Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speaker wire: lengths, temperatures, rodents, etc.

My QS8's are on the way.

This is my first endeavor beyond stereo and I feel a little uneasy about the difference in lengths of the speaker wires. The wires to the surrounds are MUCH longer than the wires to the fronts.

Front speakers: 7 ft each side.
Surrounds: 40 ft each side.

I guess most people have a similar disparity and so it should not be an issue?

I am making the left wire equal to the right wire for each pair. I assume this is a good thing? Because I could make the right surround wire about 33 ft.

I am snaking the surround wires into the wall, up into the attic, and then down into the wall again. The attic is unfinished and can get very cold (it is heading for -12°F = -24°C right now) or very hot (like 130°F = 55°C in the summer). Is this a concern? Will it affect the sound quality or just the life of the wire?

I have never seen any traces of rodents in the attic, but if they got in there, would they try to chew on the wire? I could run the wire inside some PVC tubes but don't want to spend the money if it is not needed.

Sorry for the silly questions. Just trying to cover all the bases.

Wire lengths are supposedly a non-issue considering the speed of the signal. I'm not sure I've ever seen discussion of temperature differences.

They're all good questions. Wire lengths aren't a problem in terms of time, and given that the surrounds are not full range (ie they don't do deep bass) it's unlikely that anyone could make a good argument from an impedence POV either.

A bigger issue is the fact that the surround speakers are a different distance (probably closer) from your ears than the mains so speed of *sound* makes a difference, but you can adjust for that in your AVR.

I don't know if any specific type of insulation is tastier to rodents, but the mice around here eat fiberglass insulation so I just try to make sure there is something tastier for them attached to a trap. There's a perfectly good woodpile outside if they want a sheltered place to spend the winter, no need to come inside and poop all over my house.

One thing I might suggest reg mice...if you run wires through the attic(unfinished attic), run them on TOP of the insulation, not underneath it. Mice tend to get underneath the insulation for warmth in the winter weather (against your ceiling) and the same in the summer esp if you have air con, from what I've seen of the little b*ggers. Nothing a couple of peanut butterized traps won't take care of.
Don't be concerned about the difference in length of the wires, it won't make a difference....(let the jokes begin)....

This reminds me of beginning of the movie Ratatouille.

Ever seen the movie "Mousehunt"(Nathan Lane, Lee Evans)?

Henry, there's no good reason to be uneasy either about different wire lengths for front and back speakers or for different lengths between the two speakers at either position. The electromagnetic wave which carries the power and musical information to the speakers rides down the outside surface of the wire at around 3/4ths the speed of light, or about 700,000,000 feet per second. As you can see, a difference of 30 feet or so in wire length results in a time difference of less than a millionth of a second, and is meaningless for audio purposes. Of course, suitable gauge wire, considering the length of the run, should be selected, as suggested in the table here .

As to temperature effects, the resistance of copper increases slightly at higher temperatures, and while this effect is measurable with instruments, the difference in sound level between summer and winter is insignificant. The wire itself doesn't deteriorate because of these higher temperatures, although the PVC jacket covering it may have a slightly shorter life.

Henry, your questions have already been covered. Just wanted to point out you should be using 'in wall' rated speaker cable for running through the walls and attic. Otherwise, +1 to what everyone else said.

You should only purchase humane traps, or you can get a couple of those plug in units; there's lots of alternatives to killing.

Killing rodents that have come into your house, does nothing to solve the problem, it's almost always patchwork, because unless you find the entry into your house, you'll most likely get more.

Humans are not the grandeur of the universe, even though most carry on like we are.

Human traps? Oh, Gawd! Now it's clear! I understand the noises from the washroom!


Oh.



Wait.


Humane traps.



Never mind.