Will 5m and 7m lengths of NACA5 mess up the signal timing?

Nope.... 

I think that electrical signals are transmitted along copper wires at near to the speed of light. Hence a few metres won't affect this.

However I'm not sure whether different lengths will affect the power amplifier in terms of the inductance/capacitance which it 'sees' on each channel. I've seen naca5 lengths of 5m to 7m described as ideal for sound purposes so presumably if you had one very short cable and one very long it might affect perceived sound quality.

Actually, sound (electric signals) travels in metal at 5,000 mt/sec, which is roughly 1/70 of the speed of light. On the other hand, there is no real need to have Star Trek's Enterprise's performance to reproduce, say, Echo and the Bunnymen at home.

Just think how long it will take, comparatively, the signal to travel 5 or 7 mt at 5000 mt/sec: obviously, 1/5000 or 1/7000 of second respectively. I think that Dark Bear perhaps could hear some difference, but people from the Earth shouldn't worry about such orders of magnitude.

Best, and relax

Max

P.S. About the inductance issue as per Adam's post, if its is accepted (and it is) that NAC A5 is ok in lengths from 3.5 to at least 10 mt, in theory it means that the inductance seen by the amp is ok with 3.5 or/and with 10 mt of wire; if this is the case, how can 2 mt of difference be audibly influential?

I know a little about electronics so I try to compensate with some logic and good sense. Now, the whole NASA is welcome to correct me.

We have a saying here, Max - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Having said that, I suspect you are right, but I only have a little knowledge!

Ciao Max,  NACA5 cable is designed with its wide spacing to give a suitable stabilising inductance load to the amp output stage.  NACA5 has a inductance of 1 micoHenry (?H) per metre, therefore the recommended minimum inductance load is 3.5uH.     

There will be a difference of 3uH between 7m (7uH) & 10m (10uH) lengths.    This channel imbalance & would not be tolerated in any amp design.  Question is - is it audible ???   JimDog the OP says they don't sound quite right.    

Chord Cables have an advisory on this  https://www.chord.co.uk/speaker-cable-guide/     ............  Whilst the vast majority of amplifiers will be completely happy with a different length pair of speaker cables,some amplifiers use the speaker cable as part of the circuitry and in this case, cable lengths should be kept the same.

Ciao Mike,

I think I am decently familiar with all of this, and I keep my cables  trimmed equal to the mm, but I was only trying to relieve Jimdog from his worries. Perhaps, truth is that each of us will hear what he expects to hear.

Have a splendid New Year's Eve, you and all in the forum. I'll stay home with just my mate, finally. Some roast chicken and something sparkling.

Best and Happy New year,

Max

I've heard longer runs, where the difference is 4m, sound different. The longer run tends to sound smoother.

At what point the difference unnoticeable I couldn't say. It's certainly not a huge difference.  I guess the real question is, why bother with different length runs? 

I have two 7m lengths. The left side could reach with well less than 3m. The right side needs all 7m. I just zip tie the extra length of the left channel into a snaking arrangement (as described in the FAQ) and that sits under my Fraim brawn base.

I'm running different lengths 10 & 5m and it all sounds fine. Room layout means I couldn't hide 5m of curled up NACA5 anyway! 

Thanks - v useful discussion.

If NACA5 cables are burned in from new and then sit coiled up in a cupboard for several years, how long will they take to 'warm up' when used again?

Will they need a 'second burn in' of any sort??!

Will they just need to literally warm up to the temperature of the room and the system with leccy flowing along them for a few hours?

Or a few days? Or...?

And finally - how about 2 x 9m lengths of Chord Rumour 2 (thoroughly run in)? Would those provide the right impedance etc to connect a NAP150x to Allaes? (other things being equal)...

Happy New Year all!

(I'm going to quit the booze for a month...)

Ah - I should have found this earlier (RTF'FAQ'):

"Cable length for left and right channel should be of exactly equal length – even if one speaker is closer (as is often the case) to the power amplifier."

Still, it was a useful discussion anyway.

Also, still interested in any info on warm up times for speaker cables that have not been used for years.

JimDog posted:

If NACA5 cables are burned in from new and then sit coiled up in a cupboard for several years, how long will they take to 'warm up' when used again?      Will they need a 'second burn in' of any sort??!

And finally - how about 2 x 9m lengths of Chord Rumour 2 (thoroughly run in)? Would those provide the right impedance etc to connect a NAP150x to Allaes? (other things being equal)...

I've never been convinced about cable burn-in,  do we hear a change over time because its whats expected,  is it a placebo reaction,  is it for real & as an electrical engineer I dare not admit it exists.   Who knows,  just connect it up & enjoy the music.

Chord don't publish electrical spec's.  However I use Odyssey which is Rumours big brother & I have measured that.   Odyssey has a larger conductor size but apart from that they are both twisted pairs & with Teflon (PTFE) insulation & I expect the inductance (& capacitance) to be in the same ball park.    I measured inductance of Odyssey at 0.6uH per meter,  so 9m will be 5.4uH & with a Naim amp that is pretty well spot on.    

Cables in situ have minor characteristic changes in inductance apparently. This is why cables are laid first at shows and left unmoved for a few days. As well as magnetic properties. There is an interesting article on line from a cable manufacturer I am struggling to find at the moment. 

This is often falsly attributed to cable burn in. But the same cable physically disturbed loses much of the gains from being left alone. If I remember correctly, this phenomenon takes about 3 days and is also why quick cable A/B comparisons don't compare cables as they will ultimately sound once "settled" in a system.

I run a brace of 250s into SBLs, with NACA5, acquired from “that well-known etcetera” at different times; the two pairs are different lengths.  The mid-bass runs are 4 metres, the treble runs are 5 metres.

sounds bl00dy good to me!

Naturally YMMV.

Suzy Wong posted:

The mid-bass runs are 4 metres, the treble runs are 5 metres.

Suzy, did you use slightly longer cables on the tweeters on purpose? Or is that just the way the cables came?

Jim