Speaker cable thickness

[mikvilja]

Hello,

Having moved to new house, my speaker cables are not long enough so I need to buy new ones. I have some questions that I would appreciate to have your comments of:

1. Cable thickness: ML Source manual says that:
"Under no circumstance should a wire of gauge higher (thinner) than #16 be used. In general, the longer the length used, the greater the necessity of a lower gauge, and the lower the gauge, the better the sound, with diminishing returns setting in around #8 to #12."

Mentioning this to my dealer, he was surprised and said that "it's commonly known fact that thicker cable may worsen the sound quality". Is this true?

The right speaker needs a cable length of 4.5 meters = almost 15 feet. Would there be some kind of minimum thickness for this long cable?

2. For the left speaker I would need only about 1 meter = 3 feet but would it cause audible effect to have so much difference in the length of the speaker cables.

Thanks in advance for your comments and thoughts!

-Mikko

 

[Feltran]

Thicker cable is generally considered better, however there is a legion of Nordost fans that would disagree.

There may or may not be an audible effect from different cable lengths, but many people think there is - you definitely should get equal cable lengths unless you have a chance to try unequal cables yourself first and decide you're happier that way.

 

[Beakman]

Lets put things in perspective. A 120 volt/ 14 amp power saw requires a minimum of 12 gauge wire for a fifty foot run. That's 1680 watts no load.

Now, an inexpensive test, go get a 25 foot 14 Gauge extension cord in the color you like, cut to size, and see if it makes any difference from what you have already.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

With just 15ft. I think you would be fine with 14 gauage, or if you want to be on the safe side 12 gauge would definitely be thick enough. I went through a similar problem when I moved my rack out from the middle of my speakers and had to use 30ft speaker cables. I bought 12 gauge Audioquest CV-8 for this, but there are many who have pre wired home theater's that have even longer runs that use only 14 gauge with good results. At some point there is a diminishing return and a larger gauge is required, but you should not have a problem. Also, I decided to keep my cables the same length just in case, but many claim that this is not necessary unless you are dealing with an extreme difference. I felt that 10ft. for one side and 30ft. for the other speaker possibly could fit into this category so I decided to play it safe and have both speaker cables the same length. As for the results, I like the way it sounds and can not hear any loss of frequency; just a better soundstage due to the rack being out of the middle. Here is a good link dealing with speaker cable lengths that you may find as a useful guideline: http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/speaker-cable-gauge . I used table 1 as a reference for my situation, but as you will see as you read on these numbers are conservative figures and are not hard and fast rules. Good luck and hope it works out.

Glen

 

[RichTeer]

There's more to cable quality than just its length, so auditioning a few cables is theonly way you're going to find the one that's best for you.

As for different lengths, I always keep my lengths as equal as possible. It makes me feel good psychologically, and makes reselling them a lot easier. It will also probably make them image better (the difference in signal delay will be small, but possibly noticable).

 

[Tosh]

Mentioning this to my dealer, he was surprised and said that "it's commonly known fact that thicker cable may worsen the sound quality". Is this true?

I suppose he's referring to the inductance of 2-conductor wire which gets higher with larger diameter wire and especially the distance between the two conductors. Sometimes the value is given or tested (in units of micro Henry per foot uH/ft). But IMO the total inductance of the wire itself is swamped by the inductances of voice coils, cross-over coils, and transformer windings, so it becomes a red herring to sell fancy cables.

I'm also with RichTeer about keeping lengths equal left to right for the sake of cutting down on variables to worry about...

 

[mikvilja]

Thank you all for your replys!
I will do some auditioning and will keep the cables equal length!

Thanks!

-Mikko

 

[Len44]

Equal length???

I am very impressed with the excellent aural abilities of many of you folks!!!

 

[OldMonolith]

Equal length???

I am very impressed with the excellent aural abilities of many of you folks!!!

Keep in mind that what's involved in the amplifier to speaker interface is much more than a specific frequencies propagation time though the however long cable. You also have the back EMF from the speaker which is picked up by the typical amps feedback loop and fed right back into the amp. Also, the sonic qualities of the amp is going to be effected directly by the load which is modified by the cable length.

We tend to think of signal going from input to output end of a wire. But there is more going on than that.

OldMonolith

 

[babydoc]

Hello,

Having moved to new house, my speaker cables are not long enough so I need to buy new ones. I have some questions that I would appreciate to have your comments of:

1. Cable thickness: ML Source manual says that:
"Under no circumstance should a wire of gauge higher (thinner) than #16 be used. In general, the longer the length used, the greater the necessity of a lower gauge, and the lower the gauge, the better the sound, with diminishing returns setting in around #8 to #12."

Mentioning this to my dealer, he was surprised and said that "it's commonly known fact that thicker cable may worsen the sound quality". Is this true?

The right speaker needs a cable length of 4.5 meters = almost 15 feet. Would there be some kind of minimum thickness for this long cable?

2. For the left speaker I would need only about 1 meter = 3 feet but would it cause audible effect to have so much difference in the length of the speaker cables.

Thanks in advance for your comments and thoughts!

-Mikko

In reviewing the responses to date, the matching of cable to loudspeaker is a somewhat tricky issue as you have to consider what you are driving the speakers with as well, ie, amplification stages. In reality, this interaction of amplifier-cable-loudspeaker can make huge differences in what you will hear at the end. There is no exact science here since cable geometry, speed, and terminations can all contribute to this interaction. Your best bet is to try several cables of adequate length but differing in design to see what best serves your amplifier and speakers. Since you are running a relatively long cable, gauge will have some importance but so will speed. In long run situations, I have had very good results with Nordost cables but you should have the opportunity to listen to several others. There are companies in the US such as the Cable Company that have lending libraries to help you do this.