Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Should speaker cable length be equal?

I just received my Axioms (M22tis, VP150, QS8s) and my HT receiver (Harman Kardon AVR630). I am waiting for my HSU STF-2 sub to ship.

I have a long length of 12 gauge speaker wire and I am ready to cut into segments and set everything up. My question is does it matter if each speaker has a different length speaker wire?

Is there any reason to make sure speakers have the same length? If so, does that apply to all speakers, including surrounds, or just mains and center?

I know that in theory they should be same length, but if they are all under, say, 50 feet does it really matter?

Thanks for any advice. I am a total newbie to home theaters and I am doing my best to learn as I go.

-Sean

I doubt it matters, especially because you have 12 AWG cable...

That being said, I always make sure the lengths are equal - yes, I'm paranoid.

Do you mean if the wire to your surrounds is 45 feet then you also make the wire to your center 45 feet?

or do you mean that the two fronts are of equal length and the two surrounds are different length but equal to each other

did that make sense?

Am I wrong in thinking that the differences in length would have to be enormous before they made an audible difference?

I dont wanna sound like i know what im talking about when i dont for sure. but i remember reading somewhere that generally its a good idea to keep them the same when possible. not so much as keeping the center the same lenth as the rears. obviosly not. you want the shortest possible. but if it means making one of the front speakers 10 feet long and the other 15 id probbly make em both 15.

Keep them as short as possible to prevent loss. Bigger cable helps more than anything else. People who claim the longer path causes delay or response variations are peddling snake oil. While it is true that if using 22ga cable and having one cable 4 feet and the other cable 150 feet long will show a very audible difference, there will not be an audible difference if one 12 ga cable is 15 feet and the other is 25 feet.

Let me use some harder numnbers. Lets assume the distances to my left front, center and right front are 25 feet 30 feet and 35 feet, respectively.

Should I cut them each to the minimum that they need, or should I make them all 35 feet?

Then for the surrounds, because I have to go around door frames, etc., I need one to be only 10 feet and the other to be 40 feet.

Should I make all 5 wires 40 feet? If not should I make the two surrounds 40 feet? Or should I cut them all to the length that is needed.

I am tempted to make the front speakers all 35 feet, but to cut the surrounds to 10 and 40 feet. This is mostly because I just barely have enough wire right now to do this. Plus I don't know what I would do with the extra wire going to one of the surrounds if it is 30 feet too long.

As a side question, is there any problem with running several sets of speaker wire along side of each other (so that they are touching) for part of the run?

Once again, thanks for all the help!

-Sean

Use 12ga cable. You have no problem running them side by side. Hell, they come out of your amp close together. If you biwire, you would run them together. There is no problem. Use the shortest lengths you can to minimize loss. Even the surrounds, with 1 being 10ft and the other being 40ft will not be a problem as long as you use a 12ga cable. If you are really worried, go to a 10ga or an 8ga cable (providing you can get banana plugs or spade lugs to fit them) and then there will definitely not be a problem.

Let's talk lightspeed, or something near it. Not to mention the speed of sound. Don't worry about it. It would take tremendous differences to make a difference. I am sure JohnK will cite an article about the subject...

In reply to:

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I have a long length of 12 gauge speaker wire and I am ready to cut into segments and set everything up. My question is does it matter if each speaker has a different length speaker wire?

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No, the wire lengths will not make any difference.
It is human perception and paranoia/misconceptions that may believe it will.
You could be using 16ga for distances under 50 feet and you still would not have an audible difference.
I think many have absolutely no notion of the speed of electricity.

Search backwards several months and you will see this topic has been covered quite heavily.

On another note, you may want to cut the pieces a bit longer than you originally calculated just in case in the future you decide to move the speakers a couple of feet in any particular direction.

I agree that the speed of electricity is too great to influence the flow between a long and short cable. However, I stand by my statement that a noticeable difference will occur between a 4 foot cable and a 50 foot cable if the cable is 22ga. the smaller the wire, the greater the loss. A few db loss on a long run with a tiny cable is most definitely audible. Use 12ga cable or larger and there will be no problems at 40 or 50 feet.