When is unequal, equal?

Bob, with regard to reactance and inductance (and to a much smaller degree, resistance) I was commenting on the bass quality (damping factor) and not stereo imaging.

Unequal cable lengths probably won't effect image balance, up to a point as Mike indicated, so long as one is using well designed cables that don't have excessive timing problems.

Yes Nsgarch, image balance will not be affected by unequal cable lengths if the difference in length is less than about 10000000:1 ratio! Bass, however, will be affected because of the reduction in damping due to the higher resistance of the longer cable, especially with amps of higher output resistance, read tubes.
Salut, Bob P.

Bass, however, will be affected because of the reduction in damping due to the higher resistance of the longer cable, especially with amps of higher output resistance, read tubes.

Which begs the question, How much? There's been a lot of cant in this thread, but not a lot of solid information. Whatever effect cable resistance has on damping factor, and therefore on bass, is easily calculable, if you know the basic physics. I'll freely admit that I don't, but I've consulted people who do, and this is what they tell me: In most systems (e.g., those with solid-state amps), simply choosing cable of sufficient gauge eliminates this as an audible problem. If you must use runs of different lengths, size your cable for the longer length, and the problem disappears.

If you use a tube amp with high output resistance, then you really owe it to yourself to learn the necessary physics.

Which brings us back to the original question - will unequal lengths of cables cause problems? The answer is NO in practice, yes in theory, but even then, can one hear the difference?
Bob P.

First of all, I think Bob goes too far with his ten million-to-one ratio. Only really high quality cable with great timing characteristics is forgiving of differences in length, and then who cares because you're probably not going to invest in a lopsided pair of Siltechs or Purists anyway, are you?

On the other hand, the imaging performance of unequal lengths of lower priced (IC) cables suffers more from time smearing (eliminating t/s is the main cost driver of high priced ICs IMO) than unequal lengths of as much as even 3 to 1

Pabelson, Bryston used to have a really great damping factor vs. wire gauge vs. wire length chart for their amps. And if your amp is SS and (for now) you're going to use some cheap, big gauge Monster or Home Depot zip cord, stay under 25 feet for the longer run and you're done. If you have a tube amp, however, I think the best source of info (about recommended wire size vs. length) would be the manufacturer -- who could also tell you what the best you could expect out of their units would be if you used the shortest/fattest possible speaker cable (essentially a pair of jumpers between amp and speaker). One day though, when you decide you'd like more resolution, and to give your equipment the chance to be all that it can be, your not going to buy (special order probably) an unequal length pair of quality speaker cables. C'mon !!?

This is one reason folks who like to biamp often combine SS for the low end, with a tube amp for the highs and mids, where damping control is easy even for a tube amp. And it's also the reason why those who prefer no more than one amp per speaker, are always looking for the best of both worlds, usually expressed as "The most musical solid state amp ever made!" I think the darTZeel is currently the poster child for that award.

The moral of the story is: Unequal lengths? Sure, go ahead, you're likely talking about using cheap stuff anyway, so who cares?

Want better performance and better cables? Never going to need to sell them for ANY reason? Sure, buy an unequal length pair of Kimbers or whatever (you're gonna be sorry, ha ha!)