[Robert57]

I am now upgrading a  2.1 living room system that calls for a 20 ft. speaker cable run to the left speaker, and only an eight foot run to the right speaker. In the past, I've followed the advice of a local audio dealer and bought equal 20 ft. lengths, and just coiled the unused portion behind one speaker. But I've read that as long as one run is at least half the length of the other there is no problem with different lengths-- the signal moves at about the speed of light, afer all. But maybe the amp would see a different load or impedance? Another issue might be the magnetic field and possible noise caused by a tightly coiled 10' ft length of speaker cable right behind the right speaker.

I am planning to buy Gregg Straley's Reality speaker cables to go with CIA D-200 Mono amps and Tyler Taylo Ref. monitors. Gregg's speaker cables are not shielded: I wonder if that would further complicate matters with a tight 6 inch diameter coil? Just to be safe, i'm inclined to get equal 20 ft. length, and do the coiling of the one side, if only to preserve my options in another abode down the road. Still, I'd appreciate any thoughts on how best to handle such an unequal speaker cable run. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

Rob

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good question Rob. I've done both ways, currently using the "coil the longer cable" method.
Didn't notice a difference either way.
Very interested in seeing the following replys.

Bob

[Bill Baker]

I would not recommend different length cables. Depending on the cable, it could cause a problem with the balance of the system due to different capacitance and resistance of the different lenghts. As far as coiling, I would also not recommend this unless absolutely necessary.

[bprice2]

I would not recommend different length cables. Depending on the cable, it could cause a problem with the balance of the system due to different capacitance and resistance of the different lenghts. As far as coiling, I would also not recommend this unless absolutely necessary.

So, where does this leave the original poster.  Does he have any other options?

[Audiovista]

Well, the cables will have different R, L and C, but I agree that the differences will most likely be inaudible. I would definitely not coil the cable as that will increase its inductance and you still have imbalance.

Safe bet is to increase wire gauge, if practical, to minimize differences. Or, if you want to play - increase the gauge of the longer wire to get approx. same resistance (reduce longer cable's AWG number by 3 or 4). Inductance will move in the good direction too and capacitance is anybody's guess anyway, so don't worry about it.

My 2 cents.....

[Bill Baker]

Does he have any other options?

 This would depend on his layout. The best option would be to route the extra length of cable in a manner that did not allow a lot of "crossing" or coiling. Maybe loop it out beyond the speaker to take up some slack?
 Shielding issues are much more citical in interconnect cables than speaker cable. I do not think a 20 foot speaker cable run would cause any interferance problems as long as they are kept away from power cords. If they do have to cross over power cords, keeping them at a 90 degree angle would help prevent noise.

[Gordy]

I thought the problem with coiling speakers cables was signal bleeding by way of induction with the paralleled lines.  If you were to coil/lay them down in an overlapping coil so the cable crossed at ~90 deg. angles, wouldn't that prevent any problems? 

[opaqueice]

The standard advice to minimize inductance in overly long cables is to loosely snake the cable back and forth - like a capital S.  I'd be shocked if it makes an audible difference, but you might as well.

[Robert57]

Thanks all for your helpful comments. One other complicating factor is I will be fishing the cables on the long side behind the wall and fireplace in my living room, bridging built-in bookcases. Gregg's Reality cables may be a bit too stiff for this application, given some tight turns I will be needing to make in existing bookcase cabinets. As much as I'd love to have Gregg's cables in my system, maybe I need to compromise. The affordable Audio Art cables are supposedly designed by DH Labs' founder and may be a more flexible, practical cable choice, but its silver/ copper blend probably is a bit more forward than I'd prefer. The concensus so far from this thread is I should NOT coil the cables, whatever I do, and different lengths would be the better choice. Very interesting. I gather the best speaker cables are not shielded. I was also planning to go with spades on both ends (Cardas speaker posts).

Any other comments or recommendations are most welcome! I'd like to keep the cost of the speaker cables  ( 20 ft plus 8 ft.) under $500-600.00.

Rob

[TomW16]

I am no cable guru but from my basic understanding, the amp/speaker connection is low impedance and, therefore, low inductance and resistance speaker cables are what is required.  I would not think that different cable lengths to each speaker would cause any audible change.

Tom

[opaqueice]

Any other comments or recommendations are most welcome! I'd like to keep the cost of the speaker cables  ( 20 ft plus 8 ft.) under $500-600.00.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

[hmen]

I had a nine foot wire and an eight foot wire for a couple of years and I never noticed a problem.

[pearsall001]

There is absolutely no audible difference between different length speaker runs. Unless you're approaching the 500' mark, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. 

[lazydays]

The standard advice to minimize inductance in overly long cables is to loosely snake the cable back and forth - like a capital S.  I'd be shocked if it makes an audible difference, but you might as well.

called two engineers that I used to work about this same question awhile back, and both had similar views. Each one said that different lengths would make a difference that you could see on a really scope, but never would be able to hear the difference due to the speed that the coils are operating at. So basically the speed of light is many many times faster than the reaction of a voice coil in a driver; let alone the speed at which it will actually move at. Just because you have power on the coil doesn't mean you wont have some lag in coil movement and of course reaction to the power spike coming to it.
gary