When is unequal, equal?


Due to an awkward room configuration,the speaker placement in relation to the amps must lay out as follows: Speaker #1 is approximately 6' from the power source, and Speaker # 2 is spaced at 14" away. My question is as follows. If I choose to run unequal lengths of cable will this create any sonic problems, or will I be safe?... The ideal of having so much extra unused cable spooled up around the system is rather unsightly.
Please advise, and thanks.
mang53

Showing 7 responses by pabelson

Porziob is correct. Whether you shorten one of them or not is a matter of convenience and visual aesthetics.
Good work, GS. Every time you move your head while listening, you have a greater effect on the relative weight and timing of the sound reaching your ears from your two speakers than anything caused by a modest difference in cable lengths. In other words, if you think equal cable lengths matter that much, your listening chair should include a head-vise.
Well, GS actually did the analysis for resistance. If Honest1 would like to do the same for capacitance and inductance, then we might be getting somewhere. But just saying they're "important," without giving us any measure of how important, isn't saying anything. If all doubling the capacitance does is cause a 0.2 dB rolloff at 20 kHz, that won't be audible.
Bass, however, will be affected because of the reduction in damping due to the higher resistance of the longer cable, especially with amps of higher output resistance, read tubes.

Which begs the question, How much? There's been a lot of cant in this thread, but not a lot of solid information. Whatever effect cable resistance has on damping factor, and therefore on bass, is easily calculable, if you know the basic physics. I'll freely admit that I don't, but I've consulted people who do, and this is what they tell me: In most systems (e.g., those with solid-state amps), simply choosing cable of sufficient gauge eliminates this as an audible problem. If you must use runs of different lengths, size your cable for the longer length, and the problem disappears.

If you use a tube amp with high output resistance, then you really owe it to yourself to learn the necessary physics.
Well, anybody who believes that cables have "timing characteristics" that are audibly relevant will buy anything. But maybe that's the idea, huh?
Bob, I think you should have this conversation with someone like Bruce Brisson (Monster, MIT cable designer -- invented the "shotgun" SE cable) I don't think he'd agree with you.

Well, of course he wouldn't. It would be very bad for business. But that's how these cable charlatans operate. They take a basic concept, like the speed of extremely high frequency signals, and improperly claim that it applies to audio frequencies as well. That's what turns it into pseudoscience. It only works because credulous consumers are willing to believe it.
That some audiophiles fall for this cable hoo-hah is evidence that you CAN fool some of the people all of the time. What put Monster on the map was marketing. And that's all the high-end cable business has ever been.