Speaker Cables, One side longer- bad idea?

If you have a stereo amplifier where each channel has a common ground, than you most likely will increase an inter-channel noise and distortions since different length cables have different resistance, capacity and inductance. Stereo amplifier has to be equally loaded -- it's almost like you will plug in different speakers to each channel. In dual-mono amplifier or monoblocks you will have on the shorter side slightly better details than on the longer side. This difference you will not be able to rectify with channel ballance if the one is present in your preamp.

There won't be an audible (probably not even measurable) difference with the lengths you mention. Marakanetz's comments are correct in theory, but you would only need to worry if the 2 sides were really different. I asked this question of a well-known cable maker/designer (really nice guy) at a show a few years ago and his explanation left me with the conviction that a 1.5 to 1 ratio or less should be fine. OTOH, a dealer I know has done blind tests with 5 and 1 meter runs of a mid-priced high end cable and none of his sophisticated customers have been able to tell a difference in sound.

If someone wants to illustrate the difference with numbers, that might be interesting.

Keep them equal so the cable characteristics are matched electrically and sonically.

Thanks Paulwp,

As you might have guessed, I have my stereo off to
the side with nothing between the speakers. I
need to buy new cables and decided I didn't like
the looks of a bunch of loose, extra wire for one
side. In fact, a local dealer that does custom
home installs with Transparent Audio cables
told me that they regulary messure off the length
needed and don't worry about the extra 4-6 feet on
one side.

Tom

Audiogon no longer lets us drop links into a forum so.. I've cut and pasted some interesting reading on the subject:

Equal Length Speaker Cables - Are They Necessary?

"You do know that you must match the length of speaker cables in you system to insure "an equal delay" in all channels?"

Of course, you didn’t know this until just then when the salesperson posed this "rhetorical question". On the surface, this sounds perfectly reasonable. Your power amplifier generates a set of signals that are sent to your speakers (to the right main, to the left main, to the center, to the right surround, to the left surround, to the subwoofers, etc.). This set of signals have been created in such a way to be synchronized with each other – in engineering terms, they are "in-phase" with each other. Therefore, it seems perfectly reasonable to maintain this "in-phase condition" by keeping all cables the same length. Unfortunately, this means that you will have to use the same length cable to the speaker setting right next to your equipment rack (less than 10 ft. away) as you use to the speaker setting in the back of the room (greater than 60 ft. away). As this realization takes hold, you look up at the salesperson and see this smile come cross his face – he’s "got you". You are about to spend 3 to 5 times more that you had anticipated (or budgeted) for speaker cables to compensate for the "DREADED PHASE DELAY". Even if you are an electrical engineer, you probably won’t take the time to think through the "sales pitch" you’ve just been given – it sounds so logical on the surface.

When Einstein first conceived the theory of relativity and before he attempted to codify everything with mathematics, he performed a set of "thought experiments" that helped him visualize the concept that would totally revolutionize our view of physics in the 20th century. I’m no "Einstein" and what I’m attempting to explain is not the "general theory or relativity", but I do find that using "thought experiments" are extremely useful in making complex subjects a bit more understandable. I’d like to use this approach to dispel the concept that speaker cables need to be cut to the same length to prevent audible phase delays in a HT system.

Let’s assume that you have a stereo audio system with a speaker attached to the left channel and a speaker attached to the right channel. Let’s assume that the cable between the amplifier and the left speaker is 10 ft. long; let’s assume that the cable between the amplifier and the right speaker is 60 ft. long. You are seated at a position that is equal distance from each speaker. One speaker (the left speaker) receives its signal approximately 50 ns (nanoseconds) before the right speaker. This is because the signal to the right speaker must travel through an additional 50 feet of cable (i.e., 60 ft. – 10 ft.). A good "rule of thumb" is that an electrical signal takes approximately 1ns to travel 1 ft. through a cable. According to the salesperson we met back in paragraph 2, your system has a severe phase delay problem because of this 50 ns difference between the left and right channels. With this as our premise, let’s examine our ability as a listener to detect this unbalanced condition. I will attempt to do this through three thought experiments.

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