Cable long question

Kana813 - this is very system dependent and particularly linked to the quality of your IC's and speaker cables. The general rule in 90% of systems is that speaker cables should be longer for optimum results.

Audioengr-"The results indicate that speaker cables should never be shorter than IC's."

My results using balanced ICs which are longer than the speaker cables indicate this is not an empirical rule.

Shorter is always better for both IC's and speaker cables, but my analytical study has the following result: See the Audio FAQ at:
http://www.empiricalaudio.com

The results indicate that speaker cables should never be shorter than IC's.

I really doubt there is a differance between increments of .5 meters. One thing to keep in mind is what to do with a cable that might be a full meter longer than you need. The longer a cable might get a greater chance to brush against power supplies, the rear of your amp., etc.
The drawback of really sshort cables is that it becomes so darn hard to pull one unit foreard to ajust something at the rear. Tight interconnects make for lots of expletives when attempting the mundane.