Speaker wire conundrum

[Smudger]

We've recently had some changes done to our house which has necessitated a new carpet being laid, which means my speaker wires for one of the surround speakers is too short. Is the best option just to get another short length of cable, and stick it on the end of the current one with a chocolate box connector? I know you're supposed to have equal-length cables, but as it's a rear surround, it doesn't get a lot of use, so I'm not sure a slight dip in sound quality would matter, plus I can re-run the YPAO setup again, which should take account of any delays...

[scaryjim]

How much is it short by, and how long is the total (required) cable length?

Your issue isn't going to be delays over that length of wire but power loss in the cable, which would make one side quieter than the other. Using an additional section of wiring and jointing them should work fine, and unless you're an obsessive audiophile I don't think you'd notice any significant difference in sound quality; my only concerns would be that a) the connection is likely to introduce additional resistance (= power loss) as it's almost impossible to create a perfect join between the two wires, and b) that the join would create a potential weak point in the wiring which could be knocked/pulled out/corrode/etc.

Is the speaker cable soldered or otherwise permanently connected at the speaker end? If not I'd be inclined to rerun the whole length as a single piece just for peace of mind; it's not like reasonable speaker cable costs the Earth. If it's a permanently attached cable then I'd just go for a heavier gauge cable for the extension to reduce the additional resistance you're adding to the circuit.

(waits for a more audiophile hexite to disagree with everything I've said )

[kalniel]

I'm not in the class of audiophile to have enough experience to do that scaryjim, so I'd agree with what you say, and note that as he has a means to auto balance for delay and signal strength loss the impact is probably so close to zero as to be unnoticeable.

[peterb]

Pretty much as Jim says. You might consider soldering the cables together and if there is any noticeable difference in the volume level between the two rear speakers, you could add an equal length of cable to the other lead.

But given that most speaker connections are mechanical, using screw connectors will be fine.

waits for audiophile to point out that introducing tin in the speaker path will interfere with the oxygen levels on the copper and that only a special connector marked for audio use and costing 200 times its equivalent non-audio marked equivalent will do(

[jimborae]

If re -running the cable isn't an option just join an extra length of similar guage cable and solder the joint together rather than use a chocolate box, tape up or heat shrink wrap the joint. On rear surround you wont notice any difference in sound and I'll bet there's no difference in delay either but re-run YPAO if want to.

[scaryjim]

... You might consider soldering the cables together ...

... solder the joint together rather than use a chocolate box ...

I considered suggesting soldering as an option, but decided not to as I wasn't sure how many hexites would happen to have soldering kit just lying around the house If you don't have soldering kit lying around I wouldn't buy it just for this job - any good mechanical connection will do the job

[Smudger]

I'm only short by about 30cm, basically we had a wall and doorway in the lounge, and the cable fed under the carpet past the doorway. We've removed that wall so it's open now, new carpet has been laid which covers up the areas where the wall was, so the entry point under the carpet has moved back, shortening the pokey-out bit at the other end. Whole cable length is maybe 5m

The other thing is that where the cable was run was where the carpet join was. Now it's open, the join isn't there, so to re-run the cable would mean rolling back the carpet. Which has the potential for angering wife.

Edit: The cables are attached to the back of the speakers via the usual screw fitting

[jimborae]

I considered suggesting soldering as an option, but decided not to as I wasn't sure how many hexites would happen to have soldering kit just lying around the house If you don't have soldering kit lying around I wouldn't buy it just for this job - any good mechanical connection will do the job

I would have hoped all regular Hexites would have a soldering iron lying around the house........preferably temperature controlled & not plugged in & switched on. Or maybe I hold most regular Hexites in too high regard

Being serious for a moment....I'm recommending soldering partly because it will be a better more reliable join than a chocolate box but equally or more importantly to said wife, a soldered joint is much less likely to be felt under foot or leave a small bump under the carpet than a chocolate box. Even with really good quality underlay after a few year these things can be felt so always try to have the cable near the edge by the carpet gripper where it wont be stood on etc.

[g8ina]

Yep, agree with all of that, snake oilers will say otherwise of course,you need a matched pair length wise, the cable needs to be OFC, and you need to run then the right way round, as electrons travel better in cable one way.

and all that rubbish

Yep, soldering ftw, if only to hide the joint. Choco black is fine as long as you have a hefty screwdriver and do em up real tight.

[Smudger]

I considered suggesting soldering as an option, but decided not to as I wasn't sure how many hexites would happen to have soldering kit just lying around the house If you don't have soldering kit lying around I wouldn't buy it just for this job - any good mechanical connection will do the job

I don't have one, but I think my dad has somewhere in his garage... But soldering over a new carpet also has a high probability of wife-anger...

[Smudger]

I would have hoped all regular Hexites would have a soldering iron lying around the house........preferably temperature controlled & not plugged in & switched on. Or maybe I hold most regular Hexites in too high regard

Being serious for a moment....I'm recommending soldering partly because it will be a better more reliable join than a chocolate box but equally or more importantly to said wife, a soldered joint is much less likely to be felt under foot or leave a small bump under the carpet than a chocolate box. Even with really good quality underlay after a few year these things can be felt so always try to have the cable near the edge by the carpet gripper where it wont be stood on etc.

There is some cable sticking out, just not enough. I've cabled in the speaker on the floor at the moment (it's a bookshelf) but ideally it needs to go on the stand or on the cupboard that's nearby (waist height). So any connection wouldn't be under the carpet, but hidden behind the speaker/cupboard.

[jimborae]

There is some cable sticking out, just not enough. I've cabled in the speaker on the floor at the moment (it's a bookshelf) but ideally it needs to go on the stand or on the cupboard that's nearby (waist height). So any connection wouldn't be under the carpet, but hidden behind the speaker/cupboard.

In that case chocolate box it is then, easy, simple and wont be put under any stress or felt or seen.

[Smudger]

Thanks all. Now just need to find out what gauge my current cable is... And pinch a connector off someone...

[peterb]

Making neat inline soldered joints is a bit of an art, as the cables need to be twisted together in line. Best plan imho is to prepare three lengths of heat shrink, one for each conductor in the pair, and one to cover both pairs.

You need to separate enough of the pair on wine side to slide the individual conductor over the cores, and far enough back so the heat from the soldering doesn't prematurely shrink the sleeve, so you need to work quickly. One the individual joints have been made and the heat shrink shrunk over each joint, slide the overall heat shrink over the two joints to hide where the cores have been split, and shrink it down. Job done!

Or you could use in-line crimp connectors which work well (except for audiophiles who will claim that introducing contacts between dissimilar metals will degrade the signal to a perceptible by dogs, cats, owls and bats)

[DanceswithUnix]

TLDR: Doesn't matter much what you do, as long as the cable has lots of copper in it.


I would have thought your main problem would be hiding the unsightly join.

Honestly, if the resistance of the cable is enough to make one speaker noticeably quieter, then you should be re-laying the cable with something thicker anyway. The just sub speed of light signal propagation in copper is utterly dwarfed by the speed of sound of where the speakers are situated, so ignore delays.

Not everyone will have a handy soldering iron up to this job, or again if your 7W pencil iron can easily heat up your speaker wire then you are using thin weedy bell wire and should replace it with something heavier gauge actually suitable for speaker use

Whilst I think the whole oxygen free copper thing is silly from an engineering/sound quality point of view it is my standard cable for one simple reason: white cable tends to look nasty, shiny transparent sheath copper cable looks, well, shiny. If you are ducting it or clipping the stuff over skirting boards, then white cable is fine. The OFC speaker cable also tends to be nice and bendy, and guarantees that you are not buying some rubbish copper covered aluminium cable that can't carry the sort of currents required for decent bass response and keep the drivers under proper control.

I have a similar ~5m cable run and use 42 strand ofc cable. The explosions sound pretty good, I don't think you need the really thick stuff on a run that long (though it doesn't hurt, and explosions can always be louder right? ). I have known people use 30A ring main cable for speakers, it does a superb job and is fairly cheap but is quite hard to hide. It is that simple though: the thickest cable you can get away with, copper inner, big robust connections.

[Smudger]

I think while I'm at it, I may as well replace the cables for my front speakers, they're looking a bit thin (in terms of protection) and old compared to what's about for not a lot of money. Amazon do 100ft of 16-gauge for under a tenner!

Edit: it's 65-strand (yay) but copper-coated aluminium (boo). Might look elsewhere...