Thread: Speaker wire placement conundrums

Hello all,

I recently revamped my 2 channel system to include Naim separates (NDX 2 and Supernait 3) after living with my Uniti Nova since January. I've still got Roon Radio running 24/7 on the system so it's at about 50 hours of break-in now and sounding very good indeed.

As part of the deal I also did a speaker cable upgrade to a pair of 12' Transparent Super speaker cables. These are pretty rigid cables with big network boxes on each of the cables. Problem is with the placement of my speakers and the Naim components, the right speaker is only maybe 4' from the components, where the left speaker is a good 10' from the components.

I'm assuming that different length speaker cable is bad, but it also presents a problem with speaker cable housekeeping. I have a straight run to the left speaker that works fine. On the right, I have about 8' of excess cabling and the Volti crossover is in the corner, so I have a twisty coil of rigid excess cable kind of wrapped around the external crossover then twisted around tightly to get the cables plugged into the crossover.

So what could be worse in my situation - having a coil of speaker cable piled up in a corner, or having 2 different lengths of speaker cabling per channel?

I would keep them the same length. Someday you may rearrange the setup, or even sell the cables. Both will be more difficult with two unequal in length cables.

Originally Posted by Speedskater

Either solution will be just fine.

I don’t think any cable company or audio dealer would recommend different lengths of speaker cables.

Originally Posted by mep

I don’t think any cable company or audio dealer would recommend different lengths of speaker cables.

It was a few years before A.J. Conti of Basis Audio passed in 2016 that I visited with him at a CES in Vegas.

He had one channel connected with a 6' run of his speaker cable, and the other with a 60' run (hidden from view), to prove his point that various lengths need not matter.

IIRC, no one, including the top reviewers, complained of a problem. In fact, he got great comments re his demos...

That being said, I still buy - or make - my cables with equal lengths. And resale value of an unequal length pair would be low, if not impossible.

Originally Posted by Speedskater

A recommendation is one thing, an audible difference is another.

True, and zero resale value is another thing.

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

It was a few years before A.J. Conti of Basis Audio passed in 2016 that I visited with him at a CES in Vegas.

He had one channel connected with a 6' run of his speaker cable, and the other with a 60' run (hidden from view), to prove his point that various lengths need not matter.

IIRC, no one, including the top reviewers, complained of a problem. In fact, he got great comments re his demos...

That being said, I still buy - or make - my cables with equal lengths. And resale value of an unequal length pair would be low, if not impossible.

I don't think resale would be impossible, just to the length of the shortest cable plus re-termination.

Thanks everyone - I thought I was getting email alerts when new posts were made on my thread but I just now came back here and saw these.

RE the unequal speaker length, yeah I guess resale would be the real killer there; although I've never resold cables before I have done trade-ups and I'm not sure if it would work the same way. Regardless, I've had my 12' Transparent Super cable snaked around my JL e110 and Volti crossover box for the past week now and have not noticed any detrimental effects to the sound, although the NDX 2 and SN 3 are still going through the break-in process. I'm guessing it's not so much a matter of sound quality issues as it is OCD about cable placement. Although the Naim fan club do make a big deal about cabling and placement and how they hang off the shelf and whether or not they have been "de-stressed" etc. Maybe the 500 level series is more susceptible to that kind of stuff; I don't think at the Supernait level it makes that much of a difference though.

Thanks guys - since this is an old-ish thread I should update that I've rendered the question moot by relocating my entire system where the speakers are equidistant from the amps!

Originally Posted by Speedskater

Cable risers do not and can not make a difference.

Maybe to the wallet!

Originally Posted by thedudeabides

Cables on carpets is not a good idea. Static electricity, etc. I have a 30 and 40 foot run from my amp and used CD cases for risers. A cheap mod (or nothing at all if you use cases from CD's you no longer listen to) that was quite audible for the positive. Please try before you criticize.

Gordon, why such long speaker cable runs ? I'm sure you didn't have that long a run back in your 'Logan' days did you ? Hope not, capacitance issue perhaps ..........

Originally Posted by stereogeek

I am posting this under great risk of being the recipient of public humiliation and shame, but here goes. In my opinion the reason cable risers make an audible difference has nothing to due with electricity at all. It was explained to me that cable risers change the "string resonance" of the cable. This works kind of like putting brass points under equipment, it changes the vibration ( and sound ). This brings us back to my previous post in which I suggested to Google "Vansevers Pandora Power Cord." Enjoy!

???? ......

If electricity in copper wire travels at 670,616,629 miles per hour or 300 million meters per second, a 10'-20' difference in length can't be very noticeable to my ears. Then again I'm old.

I do agree resale may be a bit of an issue though.