Speaker Cable Length?

mark090852

In a few months we are going to be moving permanently to our vacation home in Colorado. In order to set up my 2 channel system, one speaker connection is going to be approximately 4' from the amp. The other speaker connection is going to be approximately 12' from the amp. Is there any significant reason that I should keep both speaker cables nearly the same length? If I do that, I will have to have about 8' of excess length for the right side speaker tucked behind my audio cabinet out of sight. I'd rather have one cable 4' in length and one cable 12' in length. Any recommendations either way?

tonyb

Won't matter one bit.

dromunds

Depending on what you get, if you need to sell I'm thinking could be difficult to sell different length cables in the future should the need arise, especially 4' and 12'.

agfrost

^^^What both of these guys said! Totally fine to do, compromises resale potential. If that doesn't bother you, feel free to buy single cables of different length.

Tbone289

Congrats on the move Mark!!

mark090852

Tbone289 wrote: »

Congrats on the move Mark!!

Thanks! We're at the Colorado house right now. Have to go back to PA next week and then work a few more months. We'll be back here in April again, maybe to stay. If not, we'll be back by the end of the summer...fully retired and living in Colorado! Can't wait!

kevhed72

So what we are saying here is the electrical signal is moving sooo quickly, it really doesnt matter if it has to travel an extra 4 ft. ? Im verifying before I cut a new run of raw cable for my 2nd system....

Clipdat

kevhed72 wrote: »

So what we are saying here is the electrical signal is moving sooo quickly, it really doesnt matter if it has to travel an extra 4 ft. ? Im verifying before I cut a new run of raw cable for my 2nd system....

"Electricity travels at around 70% the speed of light or 300,000 KM or 186,000 miles per second. This calculates to over 200,000 KM or 130,000 miles per second. Your ears won't notice a delay of 1 mS or 1/1000th of a second so doing the math... keep the difference less than 200 KM or 130 miles and you'll be fine."

mhardy6647

The EMF (electromotive force) travels at or near the speed of light in the transmission medium -- the electron drift velocity in a copper wire, under the influence of that EMF is far, far slower... and, for an AC signal, they really and truly just wiggle back and forth.

Clipdat wrote: »

kevhed72 wrote: »

So what we are saying here is the electrical signal is moving sooo quickly, it really doesnt matter if it has to travel an extra 4 ft. ? Im verifying before I cut a new run of raw cable for my 2nd system....

"Electricity travels at around 70% the speed of light or 300,000 KM or 186,000 miles per second. This calculates to over 200,000 KM or 130,000 miles per second. Your ears won't notice a delay of 1 mS or 1/1000th of a second so doing the math... keep the difference less than 200 KM or 130 miles and you'll be fine."

Eh? Where the heck did you find that?

mhardy6647

ahh, OK -- the quote is referring to the velocity factor, and is about right at 70% of c.

kevhed72

I am intrigued, yet too lazy to look up the answer on my own. Soo what if the difference between EMF and electron drift velocity? How do electrons "wiggle" within the medium?

agfrost

Re wiggling, I suspect Doc H means rather like this gif shows--substitute a driver of your personal choosing instead of a lightbulb.

mhardy6647

You could listen to the filament sing in a light bulb if you drive it with an amplifier