Speaker wire length

[Squishman]

I am going to add mid-heights to my living room system. I have always used the old rule of thumb to keep speaker wire length equal for every pair. Is this still true with modern receivers with calibration, etc? My left side is way closer to the amp.

 

[Teetertotter?]

This should be of some help: Speaker Wire Gauge Chart + Wire Size And Quality Advice (soundcertified.com)
Good Luck.

 

[Verdinut]

I am going to add mid-heights to my living room system. I have always used the old rule of thumb to keep speaker wire length equal for every pair. Is this still true with modern receivers with calibration, etc? My left side is way closer to the amp.

You haven't specified the difference in length between the two speaker wires. If you are talking about a length of 10 feet or less, you shouldn't have to worry. But if your speakers have a true impedance of 4 ohms and the lengths differ by more than 10 feet, you could use a one size bigger gauge for the longer run.

 

[Wardog555]

No. It really doesn't matter on speaker wire length differences

 

[TLS Guy]

I am going to add mid-heights to my living room system. I have always used the old rule of thumb to keep speaker wire length equal for every pair. Is this still true with modern receivers with calibration, etc? My left side is way closer to the amp.

Keeping speaker wires the same length is BOGUS, and absolute bunk. ALL speaker leads should be no longer than required. Any opinion to the contrary is wrong.

 

[Squishman]

Keeping speaker wires the same length is BOGUS, and absolute bunk. ALL speaker leads should be no longer than required. Any opinion to the contrary is wrong.

Well, that is great! Maybe I could taylor some my other leads then!

 

[TLS Guy]

Well, that is great! Maybe I could taylor some my other leads then!

That is exactly what you should do.

 

[gene]

So odd people forget we have articles on this very topic and link elsewhere

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

Choosing the Right Speaker Wire Gauge for Optimal Performance

We discuss speaker wire gauge and how to choose the best audio cables based on your loudspeaker impedance and distance to your amplifier to achieve best performance.

www.audioholics.com

 

[Squishman]

That is exactly what you should do.

I will. Good timing for the new amp.

 

[Speedskater]

a 4 to1 ratio (or so) might be nice.

 

[lovinthehd]

Might depend on how OCD one is....I've heard some say it drives them crazy just knowing the lengths are different

 

[Alex2507]

Might depend on how OCD one is....I've heard some say it drives them crazy just knowing the lengths are different

I've heard some say it was a short drive. Yuk, yuk, yuk ...

 

[lovinthehd]

I've heard some say it was a short drive. Yuk, yuk, yuk ...

Uh huh

 

[fmw]

Some conext. An electrical signal will go around the planet about 10 times in a second. That should lead you to the understanding that a few feet difference from one to another is not audible. Not all things that are measurable are also audible.

 

[Verdinut]

Some conext. An electrical signal will go around the planet about 10 times in a second. That should lead you to the understanding that a few feet difference from one to another is not audible. Not all things that are measurable are also audible.

It's not a question of speed of electricity transfer, but wire resistance.

 

[Speedskater]

Yep, it's total end-to-end wire resistance with respect to the loudspeaker's impedance curve.

For most reasonable loudspeakers and reasonable cables, reasonable length differences won't matter.

 

[highfigh]

I had to sit through a seminar at CEDIA where the guy was spouting the equal length BS and he spent more time telling us how cool he and his company were than telling us anything that might be useful.

This stuff isn't just the domain of forums and magazines, it's in the pro AV world, too.

 

[fmw]

It's not a question of speed of electricity transfer, but wire resistance.

Yes we understand that an electrical signal would be aborbed before it made it around the world. I was adding context to the idea being concerned about mismatched length in speaker wires.

 

[haraldo]

Disussion with ChatGPT and John Siau of Benchmark media, on speaker cables
read: John Siau instructs ChatGPT, rubbing the snake-oil away from ChqatGPT / Will ChatGPT remember this?

Audio Application Notes

Benchmark's Application Notes newsletter is designed to educate audio enthusiasts. Each month we will offer insights that will help you have the best audio experience.

benchmarkmedia.com