As the one who asked the question and receive your great answer , After this video I can NOW hear both speaker sides THE SAME with my unequal speaker cables length. Thanks Paul for your video reply ! Very appreciate.
paul's answer makes sense. in my case i will be running the same length speaker cable since i have some long speaker cable runs for zone 2 and zone 3 applications. i'm running heritage klipsch in the living room and in my build i'm probably looking at up 20 feet for one front channel and 10 feet for the other front channel. i run my speaker wire through 1" conduit in the wall and ceiling so i'll route the conduit such that the lengths for each front speaker are even. one of my biggest concerns with klispch heritage is their efficiency. i want to try to keep everything as even as possible to include the power amplifier interconnects. you said you asked the question so i'm assuming you are in Israel. i'm curious about the dwellings in israel. a typical family home in israel - is it the same size as what you would find in the US as far as a living room type space? i noticed another video where a guy from germany asked a question about speaker placement and he mentioned that in europe their living room space is smaller than the typical american living room.
@@christheisgen2979 Thanks for your reply. Yes , compare to the uk , here the rooms are bigger. But as in all countries, there are lots of houses, apartments and living rooms. Generally, the rooms in Israeli not small. The ones that can afford high end hifi , usually live in medium to large rooms.
Shorter cables are better and the difference in length of a few feet is likely much less of a performance impact than the room acoustical difference between left and right.
Almost 50 years ago, mid - 70's, I worked for a man, Lloyd Stanford, who converted a medium sized Pharmacy into a book & record store, pretty much square shaped. There were large display cabinets along the side walls, & four large speakers were carefully placed in the four corners, on top of the display cabinets, & the centers of the speakers were about 7 to 8 feet above the floor. Lloyd let me calculate how much cable was needed for the farthest away speaker, & we purchased four times this cable. I wanted each cable to be the same length. And, it sounded just fine! Where one was standing in the store, was probably the most important aspect. Yes, I'm sure that the transmission of the electrical signal is very quick, a tiny fraction of a second, but can a large difference in length, cause a relative signal delay, resulting in a, "smearing," of the phase, as well as resistance, capacitance, inductance? I have a complete PS Audio system of electronics, & recommended connectors, cables, feel that even small, "optimizations," can add up. &, once again, the result was fine, & the extra price, insignificant.
Excellent, with that said... I took apart a Harman/Kardon soundsticks and shoved it into an old RCA speaker set. Its sounds friggin awesome! Plastic housing sound plastic. Yes, I used double sided tape and hot glue sparingly but got most of the H/K guts into the build. Speaker leadouts are the same length.
I used to have unequal 4 & 6 metre length speaker cables from my power amp when I used to have it on one side of the room. Now I use a longer interconnect.
I keep them the same, not for “sound quality” but as a practical matter. I can re-use them in another system or in a rejiggered system. The investment is protected.
I agree with your OCD preference for symmetry, and yet I also agree different lengths of speaker cable is a lesser evil than having gear between the speakers. Anyway, an asymmetric room is 1000x worse. Just my opinion.
Same exact answer I got from the owner of a speaker cable company when I needed 16' from amp to right speaker and already had 10' cables. I used the 10' for the left side
my problem with different lengths is 100% mental. it bothers me, but not really audible. i actually found that switching the source, speaker and amp channels in various combos, L-R was more noticeable, and at that point i quit worrying about it because everything is slightly different from L-R
Several years ago I was running a system in a church hall for an Alpha course, one speaker was about a meter from the amp, whereas the other was like on 20M of flex. I couldn't believe how far I had to skew the balance control to allow for it.
Aalt van den Hul himself has stated that a 30% length difference shouldn't have a perceivable effect on sq or channel balance. This is from the horse's mouth of my local VdH cable distributor.
@@Douglas_Blake I would indeed take the word of him when what he is saying is in principle going against his basic business interests and salesman instincts. So, I'm not sure what your comment was about.
@@Yiannis2112 Try to convince some fool who is willing to spend thousands of dollars on 3 feet long speaker cables that a 30% difference doesn't matter and you will realise that even that is a very large percentage...
I have AWG #10 ofc speaker cables and I keep the same length. Only because if my speaker placement changes, I have more than enough to cover the distance between my amp and speakers. My cables are only 25’ long. I’m an electrician by trade and unless you are running 100’ or more or have a poorly designed amp you are not going to get much resistance or voltage drop across the cables. Especially if your using AWG #12 or larger cable.
Is that why I see coils of cables hung up in places like on telephone poles, light Poles etc etc. I see these coiled cables all over the country in my travels.
I'm sure, I could swear: the difference in audio with a cable of ten yards or five yards, is only noticeable by the osciloscope. let's go to the room with different lenght of cables: one Ethernet Cat5 and other AWG 18. *in the audiometics:* My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Selena Gomez does. in the real world we will listen very good with a non noticeable difference, only noticeable if somebody says "there are different cables" while you don't know it, you don't hear difference.
Well said, Paul. Perhaps you should suggest to our friend that you can easily calculate the variations in the different parameters caused by different lengths of the same cable. (The resistence would double if the cable is twice as long, but it is a small amount to begin with. That said, I prefer equivalent cables. It makes my OCD sound better :) In the example given they should be minimal. Many of the controversies in audio would disappear if people studied psychoacoustics and applied proper acoustical tests. Little of the gold in audio is in the ears of the experts... :) Thank you, my friend!
@@Bassotronics Just the result of primitive spelling “correction” in modern smart phones. If I enter “resisdence”, I get residence, for example. I recently turned this crap off as it often makes technical special words into something wrong.
@@ThinkingBetter You have no idea the amount of times that I actually spell something correctly and then it changes the words as soon as I press the button to share and when I look back it’s written wrong. That is so annoying!
Most of the time I close my eyes when listening to music, and if you haven't try it sometime. I also like to spin myself around in my lazyboy once so I don't know where exactly the speakers are. FOr me it does wonders all around. I also have other people do the switching of cables, high res vs 16/44 files on Qobuz and rarely what I want to be better is actually any better. I quit buying records for the most part, I removed the TT from the main setup all-together and switched to hi res for $10 a month. My life got so much easier and the sound is blind-tested better. Can't justify the price of records these days and they never were better, I just thought so once. Close your eyes and they will be opened I guess, so to speak.
Glad you address psychoacoustics. That is important and accounts for much alleged differences. Re demonstrating differences with meters, I would love to see that. I don't even think 1 vs. 30 ft. will make an iota of difference. Hook an audio precision onto the ends, and show outputs. Even better, put a microphone in front of speakers with different cables and show differences on meters. No chance in hell one can see anything, and even less of a chance to be audible. WAY too little change in any physical parameters compared to other components (e.g. ratio of cable to amp to speaker impedance).
He was actually addressing perhaps "Confirmation bias": (the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.). "Psychoacoustics" is the formal name for "the scientific study of sound perception and audiology." It is the subjective measurable study of sound and our hearing. He also mentioned "psychosomatic", but that is a medical term for when a person has actual physical reaction to non-physical stimulus such as anxiety or stress.
Differing speaker cable lengths only become significant when very high power levels are being used ( 1000Watts and upwards) Even so with domestic sound systems keep cables as short as it's possible and above all don't coil up excessive lengths of cable for tidiness !
@@secretmission204 .....sure 😊 a coiled up cable has inductance ( more so than a cable laying out straight) inductance is the enemy of high frequencies... at low power levels ( less than about 100 watts say...) coiling the cable might not make any discernible difference..
@@janinapalmer8368 My oldest son said "what are you going on about" in a conversation here tonight. I said, "I remember Janina saying that to me years ago on PS Audio." You are a household name here😋 We always try to use as many Aussie phrases..
Funny thing is, with an old mono Pro logic rear, I found the rear "centre" image would shift to one side or the other with an extra 6ft of cable on one side. I can't tell the difference in stereo or mono music but can with test tones. +/- 3m/10ft = a +/- 1-3ms difference. I think maybe the musical image changes so fast my brain can't differentiate the centre image shift whereas a tone has a fixed location and is easier to concentrate on.
exactly said, it changes impedance capacitance etc, but its not a signal cable its a POWER cable..... Hearing noise difference between 1,5 and 3m its MEH (means it should be meausred, but it affects sound from less then 1%), absolutely unnoticable . But exactly as mister told, when you will have 30 meters and then 1meter, it should be detectable by average listener ;-) To be honest, why to use 2 different lenghts, even if you have speaker 1,5m far away from amp, you should have 4m cable on both sides :-) Its quite a reasonable recomandation, because maybe in future, you will switch furniture or organiation in your room, an than , you will be delaing with inapropriate lengts of the cables.
Due to the layout of my home, I’m running ones side with about 6ft of 10 cable, and the other side with 30 (there is an obstruction and I have to run into the basement and back up. No audible difference. My research indicated that the speeds involved are so fast that timing would not be an issue. I do have a balance control on my integrated, but using it is not necessary.
Keep in mind that the signal speeds up when going down into your basement, but then it slows down an equal amount while climbing back out of your basement. I guess it equals out. Grin. LOL
I'm sure, I could swear: the difference in audio with a cable of ten yards or five yards, is only noticeable by the osciloscope. let's go to the Paul's audio room with different lenght of cables: one Ethernet Cat5 and other AWG 18. *in the audiometrics:* My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Paul. in the real world we will listen very good with a non _noticeable difference,_ "amazed" with the sound quality, and reaching the placebo effect only noticeable when somebody says "there are different cables" ,while you don't knew it, you did not hear difference.
I was getting ramped up ready to disagree, assuming you would take the opposite stance. Despite my rational reasoning though I have always cut the cables left and right to be equal, it just feels right to do it.
Yeah cable jockeys are going to get you,i don't know why...its so easy to proof this fact,but you got to spend money, i agree its no difference only in long runs.30 plus ft.and thickness also...great video
My amp & speaker set up is similar to the mentioned scenario. I use the same length of speaker cable. So i have had to roll the speaker cable that is closer to the amp. Will the rolling of the cable have a negative effect?
more interesting question is, what affect sound more, inapropriate lengts, for example 10m vs 1m, or long cable turned into the Air Coil? :-) Means speaker distance from amp is 1,5m, and cable is 10m long, 8,5m is rolled into the coil to save space. - Paul already highlighted from some old video, that he prefers every time ideal exact lengt of the cable.
Regarding small differences in speaker cable length, and apropos your experiment, Paul, the differences in hearing response between the average two ears are probably far greater. And our brain averages those things out anyway.
A good rule of thumb is to use the same length of cable on both sides, then you can rule it out as a problem. Before, when quite thin conductors were used, there was more of a difference between 1 meter and 3 metres. Now with 1 or 2 m2 you will hear little or no difference.
Or dont worry about it, a few micro ohms of differnce wont matter just listen to the music. Your room layoutwill make far more difference. Chill pour a beer and listen.
Paul, I'm just not sure why you wouldn't add as a side note that it would be just as easy to make them the same length?. I mean, why not? Especially at that length the price difference wouldn't even be too extreme. The OCD thing would get me if nothing else. In a home theatre setup I even make the front/rear/left/right all the same length.
I have a home theater an none of my cables are the same length. It's a 7.2.2 set up. My shortest cables 2 feet long and the longest cable is 54 feet. It sounds fine to me.
haha love it. though i agree, here in my system shorter cables sound a bit more direct and agile. I recommend to perhaps swap sides for a quick test after 1 or 2 months of listening, under otherwise identical conditions - if at all possible - to see how things change. note everything is a bit asymmetric even electronics, speakers, but mostly rooms ..
Does the thickness of the speaker cable connecting to the binding post / push connector block make a difference?? Thanks in advance, your channel and knowledge is to be respected Thanks for sharing 👍
In theory, you want to minimise all kinds of joins, joints, cuts or hard transitions in a cable, though that probably has much more of an impact on very high speed signalling rather than low frequency stuff that is audio, so I doubt that it matter much at all. Edit: I am assuming that you are talking about a cable with a certain thickness, having the thickness slightly cut off to fit the terminals? It really shouldn’t matter unless you are using ridiculously thin wires. Note: read my answer as one from a guy who do not buy into all the extreme snake oil mumbo jumbo that exists in the audiophile world. If anything, I see myself as an audio enthusiast rather than a “-phile”.
Someone literally just posted this video: ua-cam.com/video/MbzmAE6s7SI/v-deo.html Still not a problem under the conditions you are talking about. (Low frequency/ large signal/ matched impedance) I linked it here out of interest, as it does explain effects that are happening in your audio cable. Just in audiophile case is totally negligible.
Two perhaps interesting caveats. What do you do with the extra cable length on the shorter run if you equalize them? If you were to coil up the extra length in a shorter run to use same length cables, that wire coil could noticeably reduce performance on that speaker. Next, some amps are actually sensitive to the counter EMF off the speaker and too short of a length of wire can actually cause oscillations and burn out the output stage! So really short speaker cables can be a problem sometimes where a slightly longer one may perform better.
@@georgemartinezza Amp dependent. Some are designed for it. Some not. Kenwood introduce the 1st manufacturer supplied hi-performance speaker wire with their Audio Purist L-O7M amps. It was 1 meter long and consisted of (6 -8?) pairs individual 24ga braided (12-16 wires?) in one outer sheath. When used on other amps, some would get fried!
My left brain says my speaker cables need to be equal length. My room/setup says no. I listen and my right brain says the music sounds fine and not to worry about the difference in cable lengths.
Common sense tells me l should purchase cables of equal lengths especially if you were buying quality cables because you never know how your system configuration may change over time. if you eventually do, I think you’ll be happy that you bought speaker cables of equal length.
@@mpi5850 I don't know man, I am definitely not in the camp that believes cables need to be the same length, but I agree with this guy... He's just saying if you buy some decent cable and cut them different lengths to fit your current set up, you're kind of screwed should you decide to rearrange everything or move to a new location at some point. You may need to to buy more cable. If you give yourself some slack and keep them the same length, you will likely not need to buy more cable... It's what I do, even though I am using inexpensive zip cord
But it is not a common sense issue, it is a scientific issue. If it does not matter, it does not matter. And it doesn't... Audioholics channel talks about this in detail, he used to be an electrical engineer doing precision stuff for the telecomms industry and he can explain in detail why it does not matter. I would say that as a practical matter, most people place their stereo right between the speakers, so they naturally end up being equal lengths, but if you have settled in to your home for good and have a specific layout in mind, you might just run them as needed individually. E.g. I just moved my stereo next to my listening chair to have it at my finger tips.
@@Baerchenization At audio frequencies it does not matter in any way at all. Especially true if you're talking about a few feet. A mile or two, maybe. At RF frequencies it most definitely matters, a few MMs will make a difference in how much reflected power you have at the transmitting source. I have tuned many RF transmitters, first by sweeping the cables and trimming small amounts off for minimum reflected power. I have my cables cut the same length for practical reasons, not some audiophile mystical reason. I am settled in to my room and will likely not move anything in the future. I could certainly trim the shorter run to fit, but there is no reason to.
If you do want to cut the speaker cables the same length do not coil up the shorter distance of wire so as to neaten up the remainder. You create an electromagnet!
I have a set of speaker cables with the same length, but my left speaker has a louder vocal than the right speaker.Can someone explain to me what is the reason for this?
How about routing them clockwise vs counter clockwise through the room? Could it be that electrons flow better one way or the other depending on your position related to the equator? 😗😁
so you believe in the tiny difference in sound caused by the difference in inductance when splitting zip cord type cables up but you think its all in your head when different lengths of cables are used... maybe its all in your head and all you need is a cable of adequate gauge...
yes . ! I copy my comment: in the audiometrics: My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Paul. in the real world we will listen very good with a non noticeable difference, "amazed" with the sound quality, and reaching the placebo effect only noticeable when somebody says "there are different cables" , *while you don't knew it, you did not hear difference.* _all is in our head, and in the age_
Equal length cables are an OCD requirement unless you are running hundreds of feet of small gauge wire. The difference between 1.5 meter and 3 meters is inconsequential and imaginary especially with large gauge cable.
I would like to add; If you are using really shitty cheap speaker cables, this difference becomes more apparent. I'm using Dynaudio Ocos because of a length difference, the Ocos should be relatively resistance free. I am not sure if it is, I never tried it with any other cable, but I like what it does :D.
With better speaker cables, unequal lengths are very difficult to sell when you decide to move on or upgrade. I've seen this many many times over the years. Short term economy does NOT pay off in the long term.
You couldn't hear the difference if one cable was a mile long and the other 6 inches. Electricity travels a hell of a lot faster than your ear drums can shake baby.
The ONLY way to find out if ANY piece of audio equipment has a difference in sound quality is to measure it with electronic test equipment. Just saying, ''I can hear a difference.'' is subjective, NOT scientific. I play guitar and like most guitarists I prefer a ''real amp'' i.e. an amp with valves (tubes) rather than a solid state or digital amp, why? Because I can feel a valve amp at the tips of my fingers, the amp becomes part of your instrument. Is this subjective? Not really. The imperfections of valves are what give them character, just like listening to vinyl compared to a CD or MP3. These are also things that we can measure with electronic test equipment. Valves (tubes) enhance even harmonics, whereas solid-state enhances odd harmonics, and that's one of the reasons they sound and feel different.
Yeah, no discernible difference with unequal speaker cable lengths. The idea that concert halls would have to run exactly the same length of cables to ensure conformity of sound left to right is risible. In a home setting there will be no difference - add to it that your hearing will vary in acuity on one side of your head to the other, you'd never be able to tell a difference.
I cannot believe someone would need to ask this question. You're seriously worried about the difference between 1 meter and 1.5 meters? Good God I'm, continually amazed at how stupid and gullible audiophiles can be!
Oh no no no no no . . . I refuse to listen to anything coming from unequal speaker cable lengths. My ears are just that picky and sensitive. I'm a very discriminating listener. As soon as I detect that slight rotation and narrowing of the image, that subtle muffling loss of airiness, I'm already reflexively reaching for my wallet to get a good pair of calibrated symmetrical cables even before I notice it (" -.-)
I find that closing my eyes improves tha sound-stage.
As the one who asked the question and receive your great answer , After this video I can NOW hear both speaker sides THE SAME with my unequal speaker cables length. Thanks Paul for your video reply ! Very appreciate.
paul's answer makes sense. in my case i will be running the same length speaker cable since i have some long speaker cable runs for zone 2 and zone 3 applications. i'm running heritage klipsch in the living room and in my build i'm probably looking at up 20 feet for one front channel and 10 feet for the other front channel. i run my speaker wire through 1" conduit in the wall and ceiling so i'll route the conduit such that the lengths for each front speaker are even. one of my biggest concerns with klispch heritage is their efficiency. i want to try to keep everything as even as possible to include the power amplifier interconnects.
you said you asked the question so i'm assuming you are in Israel. i'm curious about the dwellings in israel. a typical family home in israel - is it the same size as what you would find in the US as far as a living room type space? i noticed another video where a guy from germany asked a question about speaker placement and he mentioned that in europe their living room space is smaller than the typical american living room.
@@christheisgen2979 Thanks for your reply. Yes , compare to the uk , here the rooms are bigger. But as in all countries, there are lots of houses, apartments and living rooms.
Generally, the rooms in Israeli not small. The ones that can afford high end hifi , usually live in medium to large rooms.
I am the same as you. My OCD would never let me use different length cables.
Shorter cables are better and the difference in length of a few feet is likely much less of a performance impact than the room acoustical difference between left and right.
Almost 50 years ago, mid - 70's, I worked for a man, Lloyd Stanford, who converted a medium sized Pharmacy into a book & record store, pretty much square shaped. There were large display cabinets along the side walls, & four large speakers were carefully placed in the four corners, on top of the display cabinets, & the centers of the speakers were about 7 to 8 feet above the floor. Lloyd let me calculate how much cable was needed for the farthest away speaker, & we purchased four times this cable. I wanted each cable to be the same length. And, it sounded just fine! Where one was standing in the store, was probably the most important aspect. Yes, I'm sure that the transmission of the electrical signal is very quick, a tiny fraction of a second, but can a large difference in length, cause a relative signal delay, resulting in a, "smearing," of the phase, as well as resistance, capacitance, inductance? I have a complete PS Audio system of electronics, & recommended connectors, cables, feel that even small, "optimizations," can add up. &, once again, the result was fine, & the extra price, insignificant.
That sounds about right.
Excellent, with that said... I took apart a Harman/Kardon soundsticks and shoved it into an old RCA speaker set. Its sounds friggin awesome! Plastic housing sound plastic. Yes, I used double sided tape and hot glue sparingly but got most of the H/K guts into the build. Speaker leadouts are the same length.
THANKS PAUL 🤗 I used to wonder about this, but now It’s not a concern for me and hopefully not for others 👍💚💚💚
I used to have unequal 4 & 6 metre length speaker cables from my power amp when I used to have it on one side of the room.
Now I use a longer interconnect.
I keep them the same, not for “sound quality” but as a practical matter. I can re-use them in another system or in a rejiggered system. The investment is protected.
I agree with your OCD preference for symmetry, and yet I also agree different lengths of speaker cable is a lesser evil than having gear between the speakers. Anyway, an asymmetric room is 1000x worse. Just my opinion.
Same exact answer I got from the owner of a speaker cable company when I needed 16' from amp to right speaker and already had 10' cables. I used the 10' for the left side
my problem with different lengths is 100% mental. it bothers me, but not really audible. i actually found that switching the source, speaker and amp channels in various combos, L-R was more noticeable, and at that point i quit worrying about it because everything is slightly different from L-R
I agree.
Several years ago I was running a system in a church hall for an Alpha course, one speaker was about a meter from the amp, whereas the other was like on 20M of flex. I couldn't believe how far I had to skew the balance control to allow for it.
Not surprised. On a separate note the Alpha course is very good 👍
As most rooms are not even exactly symmetrical… it has probably more effect than the cable!
Aalt van den Hul himself has stated that a 30% length difference shouldn't have a perceivable effect on sq or channel balance. This is from the horse's mouth of my local VdH cable distributor.
@@Douglas_Blake I would indeed take the word of him when what he is saying is in principle going against his basic business interests and salesman instincts. So, I'm not sure what your comment was about.
@@razisn What I think he's saying is yes Hul's correct, but even so, that 30% is probably very, very low of a percentage.
@@Yiannis2112 Try to convince some fool who is willing to spend thousands of dollars on 3 feet long speaker cables that a 30% difference doesn't matter and you will realise that even that is a very large percentage...
Just make both cables the same length regardless.
I have AWG #10 ofc speaker cables and I keep the same length. Only because if my speaker placement changes, I have more than enough to cover the distance between my amp and speakers. My cables are only 25’ long. I’m an electrician by trade and unless you are running 100’ or more or have a poorly designed amp you are not going to get much resistance or voltage drop across the cables. Especially if your using AWG #12 or larger cable.
Is that why I see coils of cables hung up in places like on telephone poles, light Poles etc etc. I see these coiled cables all over the country in my travels.
@@davidfromamerica1871 I like the Cat 5 ethernet cable.
I'm sure, I could swear: the difference in audio with a cable of ten yards or five yards, is only noticeable by the osciloscope.
let's go to the room with different lenght of cables: one Ethernet Cat5 and other AWG 18.
*in the audiometics:* My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Selena Gomez does.
in the real world we will listen very good with a non noticeable difference, only noticeable if somebody says "there are different cables" while you don't know it, you don't hear difference.
I have always matched the length of cables to,simply have one less variable to think about.
Well said, Paul. Perhaps you should suggest to our friend that you can easily calculate the variations in the different parameters caused by different lengths of the same cable. (The resistence would double if the cable is twice as long, but it is a small amount to begin with. That said, I prefer equivalent cables. It makes my OCD sound better :) In the example given they should be minimal.
Many of the controversies in audio would disappear if people studied psychoacoustics and applied proper acoustical tests. Little of the gold in audio is in the ears of the experts... :)
Thank you, my friend!
Residence?
@@Bassotronics Just the result of primitive spelling “correction” in modern smart phones. If I enter “resisdence”, I get residence, for example. I recently turned this crap off as it often makes technical special words into something wrong.
@@ThinkingBetter
You have no idea the amount of times that I actually spell something correctly and then it changes the words as soon as I press the button to share and when I look back it’s written wrong.
That is so annoying!
@Douglas Blake Thanks. I appreciate you reinforcing my point.
@@Bassotronics Thanks, Bass. I fixed it.
Most of the time I close my eyes when listening to music, and if you haven't try it sometime. I also like to spin myself around in my lazyboy once so I don't know where exactly the speakers are. FOr me it does wonders all around. I also have other people do the switching of cables, high res vs 16/44 files on Qobuz and rarely what I want to be better is actually any better. I quit buying records for the most part, I removed the TT from the main setup all-together and switched to hi res for $10 a month. My life got so much easier and the sound is blind-tested better. Can't justify the price of records these days and they never were better, I just thought so once. Close your eyes and they will be opened I guess, so to speak.
Glad you address psychoacoustics. That is important and accounts for much alleged differences. Re demonstrating differences with meters, I would love to see that. I don't even think 1 vs. 30 ft. will make an iota of difference. Hook an audio precision onto the ends, and show outputs. Even better, put a microphone in front of speakers with different cables and show differences on meters. No chance in hell one can see anything, and even less of a chance to be audible. WAY too little change in any physical parameters compared to other components (e.g. ratio of cable to amp to speaker impedance).
He was actually addressing perhaps "Confirmation bias": (the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.). "Psychoacoustics" is the formal name for "the scientific study of sound perception and audiology." It is the subjective measurable study of sound and our hearing.
He also mentioned "psychosomatic", but that is a medical term for when a person has actual physical reaction to non-physical stimulus such as anxiety or stress.
Differing speaker cable lengths only become significant when very high power levels are being used ( 1000Watts and upwards) Even so with domestic sound systems keep cables as short as it's possible and above all don't coil up excessive lengths of cable for tidiness !
Can you explain why you shouldn't coil up excessive cable length (I'm guilty of this...)?
I do some things wrong just for spite the Audiophile. Go ahead and coil up that wire, nobody will notice.❤
@@SJMessinwithBoats hahahaha.... that's how discoveries are made !!
@@secretmission204 .....sure 😊 a coiled up cable has inductance ( more so than a cable laying out straight) inductance is the enemy of high frequencies... at low power levels ( less than about 100 watts say...) coiling the cable might not make any discernible difference..
@@janinapalmer8368 My oldest son said "what are you going on about" in a conversation here tonight. I said, "I remember Janina saying that to me years ago on PS Audio."
You are a household name here😋
We always try to use as many Aussie phrases..
Funny thing is, with an old mono Pro logic rear, I found the rear "centre" image would shift to one side or the other with an extra 6ft of cable on one side. I can't tell the difference in stereo or mono music but can with test tones. +/- 3m/10ft = a +/- 1-3ms difference. I think maybe the musical image changes so fast my brain can't differentiate the centre image shift whereas a tone has a fixed location and is easier to concentrate on.
Paul's channel Paul's testament 🙏
exactly said, it changes impedance capacitance etc, but its not a signal cable its a POWER cable..... Hearing noise difference between 1,5 and 3m its MEH (means it should be meausred, but it affects sound from less then 1%), absolutely unnoticable .
But exactly as mister told, when you will have 30 meters and then 1meter, it should be detectable by average listener ;-)
To be honest, why to use 2 different lenghts, even if you have speaker 1,5m far away from amp, you should have 4m cable on both sides :-) Its quite a reasonable recomandation, because maybe in future, you will switch furniture or organiation in your room, an than , you will be delaing with inapropriate lengts of the cables.
That’s interesting. I’ve repeatedly had to use different lengths cables between channels and could never hear a difference.
That’s because there is none.
That's because the impedance and capacitance difference between the two lengths is insignificant and inaudible.
Due to the layout of my home, I’m running ones side with about 6ft of 10 cable, and the other side with 30 (there is an obstruction and I have to run into the basement and back up. No audible difference. My research indicated that the speeds involved are so fast that timing would not be an issue. I do have a balance control on my integrated, but using it is not necessary.
Keep in mind that the signal speeds up when going down into your basement, but then it slows down an equal amount while climbing back out of your basement. I guess it equals out. Grin. LOL
I'm sure, I could swear: the difference in audio with a cable of ten yards or five yards, is only noticeable by the osciloscope.
let's go to the Paul's audio room with different lenght of cables: one Ethernet Cat5 and other AWG 18.
*in the audiometrics:* My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Paul.
in the real world we will listen very good with a non _noticeable difference,_ "amazed" with the sound quality, and reaching the placebo effect only noticeable when somebody says "there are different cables" ,while you don't knew it, you did not hear difference.
I was getting ramped up ready to disagree, assuming you would take the opposite stance. Despite my rational reasoning though I have always cut the cables left and right to be equal, it just feels right to do it.
Yeah cable jockeys are going to get you,i don't know why...its so easy to proof this fact,but you got to spend money, i agree its no difference only in long runs.30 plus ft.and thickness also...great video
He's 100% right. It would require extended lengths to legitimately hear a difference. Common sense in my mind.
My amp & speaker set up is similar to the mentioned scenario. I use the same length of speaker cable. So i have had to roll the speaker cable that is closer to the amp. Will the rolling of the cable have a negative effect?
more interesting question is, what affect sound more, inapropriate lengts, for example 10m vs 1m, or long cable turned into the Air Coil? :-) Means speaker distance from amp is 1,5m, and cable is 10m long, 8,5m is rolled into the coil to save space.
- Paul already highlighted from some old video, that he prefers every time ideal exact lengt of the cable.
Regarding small differences in speaker cable length, and apropos your experiment, Paul, the differences in hearing response between the average two ears are probably far greater. And our brain averages those things out anyway.
Do you have any tips of setting signal level at your computer to the dac, to the power amp?
A good rule of thumb is to use the same length of cable on both sides, then you can rule it out as a problem.
Before, when quite thin conductors were used, there was more of a difference between 1 meter and 3 metres. Now with 1 or 2 m2 you will hear little or no difference.
Or dont worry about it, a few micro ohms of differnce wont matter just listen to the music. Your room layoutwill make far more difference. Chill pour a beer and listen.
hi paul.ive just looked on amazon and the cd's not with the book?
I've had letters up my Ying Yang before, I think we all know how painful that can be
Just when I shopping for cables 🥳
Ronan when you hooked it up did you hear a difference?
Paul, I'm just not sure why you wouldn't add as a side note that it would be just as easy to make them the same length?. I mean, why not? Especially at that length the price difference wouldn't even be too extreme. The OCD thing would get me if nothing else. In a home theatre setup I even make the front/rear/left/right all the same length.
Really 😳
I have a home theater an none of my cables are the same length. It's a 7.2.2 set up. My shortest cables 2 feet long and the longest cable is 54 feet. It sounds fine to me.
haha love it. though i agree, here in my system shorter cables sound a bit more direct and agile. I recommend to perhaps swap sides for a quick test after 1 or 2 months of listening, under otherwise identical conditions - if at all possible - to see how things change. note everything is a bit asymmetric even electronics, speakers, but mostly rooms ..
KEF recommends equal length on some of their Speakers (mine), fwiw
Does the thickness of the speaker cable connecting to the binding post / push connector block make a difference?? Thanks in advance, your channel and knowledge is to be respected Thanks for sharing 👍
In theory, you want to minimise all kinds of joins, joints, cuts or hard transitions in a cable, though that probably has much more of an impact on very high speed signalling rather than low frequency stuff that is audio, so I doubt that it matter much at all.
Edit: I am assuming that you are talking about a cable with a certain thickness, having the thickness slightly cut off to fit the terminals? It really shouldn’t matter unless you are using ridiculously thin wires.
Note: read my answer as one from a guy who do not buy into all the extreme snake oil mumbo jumbo that exists in the audiophile world. If anything, I see myself as an audio enthusiast rather than a “-phile”.
Give it a rest. Just listen to the music. you are missing the point.
What ????
@@philipslighting8240 Sanity from the, "Audiophile", Community? Bravo Sir.
Someone literally just posted this video:
ua-cam.com/video/MbzmAE6s7SI/v-deo.html
Still not a problem under the conditions you are talking about. (Low frequency/ large signal/ matched impedance)
I linked it here out of interest, as it does explain effects that are happening in your audio cable. Just in audiophile case is totally negligible.
cheers from.Palestine
Make your own cables, make em as short as possible.
I agree with you sir but what about the damping factor of amplifier when you increase the cable length
That damp amplifier is still gonna play that damp music all damp night long!
If we could detect nano seconds with our ears this would be relevant. It’s not it’s all in the mind
Two perhaps interesting caveats. What do you do with the extra cable length on the shorter run if you equalize them? If you were to coil up the extra length in a shorter run to use same length cables, that wire coil could noticeably reduce performance on that speaker.
Next, some amps are actually sensitive to the counter EMF off the speaker and too short of a length of wire can actually cause oscillations and burn out the output stage! So really short speaker cables can be a problem sometimes where a slightly longer one may perform better.
how short is short, how long is long far ?
You would need hundreds of turns to make a large inductance that was audible
@@georgemartinezza Amp dependent. Some are designed for it. Some not. Kenwood introduce the 1st manufacturer supplied hi-performance speaker wire with their Audio Purist L-O7M amps. It was 1 meter long and consisted of (6 -8?) pairs individual 24ga braided (12-16 wires?) in one outer sheath. When used on other amps, some would get fried!
Check out Audioholics actual detailed _tests_ of these factors: Nothing even a dog could hear.
@@stefanfrankel8157 In his system yes we understand.
My left brain says my speaker cables need to be equal length. My room/setup says no. I listen and my right brain says the music sounds fine and not to worry about the difference in cable lengths.
Have you ever tried upgrading your computer cable?
Common sense tells me l should purchase cables of equal lengths especially if you were buying quality cables because you never know how your system configuration may change over time. if you eventually do, I think you’ll be happy that you bought speaker cables of equal length.
Common sense tells me you have no idea what you’re talking about.
@@mpi5850 I don't know man, I am definitely not in the camp that believes cables need to be the same length, but I agree with this guy... He's just saying if you buy some decent cable and cut them different lengths to fit your current set up, you're kind of screwed should you decide to rearrange everything or move to a new location at some point. You may need to to buy more cable. If you give yourself some slack and keep them the same length, you will likely not need to buy more cable... It's what I do, even though I am using inexpensive zip cord
But it is not a common sense issue, it is a scientific issue. If it does not matter, it does not matter. And it doesn't... Audioholics channel talks about this in detail, he used to be an electrical engineer doing precision stuff for the telecomms industry and he can explain in detail why it does not matter. I would say that as a practical matter, most people place their stereo right between the speakers, so they naturally end up being equal lengths, but if you have settled in to your home for good and have a specific layout in mind, you might just run them as needed individually. E.g. I just moved my stereo next to my listening chair to have it at my finger tips.
@@Baerchenization At audio frequencies it does not matter in any way at all. Especially true if you're talking about a few feet. A mile or two, maybe. At RF frequencies it most definitely matters, a few MMs will make a difference in how much reflected power you have at the transmitting source. I have tuned many RF transmitters, first by sweeping the cables and trimming small amounts off for minimum reflected power. I have my cables cut the same length for practical reasons, not some audiophile mystical reason. I am settled in to my room and will likely not move anything in the future. I could certainly trim the shorter run to fit, but there is no reason to.
@@danlevesque5486 I could have mine 1 foot, but then I don't see the VU meters of my amps, so they are 4 ft :)
I Always use equal lengths of speaker wire.
If you do want to cut the speaker cables the same length do not coil up the shorter distance of wire so as to neaten up the remainder. You create an electromagnet!
More like an Inductor, as the speaker cable induces a Magnetic Field, B, when there is moving charge. H. Oersted realized this in the 19th century.
@@scottwolf8633 Either way it is best not to coil up the cable and it will not improve the sound one bit.
@@scarmenl Totally Agree.
I have a set of speaker cables with the same length, but my left speaker has a louder vocal than the right speaker.Can someone explain to me what is the reason for this?
How about routing them clockwise vs counter clockwise through the room? Could it be that electrons flow better one way or the other depending on your position related to the equator?
😗😁
I intentionally made my speaker cables different lengths. I soon hope to stop eating M&M's one color at a time.
😂
so you believe in the tiny difference in sound caused by the difference in inductance when splitting zip cord type cables up but you think its all in your head when different lengths of cables are used... maybe its all in your head and all you need is a cable of adequate gauge...
yes . ! I copy my comment:
in the audiometrics: My mother will listen different than me and my niece will listen different than your neighbor, and your neighbor will hear different than Paul.
in the real world we will listen very good with a non noticeable difference, "amazed" with the sound quality, and reaching the placebo effect only noticeable when somebody says "there are different cables" , *while you don't knew it, you did not hear difference.* _all is in our head, and in the age_
I wonder why harman/kardon is a big company and PS Audio is not? Maybe it's not so bad.
It doesnt matter its only a problem if you dont like listening to music.
How far apart are each of your speakers to one another..??😀😳
If you have a stereo in a room like a business, maybe a bar for instance.
Doesn't matter to the electrons that transmit the signal at the speed of light.
no they don't electrons "drift" quite slowly
@@johnholmes912 I didn't say they moved. I said they transmit a signal. Kind of like the old bucket brigades. Pay attention!
Equal length cables are an OCD requirement unless you are running hundreds of feet of small gauge wire. The difference between 1.5 meter and 3 meters is inconsequential and imaginary especially with large gauge cable.
Psychoacoustics are real🎉
I would like to add; If you are using really shitty cheap speaker cables, this difference becomes more apparent.
I'm using Dynaudio Ocos because of a length difference, the Ocos should be relatively resistance free. I am not sure if it is, I never tried it with any other cable, but I like what it does :D.
With better speaker cables, unequal lengths are very difficult to sell when you decide to move on or upgrade. I've seen this many many times over the years. Short term economy does NOT pay off in the long term.
'Better'? You mean 'more expensive'...
You couldn't hear the difference if one cable was a mile long and the other 6 inches. Electricity travels a hell of a lot faster than your ear drums can shake baby.
not true! read up on electron drift in a conductor
The ONLY way to find out if ANY piece of audio equipment has a difference in sound quality is to measure it with electronic test equipment. Just saying, ''I can hear a difference.'' is subjective, NOT scientific.
I play guitar and like most guitarists I prefer a ''real amp'' i.e. an amp with valves (tubes) rather than a solid state or digital amp, why? Because I can feel a valve amp at the tips of my fingers, the amp becomes part of your instrument.
Is this subjective? Not really. The imperfections of valves are what give them character, just like listening to vinyl compared to a CD or MP3. These are also things that we can measure with electronic test equipment. Valves (tubes) enhance even harmonics, whereas solid-state enhances odd harmonics, and that's one of the reasons they sound and feel different.
Good! A lot of "differences" are psychlogical.
Psychoceramic? (crackpot)
Different cable lengths make absolutely no difference
Yeah, no discernible difference with unequal speaker cable lengths. The idea that concert halls would have to run exactly the same length of cables to ensure conformity of sound left to right is risible. In a home setting there will be no difference - add to it that your hearing will vary in acuity on one side of your head to the other, you'd never be able to tell a difference.
Let me know when you do a similar skit on muhammad then we can discuss what you have here
I cannot believe someone would need to ask this question. You're seriously worried about the difference between 1 meter and 1.5 meters? Good God I'm, continually amazed at how stupid and gullible audiophiles can be!
Stop worrying about this stuff, life is too short. pour a beer and listen to the music...... Stop listening to equipment.......
Oh no no no no no . . . I refuse to listen to anything coming from unequal speaker cable lengths. My ears are just that picky and sensitive. I'm a very discriminating listener. As soon as I detect that slight rotation and narrowing of the image, that subtle muffling loss of airiness, I'm already reflexively reaching for my wallet to get a good pair of calibrated symmetrical cables even before I notice it (" -.-)