I did a quick forum search for short speaker cables but did not find anything so I am asking for a little help.
Going to try some monoblocks with my NX-Otica's. The amps will be within 6" of the speakers. Speakers have tube connectors at present and Danny's DIY speaker cables that are 15' long. The Oticas are over 8' from the front wall where the current electronics are placed.
Is there a minimum length for a speaker cable? Building a set of Danny's cables 6" long seems like a lot of work for potentially very little benefit. What is the shortest they should be to still get the filtering benefit?
Would it be better to solder on a 6" extension (using Danny's internal speaker wire) to the the back side of the female tube connector and connect the other end to the amp with a banana plug for easy/safe disconnect if the amp should get accidently bumped into?
Other solutions?
I am cautiously optimistic about going to the Topping B200 amps but if they don't work out then I will likely go with Bryan Miller's tube amp that Danny and Ron have both given positive reviews and in which case the existing 15' cables will be just fine. I do not want to modify the existing set up in a way that cannot be easily undone.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Per your question, which is an insightful one: "Is there a minimum length for a speaker cable?"
Answer:Yes.
Some info for your consideration: important to remember that the signal is an
EM wave that propagates along the cable, the signal is NOT like water flowing through a hose or marbles (i.e., electrons) rolling in a tube, so to speak.
Additionally speaker cables carry an
alternating current (AC) signal, representing this audio EM waveform, it is not DC.
As such, speaker cables are susceptible to the influence of noise caused that can be caused by EM wave reflections of the AC signal if the speaker cables are too short. This noise is usually perceived by the listener as "blur and slur" of the musical presentation.
As such, in my experience and acc. to some cable manufacturers I know in the audio cable industry, speaker cables should be a minimum of 1.5M in length. This is to mitigate the impact of these EM wave reflections carrying the signal from the amplifier to the speaker drivers.
it's also very beneficial to raise the speakers off the floor using speaker cable elevator as vibration imparted by the floor can impart triboelectric noise the speaker cables dielectric insulation. I'll add that even a slab floor can, and does...vibrate. At a specific resonant frequency, concrete quite literally can, and does, ring like a bell.
Here's a link to some affordable speaker cables elevators:
1)
https://shorturl.at/LgzxM2 The Cardas cable elevators designed by well-regarded cable engineer, George Cardas:
https://www.dedicatedaudio.com/products/cardas-multi-block-cable-elevatorsJust some physics info for your consideration. Cheers.
