Amp to speakers cable length? How long is too long?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by WvL, Nov 11, 2020.

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  1. WvL

    WvL Improve the lives of other people Thread Starter

    Location:
    Birmingham al
    Considering how I could rearrange my living room/listening room. The room is approximately 13 ft x 19 ft. The couch and speakers are positioned where the speakers are along one of the 13 ft walls with the couch near the middle of the room.

    There is extra space midway down the length... like a closet without doors (4 ft x 2 ft x 7 ft high) that already has power run to it.

    I was considering using that space for my audio, but that would require making the speaker cables 15-18 ft long. Rearranging the speaker and couch locations, other than very minor tweaks, is not an option

    1. Does this make sense (without drawing a picture)?

    2. Would 15-18 ft be too long for the speaker cables?
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  2. John76

    John76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    I’m using two 60 foot lengths of 12 gauge speaker wire and everything sounds just fine.
     
  3. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Innocent Bystander

    Speaker cable length is considerably less important than low-level interconnect length. Not likely to be a problem (at least with decent cable).
     
  4. WvL

    WvL Improve the lives of other people Thread Starter

    Location:
    Birmingham al
    I'm a fan of anticables. Should be good then. But since it was mentioned, what is the longest that should be used for rca interconnects? I know they should be kept shorter when possible
     
  5. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Innocent Bystander

    Interconnects:

    RCA from turntable to preamp or receiver: As short as possible, not longer than 5 feet/+-

    From output of preamp to amplifier: Many folks have a setup with the preamp at the listening area and the power amp next to the speakers. I'm not a fan of this, but it's done, with interconnects as long as the room - even 15' or so. I'd want to have low capacitance cables for this.
     
  6. Boulder Bob

    Boulder Bob Senior Member

    Location:
    Boulder, CO
    There is a good arguments for having power amps close to speakers - for me, makes more sense if you're using Monoblocks
     
  7. Technocentral

    Technocentral Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Mine are 21 feet, don't think it affects sound?
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  8. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    I've used long speaker cables and also 25ft interconnects - no problem either way.
     
    Tim 2 and ogdens_sliced like this.
  9. WvL

    WvL Improve the lives of other people Thread Starter

    Location:
    Birmingham al
    I'll try not think about the arrangement if I upgrade to monoblocks :cool:
     
    The FRiNgE likes this.
  10. Boltman92124

    Boltman92124 Go Padres!!

    Location:
    San Diego
    Mogami speaker cables would be a good choice. You can order bulk by the foot or have them custom terminated at Custom Cables Speaker Cable Made from Mogami W3103 Wire
     
  11. Swann36

    Swann36 A widower finding solace in music

    Location:
    Lincoln, UK
    Speaker cables length should not be an issue at all... I'm a follower of Jim Smith Get better sound and he says room arrangement with the gear away from the speakers benefits far more than any possible issue with extended runs of speaker cable, somewhere i read he'd said (iirc) up to 50ft you can't hear any issues ..so your 15-18ft is well within that .... good luck and enjoy the new layout, have fun listening after all its the listening that's important :)
     
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  12. Rbeh

    Rbeh Forum Resident

    Location:
    NC
    For what it's worth, here's a chart from the PSB website:

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Innocent Bystander

    Another thing to keep in mind is that, the lower the gauge the stiffer the wire - which can make it difficult to position where you want it. 12 gauge is overkill for most folks; two of my three systems use Audioquest Type 4, which is more-or-less double runs of 14 gauge (they don't specify). My office system has very short connections of generic 14 gauge. I can't imagine any serious audiophile using 18 gauge, unless you're reduced to cutting up extension cords (zip cord).
     
  14. jeffmackwood

    jeffmackwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa
    The first time I bought 12AWG it was for use in my main HT, and yes indeed it was pretty stiff.

    I now use this 12AWG and it is very easy to work with.

    Jeff
     
  15. Agitater

    Agitater Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Not for 14 AWG cable. There’ll be no audible change (i.e., slight reduction in volume) until you get about 25 ft. If you’ve got 12 AWG speaker cable, you’re good to about 40 ft.

    Stick with 12 AWG speaker cable and you can’t go wrong.
     
  16. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
  17. bluesky

    bluesky Senior Member

    Location:
    south florida, usa
    My speaker cables are 21' - no problem here.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  18. John76

    John76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    I have been using 65 foot interconnect cables from my preamp tape output to the line input on my integrated amp in another room of my house and it’s been working fine for decades.
     
    The Pinhead likes this.
  19. WvL

    WvL Improve the lives of other people Thread Starter

    Location:
    Birmingham al
    Wow...what kind of interconnect cables
     
  20. John76

    John76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    Mogami
     
  21. mkane

    mkane Strictly Analog

    Location:
    Auburn CA
    Ours are 30+ feet
     
  22. WvL

    WvL Improve the lives of other people Thread Starter

    Location:
    Birmingham al
    This will clean and organize it a bit more. And a cleaner, more organized living room also makes the wife happy. bonus! She doesn't mind my audio habit, so works both ways

    :edthumbs:
     
    Henrik_Swe likes this.
  23. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    You'll be fine for that kind of length.

    There is no man made law that says you are not allowed to have a 10m long RCA interconnect. However, there are real world laws that according to how high or low your sonic standards are they will dictate the sound and your opinion of it which might be different to other peoples.
    I would say that if you go over 2m there will be sound coming out but you should avoid it, the shorter the better.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2020
  24. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    In the world of electric wiring, the ampacity of the cable makes a difference. This is in the NEC manual (USA) which lists max length of a conductor to safely carry its rated current. For example a 14 AWG run of 50 ft or less is good for its max rating of 15 amps. But for a longer run of 100ft, we should run 12 AWG and fuse (breaker) at 15 amps.

    Speaker cable does not usually carry near its max rating, maybe only 5 amperes or so with a 100 to 200 watt amp... so the gauge isn't as critical (if at 16AWG or larger) The audio signal differs from an 50Hz to 60Hz AC line, by its complexity and wide frequency range in excess of 16kHz. So the concern is about inductance and capacitance, which does affect the signal. The longer the run, the more the inductance and capacitance.

    High quality speaker cable minimizes inductance, so it's almost a non issue.

    After all this, I agree with everyone who say longer runs of 14, or 12 gauge speaker wire is ok.. maybe up to 40ft, and should be of no concern. If using plain "zip wire", then the longer runs could make an audible difference.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2020
  25. Wayne Nielson

    Wayne Nielson Forum Resident

    Location:
    My House
    I buy and use Knuconceptz Kord in 50 foot lengths and always cut them in half. That leaves 25 feet per side. I do buy 12awg, not because of the "bigger is better" idea, rather it fits better in my BFA banana plugs. The extra fine copper wire makes this cable very flexible.
     
    Tim Irvine and The FRiNgE like this.
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