things as the wire gets too thin. Certainly when going through the effort, spending a bit more on the cable will not be the factor that makes it over the top. But, I'd just follow the chart on the link above and call it done. If you already have something like a bunch of 16 gauge cable around, then I would just use that and you are unlikely to be able to hear a difference unless your speakers and room is just absolutely awesome.

 

[Kingnoob]

Hello everyone, so years ago I ran all my speaker wires and hdmi behind my walls and finished them up nicely. Surrounds are another story with trying to strategically figure out the best route to take with the least amount of wall damage became a challenge which is why I haven't done it yet. But now I' m tired of looking at these wires behind me and running through the floor so I'm tackling the project this weekend. Question I have is that when I originally ran my wires it was suggested by my buddy that I should have all the speaker wires the same length going to my receiver. That area behind my wall plate is gonna get pretty crowded once I run the surrounds. Is same wire length that important? I would like to cut all the excess and clean it up. Front speaker furthest from the plate is 19ft away and the surround furthest from the plate is 35 ft away. Any help would be great!
Thanks

Wish I had hidden wires lol my cables look like a rat nest or snake pile haha . You can wire them under the floor too . Wireless router maybe .I hide my subwoofer cable under a large rug. Loads of ways to hide cables.

 

[highfigh]

I just didn't know where you were taking it with your comment....smiley or no. Glad to know that' you don't equate delay with those electrical properties....

When have you read any comments from me that would make you think I became one of those weirdos?

 

[lovinthehd]

When have you read any comments from me that would make you think I became one of those weirdos?

That one! Thought maybe it was one of those water pipe to electricity analogies sort of, but....maybe you can explain more of what you meant then?

 

[highfigh]

That one! Thought maybe it was one of those water pipe to electricity analogies sort of, but....maybe you can explain more of what you meant then?

I haven't heard about the water pipe to electricity thing but I know that small charges can occur via galvanic reactions. It's the principle behind crystal radios, IIRC.