Stupid Question - Cable length "standardization" (1 Viewer)

[Clay D. Major]

Hey gang,

A guy at the local A/V store in town once told me that I'd want to run all my speaker wire in identical lengths to best match the sound for each speaker. In other words, the Left, Center and Right channel speakers -- though not at all equidistant from my HTReceiver -- should all be fed by cables of identical length. My shortest run is something less than 12 feet (front left speaker); the longest would be the front right at twice that. Should I run 24 feet of cable from every speaker so that they "match" one another?

Seems like a waste of cable to me.

Thanks for your prompt response y'all!

-Clay

 

[PaulT]

In the distances we run wire for Home Theatre, I agree with that statement 100%. It would be a good reason to sell you an extra bunch of speaker wire, though.....

 

[Mike_Skeway]

It is a waste of cable, no need to do that.

Just use what you need with a little extra (a foot or two) so you can move the speakers / equipment if you need to.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I read somewhere that the speed of moving electrons would cause an audible difference in different lengths of speaker wire. :frowning:







If the wires were several miles long


You'll be fine in your room without silly lengths of cable. Just add a bit of wiggle-room.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

You have to remember that electrons move close to the speed of light. So you are not going to truly notice a difference between 12ft and 24ft.

 

[Chu Gai]

Well that's not how it works Jesse. You see, the electrons themselves move rather slowly. This movement is called the drift velocity. Instead, it is what's called the electric field that propogates down the wire at some fraction of what the speed of light in a vacuum is. For example, if you've got a 12 gauge copper wire and you're pushing 10 amps, the actual electon velocity is a whopping 80 or so cm/hour. Pretty small huh?