Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
Pat Farrell;185064 Wrote: > > > 12 gauge is good for 20 amps. > What speakers need 20 amps? what speakers can even live with 20 amps of > > current? > Pat, The issue is resistance of the wire run, not current-carrying capacity. Roger Russell states that the resistance of the wire run should be no more than 5% of the nominal speaker impedance to have no audible effect. For an 8-ohm speaker, a 50' run of 16-gauge wire is acceptable. For a 2-ohm speaker, a 12' run of 16-gauge wire is the limit. See Russell's article (http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm) for a table of maximum wire lengths vs. wire gauge and speaker impedance. -- Ron Olsen Ron Olsen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9233 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
jacabo wrote: > . which is why i love coming to these boards! > > geek on! > Dear forum, how thick should the line level cables be that go to my active speakers? Confused, Peter ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
. which is why i love coming to these boards! geek on! -JAC -- jacabo jacabo's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10120 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
Ron Olsen wrote: > 1. Wire diameter. If your wire lengths are 5 feet or less, 16-gauge > wire is fine; for longer runs, 12 gauge is better. 12 gauge is good for 20 amps. What speakers need 20 amps? what speakers can even live with 20 amps of current? Unless my arithmetic is faulty, driving a 8 ohm load, you need to have 160 volts to generate 20 AMPs, which is 3200 watts. While some monster amps will provide that much power for a second, the typical 100 watt amp is only going to provide 2.5 amps. 12 gauge is what a monster amp needs from the wall output (or mains). Seems likely to be overkill for speaker wires. IMHO. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
The main issues with speaker wire: 1. Wire diameter. If your wire lengths are 5 feet or less, 16-gauge wire is fine; for longer runs, 12 gauge is better. 2. Keep the wire lengths as short as possible. AntiCables states that the distortion caused by the dielectric effect of speaker wire gets worse with increased length, but with their wires, you can run different lengths since they have little dielectric (and their wires have low resistance and inductance). See http://www.anticables.com/faq.html#6 for details. See http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm and http://theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audio_Critic_16_r.pdf for interesting discussions of the factors involved in choosing the right speaker wire. -- Ron Olsen Ron Olsen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9233 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
cliveb;184933 Wrote: > Surely that should be *over* 3m long? Yup, you're right... which is odd... as NAIM excel at selling you yet more bits... so it's surprising to see them miss a trick with speaker cable. MC -- ModelCitizen It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Transporter > Naim NAP 250 > PMC OB1s. http://www.last.fm/user/ModelCitizen ModelCitizen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=446 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
TimothyB;184962 Wrote: > Likely you've already given your cables a vasectomy, but why not just > coil one up behind the amp? That's what I did. > > -- Timothy > > (who on repainting the living room is likely to put in that funky > baseboard that can hide the speaker wires) just as long as you don't coil it around a ferrous rod. You don't want any more inductors in the circuit. :-D -- SuperQ SuperQ's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2139 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
w4rren;184785 Wrote: > thanks all, i will start cutting Likely you've already given your cables a vasectomy, but why not just coil one up behind the amp? That's what I did. -- Timothy (who on repainting the living room is likely to put in that funky baseboard that can hide the speaker wires) -- TimothyB TimothyB's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4868 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
ModelCitizen;184930 Wrote: > I've just dug out one of my NAIM (www.naim-audio.com) manuals which > clearly states that the cables should be of the same length and under > 3m long. They should also be made by NAIM. :-/ > MC Surely that should be *over* 3m long? Naim power amps rely on the inductance of the cable to prevent them going unstable. (Either that, or Naim would like to sell more speaker cable :-) -- cliveb Performers -> dozens of mixers and effects -> clipped/hypercompressed mastering -> you think a few extra ps of jitter matters? cliveb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=348 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
I've just dug out one of my NAIM (www.naim-audio.com) manuals which clearly states that the cables should be of the same length and under 3m long. They should also be made by NAIM. :-/ MC -- ModelCitizen It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Transporter > Naim NAP 250 > PMC OB1s. http://www.last.fm/user/ModelCitizen ModelCitizen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=446 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
w4rren;184755 Wrote: > I was told many years ago to keep the cable length of each speaker > approximately the same. I wouldnt consider myself obsessive but I like > to get the best setup possible for the system I have. Unfortunately I > have to put one speaker next to the amp, and the other at the opposite > end of patio doors. Can anyone verify if theres a noticeable sound > delay before I slice my speaker wires? This reminds me of the last time I went to Radio Shack to purchase speaker wire. The man behind the cash register reminded me to cut my speaker wire to identical lengths for each speaker. I immediately thought to myself "huh!?!?!?". So I asked him why (playing dumb). He replied in a very serious and condescending tone "because of the speed of sound, you don't want to introduce delays in one speaker". My jaw dropped. Was this guy pulling my leg? I bit my tongue and decided not to engage him in a discussion about how electromagnetic energy travels at the speed of light and NOT the speed of sound. :-). -- maggior maggior's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9080 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
thanks all, i will start cutting -- w4rren w4rren's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9567 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
w4rren;184755 Wrote: > I was told many years ago to keep the cable length of each speaker > approximately the same. I wouldnt consider myself obsessive but I like > to get the best setup possible for the system I have. Unfortunately I > have to put one speaker next to the amp, and the other at the opposite > end of patio doors. Can anyone verify if theres a noticeable sound > delay before I slice my speaker wires? Fortunately the signal travels at the speed of light which is pretty darn quick so no there won't be a delay that any living creature could detect...unless you listening room is VERY large... also...with decent cable there's not going to be any noticeable difference in level with a few feet of difference... -- Phil Leigh Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
It's nothing to do with delay - the sound travels a lot faster along the cable than it does from the speakers to your ears. Keeping the lengths similar is to do with matching levels between left and right. Provided your cable is thick enough not to attenuate the signal significantly, I'd be surprised if you hear much difference. Unless you have a perfectly symmetrical listening room, I'm sure there will be greater differences between L and R than are due to any mismatch in speaker cables. -- AndyC_772 AndyC_772's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10472 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Speaker wires identical length?
w4rren;184755 Wrote: > I was told many years ago to keep the cable length of each speaker > approximately the same. I wouldnt consider myself obsessive but I like > to get the best setup possible for the system I have. Unfortunately I > have to put one speaker next to the amp, and the other at the opposite > end of patio doors. Can anyone verify if theres a noticeable sound > delay before I slice my speaker wires? http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/SpeakerCablelength.php Cheers! -- haunyack RWA Squeezebox 3 > Bryston BP20 > Rotel RB 1070 > B&W Matrix 805 haunyack's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9721 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33218 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
