12 ft pair of thick speakers cables?? Can they be cut downt to a 6 ft pair??

+1, 68pete

Moebuster 1-22-2017
I read on Mapleshade Audio list of audio tweaks that speaker cables should be 10 feet or longer. The 10 foot plus cable supposedly sounds way better than cable less than 10 feet. You can go to the Mapleshade audio website for more information.

Geoffkait 1-23-2017
Wasn’t it John Curl and Bob Crump who opined that speaker cables should be a specific length, around 5 feet, perhaps to minimize reflections traveling down the cable, something like that?

Signal reflection effects may occur in a cable as a result of impedance mismatches between the cable and the components it is connecting, and are likely to occur mainly at frequencies that are much too high to be directly audible. Or even to be reproduced by most speakers. In the case of a speaker cable any effects those reflections may have at audible frequencies, and also any sonic effects of RFI that may be picked up by the cable, are likely to be the result of their effects on the amplifier, and in particular as a consequence of their introduction into the feedback loop of the amplifier, if it has one.

So any such effects will be highly dependent on the feedback provisions and also the bandwidth of the amplifier that is being used, among several other characteristics of its design, as well as on the impedance characteristics of the components and the cable that are involved. As well as on the length of the cable, which will affect the spectral characteristics of what is introduced into the feedback loop of the amplifier. All of which adds up to a lot of unpredictability and system dependency. While all or nearly all other parameters and sonic effects of a speaker cable, **when and if significant**, such as resistance, inductance, capacitance, skin effect, dielectric absorption, etc., are proportional to length.

So it would seem highly unlikely that a specific length can be defined for speaker cables that would be optimal under all or even most circumstances. Also, it would seem that **if** the goal is for the cable to convey the signal in as accurate a manner as possible, chances are that in most cases the shorter the cable is the better.

Finally, I’ll add that having read numerous threads that have appeared here and elsewhere over the years on the question of long speaker cables/short interconnects vs. long interconnects/short speaker cables, my perception has been that the preponderance of the anecdotal evidence and reports has been in favor of long interconnects/short speaker cables, although admittedly not by an overwhelming margin.

Regards,
-- Al

Al, thanks much for giving your point of view on this matter of speaker cable length. However I think I’ll stick with Bob Crump and John Curl. In fact I find the cable wraps from Shun Mook and Highwire do in fact work as advertised, that there is reflection in all cables of any length. Or so it would seem based on many years of experience. I also owned Bob Crump’s speaker cables which were around 5 feet long. And spectacular sounding, like all Crump’s and Curl’s stuff.

I don't put much stock necessarily in what I read on the Internet. Lol I do not fault anyone else from making judgements based on what others say on the Internet.

I seem to recall Fulton cables were much longer. Uh, oh, from somewhere in cyberspace,

"The Fulton Gold cables were heavy too. I have a pair of 28 ft of these cables and its weight like 40 lbs.!!! Not very good full range, its strenght is in the bass and the lower bass. I planned to use it in the low of my biamp speakers but it is just to damn thick and I still try to find way to hook up this cables!!!"

Cable reflection can be ignored at audio frequencies (very low) and at these short lengths. The wavelengths are so long compared to the physical dimensions that reflections can be considered instantaneous at both ends and do not alter the electrical signal delivered or the output of the amplifier in any way.

Reflection and consequently impedance matching becomes important for high frequencies like your cable TV or over great distances like power transmission lines.

The hollow banana on my HT cables sheared off. HT is no longer functional. Moon Audio in Cary, NC did a pro replacement with Cardas spades. This is not an amateur project, you need a solder pot.. etc.