From the Boys at mapleshadestore.com

The first instinct of any audiophile who wants a nice-looking system is to neatly bundle that mess of wires behind their equipment. DON'T DO IT! Bundling hurts the good sound of those cables you paid all that money for.

Don't despair: correct wire management can help rather than hinder good sound. The following four simple rules tell you how:

• Don't run wires-speaker cables, ICs or power cords-close and parallel to each other for more than a few inches; they'll "talk" to each other, causing muddy, smeared, edgy sound. To avoid sonic degradation, keep parallel wires separated by at least 6" wherever possible.

• Try not to run any wires near plastic (or ungrounded metal) surfaces, e.g. artificial fiber rugs or curtains, plastic tiles, linoleum, laminate wood floors, plastic moldings/wallpaper, urethane varnished floors, etc. If possible, keep wires at least 8" from plastic (or ungrounded metal) of any significant mass. These plastics are invariably terrible-sounding dielectrics.

• Avoid using plastic cable ties, plastic sheathing, plastic braid, or plastic conduit to hold, support or protect wires. Instead, use good sounding dielectrics like string (cotton or silk), thin polypropylene tape, or thin wood (preferably maple) to hang/support wires.

• Non-parallel wires--that is, those crossing at angles of 45 degrees or more-don't need to be separated: they can even touch at the crossing point without sonic harm.

Hey Twinturbo11.
I hear what you are saying. I probably couldn't hear the difference either, but audio wisdom through the years has said that you can run interconnects together, perhaps even speaker wires, but NOT power cables because of inductance. Because of the electromagnetic field around the cable which can ":induce" stuff in your adjacent speaker wires.
They have always told us to try to run them perpendicular to each other if they have to cross, as that will be the least interaction.
In actual fact, in the real world, since those 3 cables are all going to the back of the speaker, same destination, that is extremely hard to keep them really apart and almost impossible to get them perpendicular.
Some people have got to have their speaker cables with a anti-static jacket (sounds like what you are looking for) AND up on risers so the cables do not touch the floor. That has always seemed a bit of over kill to me, but what do I know?
The old WAF is a TOUGH ONE!!!!!
Hope you get her to accept, happy listening,
God Bless, Wayne

Okay, while I agree with some of what the fine folks from maple shade suggest, once they start claiming that plastic cable ties, varnishes, and wallpaper are going to degrade sound, they're really getting out there. While there is a basis of electrical theory to support these claims, I guarantee a double blind listening test would not support that these variations would be audible. I suppose if one was experiencing some unexplainable noise, these could be places to start troubleshooting. I bet maple shade offers a lot of solutions for these problems...

Running wires next to each other certainly may cause some issues, which is why I would test the layout first before spending money on any cable management solutions that will combine all three wires in close proximity. Tech flex should be safe since it is widely used on audio cables. Since the sub cables are likely shielded, I wouldn't be concerned about the speaker wire and LFE cable running next to each other. The power cable may be an issue. I keep my power cable away from my speaker wire and LFE cable.

You certainly can experiment with some blind listening tests to see if you can hear a difference between cable layouts. If you can hear a difference, go with what sounds best. If not, go with what looks best and keeps the Wife happy. A little audio smearing is a small price to pay to keep the WAF... Let us know how you get on. Happy listening!

Cheers,

T Cobe

Somebody please enlighten me... What is a "WAF".

Perhaps my ignorance is bliss.....

Art

Art,

WAF is an abbreviation for Wife Acceptance Factor. In audio circles, it is commonly used to describe just how much patience our spouses have to put up with our hobby/passion. Left to our own devices, our living rooms may look like recording studios and less like a home. Our spouses have a way of keeping us grounded, most often for our own good. Some look at this term as derogatory towards women, but I think this is a matter of perspective. While some make it out as women holding us back or not understanding, I view it more as described above.

WAF in the case of this thread was Twinturbo11's Wife's preference for cable management to make sure the living space is neat and tidy: as I understand it. He was looking for a way to clean up the cables feeding his powered Triton towers and wanted to know if he could wrap all of his cables into one housing. Hopefully I've captured this correctly.

Cheers,

T Cobe

T.

I knew that the term meant "Wife something, something". "Wife Acceptance Factor" is certainly important in my house. Our media room is also our Man-Woman Cave where we spend almost all of our non-dining together time. I have been granted a generous, but limited license with regard to audio gear and speaker placement. In general, wires are out of sight (except for the Triton Ones).

I'll be 74 on November 1. I remember the early days of hi-fi with tube amps which not-infrequently had audible 60-hz hum because of poor internal shielding and such issues as radiating tube filament wires, etc. But, today's gear is generally silent, unless faulty, so there's less likelihood of unwanted signals being present on a speaker cable.

However, I would not ever bundle an AC cord with a speaker cable or other audio cable. No sense in tempting the audio devil. Otherwise, I would not be concerned about cross-talk between bundled audio cables. So, if bundling audio cables reduces clutter and improves the WAF, then I would bundle with abandon.

Regarding WAF, after 51 years of wedded bliss, I offer the following advice: Survival as the "HH" (hapless husband) is all about points. HH's earn points for good deeds, thoughtful actions, and the like. HH's also routinely spend points - often without knowing that points have been spent. The general rule for these points is: the rate of disposition frequently exceeds the rate of acquisition. So there can never be too many points in reserve. Therefore, anytime an HH can earn points, he should strive to do so. Satisfying, or even occasionally exceeding, the WAF seems to me to have excellent points-acquisition potential.

Best,

Art