Loose cables

[bullit67]

What is the best thing to do with any extra cable that you have I only need about 1 1/2 feet and the shortest most cables come is 3-3 1/2 feet should you leave it hanging loose or roll it up and zap tie it to keep things neat and tidy I have heard that rolling it up can make it act like an antenna and cause some RF noise. I have always left them hanging but this dosent seem any better as all the cables get crossed up with each other and the power cords as well

Any help would be great

[markw]

Good lord, there's anough psuedo science, half truths and technobabble flowing about this hobby that most people with little or no "real" knowledge of electronics in the real world can easily be driven to near terminal cases of audio nervosa. That's pretty much what drives this industry. Nobody makes any money if everyone is satisfied with their equipment.

I seriously doubt you are experiencing any detrimantal effects as long as you are using fairly well shielded interconnects (which, BTW, don't cost a fortune) for your line level signals (and phono, if applicaple). Likewise, speaker cable need not cost a fortune for good performance either.

On thing I might suggest is that you might want to route any AC power cables away from the interconects if possible. It MAY make a slight difference if the shielding is spotty. Then again, it's also highly possible that this would not make any difference either.

So, enjoy your system if it sounds good to you. If you want to look for problems, either real or imagined, this is the hobby to be in.

[MikeyBC]

the rule of thumb is never coil a wire as for reasons you mentioned but since you're only coiling 2 feet and keep it to 2 or 3 turns i dont think you'll need to worry, if you cant see or hear any loss in video or sound quality then enjoy looking at your neat wires.

[Beckman]

I have heard that rolling it up can make it act like an antenna and cause some RF noise.

RF noise is on the order of megahertz. You can't hear anything above 20 kHz, so there is no way RF noise will cause any audible problems. As for video cables, as long as they are shielded(most if not all are) you will be fine.

Coil away!

[Geoffcin]

RF noise is on the order of megahertz. You can't hear anything above 20 kHz, so there is no way RF noise will cause any audible problems. As for video cables, as long as they are shielded(most if not all are) you will be fine.

Coil away!

Most people over 35 can't hear about 15 khz, But that doesn't stop RF from being a problem. Sensitive pre amp circuits can amplify them and you can hear it.

Coiling wire is NOT recommended. Just let them hang.

[FLZapped]

What is the best thing to do with any extra cable that you have I only need about 1 1/2 feet and the shortest most cables come is 3-3 1/2 feet should you leave it hanging loose or roll it up and zap tie it to keep things neat and tidy I have heard that rolling it up can make it act like an antenna and cause some RF noise. I have always left them hanging but this dosent seem any better as all the cables get crossed up with each other and the power cords as well

Any help would be great

No, coiling it won't make it act like an antenna until the length of the coil starts to exceed it's diameter. Coiling it will cause the inductance of the shield to increase though. If you are going to couil the wire, use the over/under method which reverses the direction of the wind with each coil, which will reduce the tendance for there to be that inductance increase.

In practice, unless you have some sort of broadcast transmitter around, rf won't be a problem.

-Bruce