Is there a minimum length for power cords?

... any length shorter than 1.8 meters (5.9 feet)will begin to degrade the effectiveness of the shielding and filtering capabilities; regardless of who is the manufacturer.

But on the other hand the resistance and inductance of the cord will increase in proportion to its length. Both of those increases can have adverse sonic consequences if large enough.

Personally, however, assuming adequate gauge for the application and assuming cord designs that are identical aside from length I suspect that in most and perhaps just about all systems none of these factors are likely to be great enough to make an audible difference for lengths of up to 8 or 10 feet or so, and perhaps more.

And to prove otherwise would require, as I see it, performing comparisons between different lengths of identical cords that are repeated multiple times, going back and forth between the two lengths to assure that the results are consistent and that perceived differences are not the result of extraneous variables or misperception. I doubt that very many audiophiles have done that, and even if some have I see no reason to expect their results to be applicable to different components, system configurations, and AC characteristics.

Regards,
-- Al

Dover, with respect to your comment I don't think a 2 meter or any other precise point of demarcation between what will be seen by the power supply as a stub vs. as part of the loop can be defined. It depends on the specific frequency component of the AC waveform that is being considered. And the distinction will only be relevant, if at all, at the very high frequencies of RF components that may be present in the waveform. With the resulting sonic effects, if any, almost certain to be unpredictable and inconsistent from system to system. I say that regardless of what you may have seen stated in certain marketing literature.

Davehrab, if you find yourself wanting a little extra income at some point, consider writing ad copy for cable manufacturers :-)

A minor point, btw: It's generally referred to as VSWR (often pronounced as "vizwar"), not SWVR.

Regards,
-- Al