Speaker Cables - Optimal Length


Greetings. This site rocks! I have learned so much here. I am relatively new to this hobby and this is my first post...

My current setup is...

Mcintosh MC275 Gordon Gow Commemorative Edition
McIntosh C22 Reissue
Rega Planet CD Player - Original
JBL L100T - Paid $100. Great Value for now but will upgrade

I recently bought some Kimber 8TC. I decided to buy two 15 foot cables although I currently only need about 8 feet per speaker because I wanted the flexibility of moving and rearranging my room. After buying the cables, I noticed that most speaker cables are generally 8 feet. My questions are...

1. Why are speaker cables generally 8 feet? Is it because of signal degradation issues?

2. Are my Kimber 8TC 15 footers too long?

3. I do not have them terminated yet. The instructions state that bare wire is preferred, and/or spades or banana plugs. Is it advisable to keep them bare?

4. Anyone using a similiar setup to mine and can give me any cool feedback on how they do things (not necessarily just cable related) would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Dan.
imnsoc
The shorter the better. 8Ft. is the longest before degradation is supposed to occur. Jallen
12 inches, with each speaker driven by its own amp. The money you save on speaker wire will buy the second amp.
I tend to go with the rule of thumb that says the optimum length should be long enough to go from the terminals on your amplifier to the terminals on your speakers. Any shorter and you'll be sadly disappointed.

Marco