Stereo Cable Management

jameswicks

New Member
So... snake pit or well organized? How do you cable your vintage stereo?

I've got 8 components with lots of cables running from in's and out's. Plus ground wires. Speaker cables, Electrical power cords. You get the idea. Pretty much, it's a mess behind the cabinet. From the front it looks beautiful. I can do better. Hopefully you all will have inspiring ideas and stories.

I'm interested in how other audiophiles organize their cables. So... how do you do it?

Kindest regards, Walter James "Jim" Wicks
www.jimwicks.com
 
So... snake pit or well organized? ...I'm interested in how other audiophiles organize their cables. So... how do you do it?
Think in three dimensions for good separation. I too, isolate power from signal cables even though both are shielded.

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With the HT system, I just do as best as I can. Way too many cables and little space to separate. :)
 
Why would you care about cables crossing over other cables? Aren't you using shielded cables?
A large percentage of audio components have captured power cables and they can't be changed out with some serious modifications. I suppose in cases like this some shielding could be wrapped around the power cable but the simplest fix is to run them away from signal cables or if crossing them can not be avoided, cross them perpendicularly as opposed to parallelly.
 
Well organized for sure...
I never understood why anyone would forget about attention to detail yet spend the time and money and love the hobby and not care about being neat.
Rats nest of wires may contribute to signal paths creating Distortion and ground loop Distortion...... especially if the location is near close and strong R.F. Antennas
 
I leave them all loose, doing AC power first, then output to power amps, then inputs of sources and all turntable staging last and a good distance from other things.
 
D3EBA8D7-41E0-4E17-A6C5-441F0EF21396.jpeg The white one is OFC D.Y.I. Speaker Cables to the Subwoofer.
Everything else is “Cullencable” ..
I’m getting a rug to cover the ugly tile.
 
When I have to move or replace a component I try to reorganize the cables. It ends up looking like a mess again. Unless I hear a hum, I don't worry about it.
 
I think it depends on your future plans for the system. One thing I’ve noticed in all systems, not just audio, is that all changes bring on a slew of new changes. It is the nature of the beast.

So I leave mine loose because I’m constantly moving things around.

But, if you do cable ties, you should always leave enough flexibility of wiring so that you can pull out any component easily. Anything else can easily lead to frustration and more damage to the system. As well, consider if you are troubleshooting a problem and you need to remove all components?
 
I leave them all loose, doing AC power first, then output to power amps, then inputs of sources and all turntable staging last and a good distance from other things.

Same here. I have lots of velcro straps that help me gather similar use cables and isolate cable types (power, inputs/outputs, network) into separate bundles.

It takes time, can be a bit of a PITA but at the end of it I'm happy not only for the appearance but also for the dearth of ground loops and distortion.
 
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