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Speaker wire length vs. sound quality

985 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  brazosdog02
Have a wierd question regarding speaker wire. My porch has speakers...two of them. Because of the way the previous runs were made and the house was built, they used 16 gauge wire. The wire to teh speakers is probably 20-25 feet. Now....because of where I ended up putting my receiver and a last minute design change, it is probably an additional 20-25 feet or so from the end of that 14g wire. To minimize any issue, I made the run from the end of the 16G wire to my receiver with 14G wire. So, basically for the longest run I have 25' of 16G and another 25 feet of 14G. The sound is OK, but I am wondering if there is any real degradation over long runs like this? I have some cheap LS300 AudioSource speakers on the porch and they sound OK..kind of muddy, but I suspect its purely speaker related. I dont listen to them loud, its just for background music or hanging out on the porch.


So, my question is, is the sound related to the speaker wire or the speakers and with my setup, will these speakers work better or be too much?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001VHARO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=TFCXCMI8WVHJ&coliid=I28INRHQMM9H8H
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There should be no "sonic degradation" due to the resistance of that wire run.


It is a simple question of the resistance of the wire.


The resistance of that wire run might be sufficient to crate a slight voltage drop.


That would mean a VERY small drop in volume compared to a run with less resistance, which would require you to turn up the volume a tiny bit to compensate.


In theory, since bass usually requires more current, there might be more of an effect on bass than other frequencies, but I doubt if the difference would actually be audible.


One thing to be careful about, though, is how you connected one run to the other. The wires should be soldered, to avoid a poor connection due to oxidation later on.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brazosdog02  /t/1517237/speaker-wire-length-vs-sound-quality#post_24342094


basically for the longest run I have 25' of 16G and another 25 feet of 14G. The sound is OK, but I am wondering if there is any real degradation over long runs like this?
No. 50 feet isn't a long run. 100 feet is, and the main degradation source wouldn't be resistance, it would be capacitance, which not even the largest gauge can improve upon.
Probably.
Quote:
or be too much?
In what way?
I dunno...I guess too much speaker for my system (Denon X4000, Zone 2) to properly run.


No too worried about bass...I mean, these are little 4.5 inch woofers on a open porch....can't get too picky about that.


I basically wanted a slightly 'cleaner' sound and was wondering if the yamahas would be a better speaker. Im not interested in spending more than 100 bucks...in fact, if I could get away with 75 that would be even better. Its for entertaining and having background music and sometimes I like my music a little bit loud, but not so loud I can't talk over. Its mostly for me to enjoy music and drink a beer on the porch while Im grilling. Not for watching Avatar. LOL.
Does anyone have and like the Yamaha Speakers?
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