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I'm auditioning a new pair, 3 meters long, and I'm loving the sound w/ Kef R300s.
2 meters is a more suitable length here, tho.
Any chance the 2 meter wouldn't sound as good as 3?
3 meters is more more expensive than 2, but since I'm more than happy with the 3 metes, maybe I should just pay the diff and keep these...
And yes, I'm a little paranoid about replacing them with the shorter cables, since I'm already "There"!
Should I be?
Follow Ups:
A cable's main duty is to interconnect components. That means as short as possible, but no shorter. If you don't leave slack, you are asking for trouble, including failure of the connection points of the cable itself, so there is no benefit to a cable that is too short to do the job.
In practical terms 3' is a very short speaker cable. Use your good judgement.
For most applications, as short as possible is preferable. However, a practical cable length is a reality to consider, within reason.
In a perfect world, perhaps all cables would be no longer than 0.5 meter, but that's an ideal notion that cannot always be accomplished. For this reason, unless there are other factors to consider including a rock-solid determination that a longer length will never be required, it's better to choose a cable that's a bit longer than required for any given application, at any given time as a more future-proof option, IME. Another reason is a cable or power cord should be long enough to have some slack so vibrational energy is not as easily transferred to/from a component or loudspeaker.
So if a 2 meter pair of speaker cables are long enough for now and in the perceivable future, that might be a preferable option, but a 3 meter pair being under 10 feet is not long enough to be considered entirely "too long" from a typical audiophile POV, IMO. The same can be said of a 1.5 meter pair of line-level interconnects vs. a more ideal 0.5 meter pair, IMO.
I have never noticed any correlation between sound quality and cable length, but there have only been a couple times when I compared two cables made from the same wire and with the same terminations. One of those occasions was just a couple weeks ago when I compared a friend's 3m pair of Audio Note SPx silver Litz speaker cables to my 1.5m pair. Both sets were genuine Audio Note cables with Audio Note silver spades. The owner of the longer set and I agreed they sounded nearly identical. Any differences came down to splitting hairs. So bottom line is I wouldn't worry about getting a slightly shorter set if you can save some money.
I always think longer is better, just because two inches too short down the road.. is useless. three feet too long is usually not a big problem.
Back when I was young and foolish, I would make IC cable which fit, exactly. IDIOT! The first time I had to move stuff around.. Gee, I have to get some more cables.
Anyway, now I universally buy 1.5 meter IC. so they will FIT, forever. I do not care at all they are a little too long. It DOES NOT MATTER in the long run.
Being too damn short though Yes it matters on that day you discover you new setup is screwed due to too short a cable.
Rant ended.Added: one plus is you might want to place the amp to one side, instead of in between. The 9' cables might allow this.
Edits: 04/07/17
I couldn't agree more. That extra meter might come in handy down the road as mentioned plus that extra meter will not damage sonics in the least. I once was using a 10' pair of AQ Type 4's. Decided to move my tube amp between my speakers for extra ventilation and reterminate one of the 10' runs into 2 - 5' foot runs. Actually ended up liking the sound of the 10' runs better.( amp interface ?) Another lessen learned and fortunately just the cost of another unterminated 10' of AQ Type 4.
The capacitive nature of the longer cable may have worked to tame some other deficiency in the setup. But I've always been of the thought it's better to treat the cause rather than the symptoms.The cable should have absolutely no sound signature in theory, and keeping it to a minimum length will help to assure this.
Martin
Edits: 04/30/17
and so no extra stress on connections.
Or is it further...?
Shorter speaker cable. But some may disagree...
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