Does the cable length matter?

[quorzar]

Hi,

I made my DIY speakers "active" with a Beocreate. Active crossover inside the Beocreate, so 4 wires to each speaker. The Beocreate is mounted on the right one. Does the very different cable length to the left speaker matter? I found much information in both directions and hearing nothing. But anyone here, who has a technical/theoretical explanation?

Thanks

 

[Balle Clorin]

No, but if you want you can add the LCR values of the long cable to the short to make them "equal"
I have 3m and 6m and do not hear anything strange, even if I can measure some small frequency and phase change with and without a long cable, it is too small to be heard. Normal 12awg cable is ok

 

[daftcombo]

Why don't use cables of the same length for both speakers? One of them can be folded.

 

[solderdude]

When your speakers aren't dropping down ridiculously low in impedance and your 3m cables is of decent diameter (low resistance) then it does not have any audible consequences.

Should you be very anal about it here is 2 things you can do:

Use 2 cables of equal length.
Or use one 3m cable of thicker length and one short one of much thinner diameter that has the same resistance over that short length.

 

[sergeauckland]

In the 1980s when I had my shop, we used to while away the idle hours testing some of the nonsenses read in magazines. One of these was the importance of equal length loudspeaker cables. As we had 100m rolls of bulk 79 strand cable, we experimented with a short 1-2m length on one loudspeaker and the full 100m roll on the other.

Guess what, no audible difference whatsoever compared with two equal short lengths.

Over that sort of distance, it may depend slightly on the impedance characteristics of the loudspeaker, but using loudspeakers with 'normal' i.e. not extreme impedance variations, we didn't get any audible shift of image or audible frequency response variations.

With the sort of distances usual in domestic environments, it's not anything even to think about, let alone worry.

S.

 

[tomtoo]

3m? Forget it.

 

[3125b]

3m of 2,5qmm copper wire have 0,02 ohms resistance. I very much doubt that that could make any difference.

 

[solderdude]

Well the signal via the long cable arrives about 10ns later.
You can compensate this by moving the speaker with the longer cable about 0.0034 mm (0.00013 inch) more towards you.

 

[mansr]

Well the signal via the long cable arrives about 10ns later.
You can compensate this by moving the speaker with the longer cable about 3.4micron more towards you.

 

[3125b]

You can compensate this by moving the speaker with the longer cable about 0.0034 mm (0.00013 inch) more towards you.

Where do I get a micrometer with a 5m capacity?

 

[solderdude]

A 4.99 meter long stick with a micrometer mounted on one end of it could work.
Hoping the stick won't change as much with a varying temperature.

Choosing your listening position and head direction needs to be meticulously too
And perhaps you should hold your breath while listening too.

 

[Pluto]

we experimented with a short 1-2m length on one loudspeaker and the full 100m roll on the other.

I'm surprised you didn't pick up long wave