Speaker cable Question?

I knew what you meant, Mitch. I've also heard that position from Mapleshade before. I'm also an EE, but to be honest the last people I would ask about cables are those from the electrical engineering community. All you get is a regirgitation of math equations we learned to model the electrical properties of stuff. Funny thing is none of those terms account for what we hear in the end. That's not to say there is no importance to the theory, but in my experience it does depend on system components and which cables one tries. Synergy is the most important term and that can only be measured by listening.

So have fun and experiment with as many cables as you can get your hands on.

Dan

Well, I am an EE also, but tend to use simple logic before delving into any analysis.
Logic says active speakers must use cable lengths of less than a foot, and I never heard of any drawbacks.

Perhaps the 8 ft reference simply evolved from the average distance people tend to place speakers apart, allowing for plenty of slack so as not to strain the terminals at either end. Just my theory anyway...

You can't make a short cable longer, but if a cable is a little too long, it's easy enough to hide the excess, or have the cable shortened.
From my limited conversations with a speaker cable manufacturer, I've been advised the shorter the better, as this reduces capacitance, resistance & interference.

Then again, I recently shortened my cables by 3 feet with no discernable change to the sound, so who knows?...

Thanks, Carl!!
It is refreshing to read a practical response!

Of course...ask Pierre @ Mapleshade...if you talk to him long enough....he invented the 2 channel stereo system !!!!! Ask him...he tell ya....