signal strength on unequal length speaker wire

[Sean de Silva]

Hi guys I'm posting after quite a while. Great to be back on this fabulous forum. I would appreciate advice from the gurus wrt an ongoing issue. In brief, of the floorstander pair, one spkr is physically closer to the amp and hence used a shorter wire to connect it. ( Wire is 2.5mm polycab electrical). Approx wire length 15ft. The farther spkr is connected with a 43ft wire. Result being that the closer spkr sounds prominent and the farther spkr duller. After swapping terminals on the amp, no change. Used a DMM to measure resistance of both wires and it's approx 0.3 ohms for both lengths of wire. Could this be attributed to some kind of signal loss in the longer wire? Am puzzled and want to get this sorted out asap. Would love to hear advice and suggestions from the experts.

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[amit11]

I had also faced / tested similar issue when i was upgrading my speaker cables. So its always better to have same length.
In my case also i have one speaker immediate close to amp and other is farther. However i am using same length for both (i.e. the larger length).

Another thing is if cables are of good quality / audiophile grade, then the length difference effect will reduce. It may not alltogether reduce to zero however.

In normal cables, the length difference effect can be easily heard.

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[Sean de Silva]

I had also faced / tested similar issue when i was upgrading my speaker cables. So its always better to have same length.
In my case also i have one speaker immediate close to amp and other is farther. However i am using same length for both (i.e. the larger length).

Thanks for the input, if I have both wires of equal length, wouldn't I be jumping from the frying pan into the fire with an end result of duller sound on both channels? Should I junk the polycab electrical wire and try "speaker wire"? Confusion confounded.

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Additionally, I've been looking at this cable... 12awg c&e speaker wire on amazon.in .. worth trying it?

https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B00APEG9M4?pc_redir=T1&th=1&psc=1

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[amit11]

Yes..try to get some audiophile grade cable and keep lenghth same. Fyi, my cable lenghth is 7 metre for single speaker. So in total 7 + 7 metres i had purchased.
Its chord silverscreen cable.
It does not make sound dull though its 7 metre.

Additionally, I've been looking at this cable... 12awg c&e speaker wire on amazon.in .. worth trying it?

https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B00APEG9M4?pc_redir=T1&th=1&psc=1

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Have never tried it. If budget can be stretched, better to go for branded / audiophile cable. Initially it may be expensive, but ultimately you wont be dissatisfied..

But it all depends.

I was also in the same boat. I too had purchased normal cable of 14 metrrs... but then again i purchased chord. So i spent twice. Irony is something like this. During rearrangement i realuzed i needed longer cables. After r&d, i decided for chord and purchased 14 metres costing me around 6.5 k. Somehow after listening i did not like it...
Then impilsively purchserd some other brand which cost me another 4k.
Then in a period of month, i finally started using the chord cable. The other one was also good no doubt, but the finer things and natural sound was from chord. 19/20 kind of difference but still mattered.

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[Sean de Silva]

Yes..try to get some audiophile grade cable and keep lenghth same. Fyi, my cable lenghth is 7 metre for single speaker. So in total 7 + 7 metres i had purchased.
Its chord silverscreen cable.
It does not make sound dull though its 7 metre.

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Who are the stockists for this cable in mumbai?
How about Audioquest?

 

[amit11]

Profx mumbai i had purchased from.

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[Sean de Silva]

on the subject of speaker wire, ive touched base with Mr Murthy from Bengaluru. Awaiting his feedback.

 

[MaSh]

Did you try connecting the closer speaker with the longer cable? Do you hear a difference? Also, did swapping the speakers make them sound different?

MaSh

 

[Sean de Silva]

Did you try connecting the closer speaker with the longer cable? Do you hear a difference? Also, did swapping the speakers make them sound different?

MaSh

no i didnt swap the wires with the L R speakers themselves but swapped the L R connections on the amplifier to troubleshoot if this could be an amplifier output level issue. luckily as expected, the closer speaker was prominent once again so this is definitely not a channel-specific amplifier power output issue. since the resistance of a wire varies directly as its length and inversely as the square of its diameter, was hoping that the DMM would detect a slightly higher resistance for the longer wire. instead, it showed exactly 0.3 ohms for both wires as mentioned earlier hence wondering why the decrease in signal strength in the much longer wire.

 

[MaSh]

Just give swapping the cable as well as swapping the speakers a shot. This is to rule out any cable issue or even room related effect.

MaSh

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[Sean de Silva]

Just give swapping the cable as well as swapping the speakers a shot. This is to rule out any cable issue or even room related effect.

MaSh

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As I ruled out any issue at the amplifier end, swapped wires at the speaker end as well as swapped speaker position. no change - shorter wire speaker is prominent.

 

[keith_correa]

Go here and enter data: http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

See if the speaker wire gauge you are using is appropriate for your 43 ft. run.

 

[Naturelover]

Maybe it's just a speaker placement issue?
A room layout would probably help in understanding.

 

[marsilians]

Sounds like you aren't using right gauge of wire. Depending on your speaker impedance and length, you may have to go down to 12 awg.

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

Just before the end of page, there is a guidance table.


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[Sean de Silva]

Go here and enter data: http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

See if the speaker wire gauge you are using is appropriate for your 43 ft. run.

-------------------------------------
entered input data as:

power output per channel - 140w rated power output into load impedance below

speaker wire length - 43 ft

speaker wire gauge - entered as 12 as I assume 2.5sq mm of polycab electrical wire is actually a tad thicker than standard 12awg diameter

load impedance - 4 ohms

the output data shows as:

current flow (amps)- 5.92

speaker wire resistance (ohms)-0.1364

voltage output at speaker terminals on amp-23.66

voltage drop at full power(due to resistance in speaker wire)-0.81

voltage at speaker terminals-22.88

power delivered to speaker-130.92

decibel loss(less than 1db is inaudible)-0.29

--------------------------------------
given the last stat on 'inaudible' db loss, could it then be that there are breaks internally in the polycab electrical wire strands which are contributing to the substantial and irksome signal reduction on the longer speaker wire?

Maybe it's just a speaker placement issue?
A room layout would probably help in understanding.

definitely not a speaker placement issue as Ive swapped speakers and connections at speaker and amp end and there is absolutely no change in signal strength between the speakers i.e. the shorter wire speaker still sounds louder.

Sounds like you aren't using right gauge of wire. Depending on your speaker impedance and length, you may have to go down to 12 awg.

Speaker Cable Gauge (AWG) Guidelines & Recommendations | Audioholics

Just before the end of page, there is a guidance table.

im using polycab electrical wire... on the plastic jacket it says

POLYCAB - FR 2.5 SQ MM 1100V IS : 694 ISI CM/L - 7167980, DAMAN - CE

isnt that gauge thicker than standard 12awg?

 

[Naturelover]

definitely not a speaker placement issue as Ive swapped speakers and connections at speaker and amp end and there is absolutely no change in signal strength between the speakers i.e. the shorter wire speaker still sounds louder.

Have you played with placement?

 

[Sean de Silva]

Have you played with placement?

Yes I have and it didn't work out to be a favourable solution. Backfired badly by introducing an acoustic feedback boom via the TT. Hence reverted to my usual placement i.e. speakers are approx 12ft apart and form a nice isoceles triangle with the listener.

 

[marsilians]

Help me understand how to read the AWG in the description for the polycab. Do the specs state the AWG?

 

[Naturelover]

speakers are approx 12ft apart and form a nice isoceles triangle with the listener.

Why, then, the large difference in cable length?

 

[Sean de Silva]

Help me understand how to read the AWG in the description for the polycab. Do the specs state the AWG?

the polycab wire has around 50 strands and the combined diameter of all strands is about 2.5 mm. Referred to this link https://www.tedpella.com/company_html/wire-gauge-vs-dia.htm
which indicates that 12awg wire dia is 2.05mm. please correct me if I have misunderstood interpreting these figures and hope to resolve this speaker wire problem soon :sad:

Why, then, the large difference in cable length?

the speakers are not on either side of the amps as they should be in an ideal setting. they are on the right side of the unit as depicted on the clumsy drawing