Whats too long?

Just a quickie as the wifes gone all feng shui on our lounge, is there a point where speaker cables become too long. If she gets her way I may be looking at 10m!

Rgds
Jtb

 

No problems, Jack. My domestic arrangements with No.1 system require the speakers to be at one end of the room and the CD/amps to be at the other. This involves cable runs of around 12M, and I've encountered no problem whatsoever with that. Any decent quality cable (i.e., everything that isn't actual bell wire) can cope with that without problems. Mine is that QED one with four sets of three individual conductors, Silver Somethingorother, purely because it's incredibly skinny and goes under tiny Swiss skirting boards.

 

I dont know whether to be happy or sad. I guess happy as there wont be a stand off re where my kit goes, but sad as where she wants it, it'll cost a fortune for the lengths needed, c'est la vie!

 

The longer the speaker cable, the greater the resistance. Greater resistance can mean less bass control and even frequency response variations (because the resistance of the speaker cable is "seen" as amp output impedance by the speaker). So yes, there are limits to speaker cable length.

But these effects are pretty minor with any standard 4 mm² speaker cable and become negligible with larger diameters. Only with very thin cables á la DNM does length become an issue.

Of course, the cost is another thing completely.