speaker wire question (1 Viewer)

[JasonBenway]

Will it cause any issues if one of the speaker wires for a rear speaker is about 10 ft longer than the other?

I want to run the wire down one wall, then across the ceiling to the other wall.

thanks,jb

 

[John Garcia]

As long as the wire is sufficient AWG, it shouldn't matter at all.

 

[Arthur S]

What John said is true. Now, we don't know how long a run that long one is going to be. If you are talking 40 feet or more you might want to go to thicker wire if you are using 16 gauge or thinner. 14 gauge is not too expensive and is good for rather lengthy runs. Even at that, there is wide discrepancy between speaker makers, (and hobbiests) on what gauge. Some say 16 gauge is fine. Other say 12 gauge.

 

[JasonBenway]

I'll have to look when I get home, but I think I got 14 gauge.

The middle runs will be about 25 feet for one of the speakers and 35 for the other.

The back runs will be about 45 feet.

thanks,jb

 

[Garrett Lundy]

It won't sound any different. I wouldn't sweat anything less than 1000'

 

[John Garcia]

14ga. should be fine for all of those runs. I have one surround run with 30' and the other with 20' and it works perfectly.

 

[JasonBenway]

Thank you for your help. I have one other quick OT question.

How close can I run an electric line to speaker wire and component cable, without causing interference?

thanks,jb

 

[Arthur S]

Generally pretty damn close. Of course it is always best to try to cross your speaker wires at 90 degree angle.

 

[Chu Gai]

why?

 

[MikeLi]

It will eliminate any possible hum or any other sound coming from your electricity. Electricity in of itself is actually quite noisy. Thats why all folks in the know take it from the electric guide like my bro in law that is a home electrician that this is the only way to do it. If you must run in parallel, do them about at least 3" apart.

 

[John Garcia]

If you can, don't run the power and signal together. About 3 inches apart is the minimum I would give them.

 

[Arthur S]

Aren't even the cheapest RCA patch cords shielded? So the problem (if there was one) would be noise (60Hz hum?) in the speaker wire. I've had occasion to run wires right up against each other and no noise of any kind unless I put my ear right up against the tweeter. Just the usual very, very low level background hiss that is always there.

It is certainly smart to follow the 3 inch and if possible, the 90 degree angle idea, however, close parallel isn't always a problem.

 

[John Garcia]

Speaker wire is much more susceptible to noise from power lines, and even in-wall wire is normally not shileded in any way.

All RCAs should be shielded, but the cheap ones, like the ones that come in the box, use the shield as the negative (which seems to defeat the purpose of the shielding), but it isn't a big deal in the average install.

A buddy of mine installed a sub on the opposite side of the room. They electrician used speaker wire, and ran it in the wall along with some power wires. Nasty hum was the result. I told him to have them replace it with coax with RCAs on either end and the hum went away.

 

[Arthur S]

John

I wasn't suggesting that speaker wire is shielded.

Good job helping your friend.

 

[Chu Gai]

I've taken a 100 foot extension cord and butted about 75 feet of speaker wire right next to it without any audible effect whatsoever. The cord was plugged into a nearby outlet and then run into the garage to a central vac that was then turned on.
Well gee, wrong tool for the job, no?

 

[John_RO]

14 gauge Home Depot wire works fine for me. My surrounds are about 25 ft. runs. Since I run it under the carpet, 12 gauge was out of the question. Tried it and it resulted in a noticable hump with no audible benefits.