Power cords and video/audio cables

[mytzen]

When connecting everything in your system I have read that you are supposed to keep power cords separate from your other cables and that if you must cross them it needs to be done at 90 degree angles. Is this correct?

Next, what is the minimum distance for power cords to be away from other cables? Are we talking a couple of inches between them? It just seems like it would be a little difficult to get them more than a few inches away from each other.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Nick250]

There maybe a more technical response, but for me, all the speaker wires, sub cable, power cords are all in a bit of jumble behind the the audio rack and I have no audio or video issues with that.

 

[hemiram]

I had a weird problem with cable arrangement one time in 35 years of playing with this stuff, and that was when my old Audio Pulse Time Delay started picking up some weird motorboat noise suddenly, and putting it into the rear surrounds. It was right after I had moved everything to another room and it drove me crazy. After a drawn out process, I finally figured out it was my CD player causing it, only when NOT playing anything, it only did it when sitting there with the power on. After I replaced the attached cable on the player, with a longer, better one, and put a whole bunch, like 7 or 8 Ferrite chokes on the cable, was I able to get rid of it.

Other than that, the cables are just bunched up and never had any problems.

 

[ScottMayo]

When connecting everything in your system I have read that you are supposed to keep power cords separate from your other cables and that if you must cross them it needs to be done at 90 degree angles. Is this correct?

Next, what is the minimum distance for power cords to be away from other cables? Are we talking a couple of inches between them? It just seems like it would be a little difficult to get them more than a few inches away from each other.

Thanks for the help.

Usually, with most systems, it doesn't matter much. Most interconnects are shielded. Folk who use really cheap interconnect (or some esoteric high end stuff without a shield) are asking for trouble (and not just from power cord hum), and then, yes, wire placement matters. It's reasonable to keep power cords together (velcro strips are useful for this) and away from other wiring, and keep speaker wire and interconnects from getting tangled together. If you live next to an AM radio station or have very noisy powerlines, you may have to take additional steps.

Spacing wire apart is easy - get a strip of wood, glue velcro strips to it at intervals, and bind each cable with the velcro, one per customer. And if you use a polished piece of maple, you can claim you spent $250 on it and it has special sonic qualities. This kind of thing isn't usually necessary, though it does help keep the wiring neat.

 

[mytzen]

Thanks for the info, I only have cables that have shielding so I should be fine.