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Coiling excess Speaker cable, is this a problem?

Hello!

I have a question that maybe you could help me with. I have been told that you should keep the lengths of speaker wire the same to each speaker. As a result, I have 2 (BiWired) cables going to each speaker, due to my system set-up, I have about 8' of two cables neatly coiled up next to my system rack. Though I am not detecting any sound reproduction artifacts, are there any potential deleterious problems I may not be aware of? I did take a photograph of this but I could not figure out how to paste it here.

Thanks for your help!  
grm
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,750 posts
 
If you have expensive cable, Contact the maker and see if they will cut to proper size and re-terminate for you. You may be able to do this yourself but resale value will be affected.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,412 posts
 
Coiling would have negative effect for single wire, by adding inductance.  Coiling cable is different - it creates common mode choke that has inductance only for common mode signals.  For normal mode (differential) signals current in both conductors has opposite direction, producing cancelling magnetic fields, hence no added inductance.  The best test for it is to try it both ways and let us know.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
"Canceling magnetic fields, hence no inductance." Interesting. Just one question. When the cables all coiled up, how does the wire know which magnetic fields to conveniently cancel? I mean they’re all piled together, different lengths, some closer some further away. So how does it know?

Word salad. Easy to write. Impossible to understand. If I was you I’d cover it up with lots of blue cheese and bacon bits and hope no one notices underneath is zero nutrient iceberg lettuce. Trust me. Once they see the bacon bits, forgetaboutit.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,412 posts
 
Inductance of a single straight wire is already reduced in the cable by bringing return wire close (cancelling magnetic fields).  Twisting wires in the cable together reduces inductance even further.  Coiling speaker cable will do very little to change inductance.  If anything, it might reduce it a little.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Kijanki is correct. Contrary to what many audiophiles believe coiling speaker cables is unlikely to have any adverse effects, assuming the cables are such that the + and - conductors in each run are bundled together as opposed to being physically separate.

Regards,
-- Al

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