@ tuberist,
"Even 25 feet long is crazy and IMO probably will have some negative sonic effect."
I have been using 25 foot long speaker cables since 1992. Let me assure you their is no sound degradation. I spoke with McIntosh the manufacturer of my amp and was told there will be no sonic degradation of sound. I checked with my speaker manufacturer(s) and Sandy Gross from GE told me there is no sonic degradation of sound, lastly I have a EE degree and know there is no sonic degradation of sound.
My speaker cables are 11 gauge and 25 feet is nothing for a 300wpc solid state amp. I wonder where everyone gets their information from? For fun, I moved my speakers next to my amp and tried 5 foot cables and trust me, there was no difference between them and the 25 foot pair of the same cable. If there was, do you think I would have 50K of equipment in my listening room if the cables degraded the sound?