# Speaker wire length



## Emuc64 (Nov 15, 2009)

Hello,

I did a search and didn't quite find this question so here goes. I purchased 100ft of 14ga speaker wire (monoprice). My current speaker placement would be in a 12x10 area (the room is actually 12x20 including dining room). Should I...

A) cut only the minimum I would need for speaker placement? 
B) cut and add X-length per wire in case of speaker repositioning?
C) divide and cut 100ft proportionately for movement into a new apartment in the future? (e.g. 13ft each for front, center, right, and 30.5ft for each rear)
D) ?

I ask because I'm frugal and environmentally conscious. So I don't want to throw away wires and have to go buy new ones because I didn't plan enough to be flexible.

The receiver is a Onkyo SR707 (100W out each line) and the speakers are Energy C-50's (100W max) if that helps.

Thanks for suggestions.
H


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## Ares (Nov 23, 2009)

Hello, cut what you need plus 2 feet so you have some slack for the speaker and the receiver so if you need to move either one you can without a problem.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Agreed, Unless your planning to move your speakers I would just cut the lengths you need with a few feet extra and you will be fine. I know some people would say not to if you ever needed to add more you could simply solder more wire onto the ends to give you more length. This would not effect the sound at all.


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

I also am a proponent of cutting a little extra to allow for future. Another way of looking at it, is I always cut a min of 3 ft extra as a service loop, so I can pull my AVR out of the rack and place on the floor without undoing any cabling.
The same cables have followed me into the setups in 3 different locations, never needing replacement.


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## Emuc64 (Nov 15, 2009)

Hello,

I'm totally not a handy person. So I'd likely never solder anything. But, I will take everyone's advice and add 2 to 3 feet to the lengths of each speaker.

Also, for the front/rear speakers, I should keep the length of wire the same, right? Not that I'm running wire long enough to cause any kind of delay - but my mind would play tricks on me. So, one side will be just enough + 3 ft. And the other will have a bit excess coil if I'm thinking correctly. Right?

Thanks,
H


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

IF the gauge is sufficient, extra length here but not there shouldn't affect things significantly.
Your psyche, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. Psychology plays a huge role in audio perception.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Equal wire length makes no audible difference unless your talking very long lengths (over 500') Your talking less than 1 millisecond per 100' as long as the wire gauge is sufficient.


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

tonyvdb said:


> Equal wire length makes no audible difference unless your talking very long lengths (over 500') Your talking less than 1 millisecond per 100' as long as the wire gauge is sufficient.


Agreed. No difference in time delay ... I was referring to possible losses if wire gauge wasn't sufficient.


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## Emuc64 (Nov 15, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> Equal wire length makes no audible difference unless your talking very long lengths (over 500') Your talking less than 1 millisecond per 100' as long as the wire gauge is sufficient.


Hi,

I see. Here I was worried about a few extra feet. Since it won’t matter, I think I’d better keep the length the same between the front speakers and same with the back ones as well. It's as glaufman said, "Psychology plays a huge role" and that's certainly the case for me.

H.


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

. Someone quoted me, and it wasn't to show me what I did wrong?
.
.
.
DUCK!


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

Just try to keep them under 50 feet. After that the impedance curve of the speaker tends to match the speaker. This is a conservative number. For speakers I usually use 16 gauge wire unless I have a very low load to run. It's adequate for most speaker runs. Especially in setups where the surrounds are the far off speakers. 

I do suggest good strippers and banana plugs for your convenience.


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## Emuc64 (Nov 15, 2009)

lsiberian said:


> Just try to keep them under 50 feet. After that the impedance curve of the speaker tends to match the speaker. This is a conservative number. For speakers I usually use 16 gauge wire unless I have a very low load to run. It's adequate for most speaker runs. Especially in setups where the surrounds are the far off speakers.
> 
> I do suggest good strippers and banana plugs for your convenience.


Hello,

I bought 14 gauge speaker wire, does this mean that theoretically, that 50ft limit could be longer? I'd be using 30ft at the most for the rears.

Thanks for the tip. I did buy some banana plugs with my wire order. I was planning to use the wire stripper that came with my pc repair kit. I think they should work ok.

H


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## Ares (Nov 23, 2009)

Hello here is an link that answered a lot of questions I had about speaker wire hope this helps you.http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm


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## Emuc64 (Nov 15, 2009)

Ares said:


> Hello here is an link that answered a lot of questions I had about speaker wire hope this helps you.http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm


Hi,

Thanks for the article. I never thought that speaker wire and an electricity cord from a lamp was essentially the same. That is quite "outside of the box" thinking for me; it just never would have occurred to me to use one for another. That chart though was quite handy in seeing feet distances corresponding to gauge.

Thanks again,
H


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Keep in mind those numbers are minimum sizes. It is always better to go heaver awg than what is absolutely necessary.


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