coiling speaker cable

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Hi al,

I couldn't find a section related to cable so any putting my quwstion hear. Hope that OK.

I have a pair of XLO ultra 6 cables that are longer than needed. They have XLO spades on each end and one end has pigtails with XLO spades for myspeakers that have two sets of binding posts. I really don't want to shorten the cable so I was going to coil the extra length behind each speaker.

If you not familiar with the cable, it is made of many very small. separate. strands of OFHC copper in PTFE coating. Each group in covered with PTFE. Is there a problem coiling about 5 feet in about a 1 foot diameter coil? The cables won't be near any other cables or AC power cords.
Thanks,
henrylrjr
 
Hi al,

Is there a problem coiling about 5 feet in about a 1 foot diameter coil? The cables won't be near any other cables or AC power cords.

Who is al?

Well, likely even al probably knows that a turn and a half of wire isn't going to make an inductor of any consequence. He also probably knows that speaker wire should NEVER touch the floor. The true speaker wire purists elevate their wires with some sort of dielectric props to remove them from the dirty influence of the floor which can make your music sound dusty or static-y... You might even dangle your wire from the ceiling with little strands of ptfe insulated precious metal upocc cable which suddenly became available...
 
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Is there a problem coiling about 5 feet in about a 1 foot diameter coil?
The cables won't be near any other cables or AC power cords.

I've measured a substantial increase in speaker wire inductance, depending on how the speaker wires are coiled.
With only 5 feet (about 2 turns) it shouldn't be a problem. Keep the coils away from steel objects.
 
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A few turns aren't going to matter. If you have a significant length in excess, your biggest problem is going to be the resistance of the excess length. But if you still want to coil them, you can do it non-inductively.
- Find the mid-point of the part of the cable that you want to coil.
- Double the wire at that point (fold it back on itself at the smallest radius that it will fold without stress).
- Coil the doubled cable.
 
IMHO so much snake oil and BS is generated by manufacturers and dealers. Lets take wall outlets as an example. Most in my house are 20 to 40 years old and everything connected to them works fine. Washer, dryer soldering iron, on and on. I firmly believe Hi-end sockets are an outstanding example of the BS we are fed. Directionality of electrons in cables run a close second and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
 
If the two wires are close to each other, making a loop has negligible inductance as it cancels. Notice how you can coil a video cable with no effect at all, much higher frequencies
Exactly. If the cable is a twisted pair, the field of the Send conductor, cancels the opposite field of the Return conductor.
However if the cable is a spaced pair (like old TV 300 ohm Twin-lead). Aligned coiling may not cancel the fields.
 
This hobby can be fun just by reading the mags and most reviewer BS. I dis-believe most manufacturer's and dealer's hyperbole, especially Stereophile and most mags that just perpetuate the BS.

I might have mentioned about my complete disbelief in"HI-END ac receptacles. Most in my home are 20 to 40 years old, but "amazingly" my toaster, washer, dryer and soldering iron, ect. work fine. "i'm so surprised they haven't stopped working".
 
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