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Speaker cable lengths?

G

Guest432

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Is it ok to have different length runs from the amp? I'm going to order some new cables and only need 4m & 1.5m but not sure if it would cause some sort of imbalance with different lengths, logic says that the impedance difference between them should be tiny but who knows?

Amp is a Dynavector HX1.2
 
Thanks, the Naim min impedance of 3.5m probably put a flea in my ear and ever since I've always bought equal lengths over 3.5m.
 
When I experimented with a radical move of speakers I had two 4m lengths of Exposure cable twisted together one side (8m) and 3.7m of Naim on the other. The fact it took me 6 months to bother to buy two 8 m runs of Vann Damme tells you everything you need to know. Naim CB amps too! The funny bit was due to only one end of the Exposure pair having banana plugs I had to have them in opposed directionality.

Which begs the question why bother with 2X8m? Audiophilia nervosa and Vann Damme is cheap.
 
+1 to that, Bob.

Buy the lengths you want, don't worry about differences at all at a domestic scale - even for rather large values of 'domestic'

And to forestall the usual follow-on bit of disinfo, if you have a very long cable and choose to coil it up one side rather than cut off teh excess - there's no penalty at all. It doesnt 'increase inductance' / 'kill the treble' as the popular rumour has it - because the supply and return legs cancel nicely even on something as widely-spaced as naca5.

A few years ago I tried this with a 10m run of NAc5 cable my brother had - we wound it up as tight as we could between us, ending up with a pancake about 12" across, and when measured with an LCR bridge the effect over being measured laid out straight was - a couple of tenths of a microhenry, comparable to the experimental error margins at worst, well into the noise floor and wouldn't ever even trouble bats into any speaker you can naim.
 
thebiglebowski said:
Is it ok to have different length runs from the amp? I'm going to order some new cables and only need 4m & 1.5m but not sure if it would cause some sort of imbalance with different lengths, logic says that the impedance difference between them should be tiny but who knows?

Amp is a Dynavector HX1.2
Click to expand...
I have a different length of Chord Epic Plus speaker cable one almost half the length of the other
The sound is balanced with no delay while there is a large sound stage.
In other words no problem no matter what people say
 
I have always bought speaker cable in equal lengths but I can't recall why, maybe just OCD ! I have about seven metres on the longest run so I never think about buying exotic cables ! DNM Reson has done the job for 6 years .
 
TBH,
I think this is a very silly question from a forum member thats been a multiple box and system changer for years.
Always get two lengths the same.
You will always have a hard time selling on if not both the same length.:D
 
If you are going to keep the cables then different lengths are fine, I run 2.5 and 4.5 m sides with no problem.
But as Barry says if you are a serial box swapper selling on will be difficult;)
 
thebiglebowski said:
Is it ok to have different length runs from the amp? I'm going to order some new cables and only need 4m & 1.5m but not sure if it would cause some sort of imbalance with different lengths, logic says that the impedance difference between them should be tiny but who knows?

Amp is a Dynavector HX1.2
Click to expand...
This has been asked many times before. The answer is no, it doesn't matter.

Markus S said:
With almost anything other than Naim, unequal lengths are no problem at all.
Click to expand...
It's not a problem with Naim either.
 
Other than, I can only speak about Naim from personal experience, if the lengths are significantly different then the sonic balance of each channel will be ever so slightly different. However in a real world domestic environment I suspect this might not be that noticeable.
Simon
 
martin clark said:
+1 to that, Bob.



And to forestall the usual follow-on bit of disinfo, if you have a very long cable and choose to coil it up one side rather than cut off teh excess - there's no penalty at all. It doesnt 'increase inductance' / 'kill the treble' as the popular rumour has it - because the supply and return legs cancel nicely even on something as widely-spaced as naca5.

A few years ago I tried this with a 10m run of NAc5 cable my brother had - we wound it up as tight as we could between us, ending up with a pancake about 12" across, and when measured with an LCR bridge the effect over being measured laid out straight was - a couple of tenths of a microhenry, comparable to the experimental error margins at worst, well into the noise floor and wouldn't ever even trouble bats into any speaker you can naim.
Click to expand...

That's a very useful piece of tried and tested info., Martin. I am one such which has excess A5 vaguely coiled (on 11 m runs) and have often wondered about any potential deleterious effects. This is the first time I've seen a definitive comment on this.
 
Bob McC said:
over 3.5m it isn't a problem with Naim either
Click to expand...

Its not the length that Naim is sensitive to, its the inductance.
Naim recommend 3.5m (min) of NACA5 with its 1uH/m to get 3.5uH per side.
If whatever cable you use has (e.g.) 0.5uH/m, then you need 7m per side (min)

That said, I have not heard anything detrimental with modern Naims, my SN seems to be happy with any cable (not considering SQ) . But my old Nait-2 did not like it with 6m of Kimber 8PR, so there might be some truth in it all.
 
Should probably work fine with different lengths. But buy the same length just for peach of mind, you won't regret it!
 
I have been taken in by snake oil salesmen telling me that I have to use equal lengths of expensive Linn cable. Said expensive Linn cable is coiled under 1 speaker and I do regret it.

Bloody audio neurosis has a lot to answer for.
 
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