Unequal cable lengths for home theater????

I don't think so but, I'm sure some will.

No, you will not be sorry. Unequal cable lenghts are not audible. I have a 9 foot cable on one channel and a 17 foot cable on another. The channels are a perfect balance according to my sound meter.

I have a 12 ft run on one side and a 4 ft run on the other and no problems even with 2ch listening.
I'd bet some would argue though.

It is reccomemded that in all audio systems whether 2 or multichannel that exact legnths be used all round. That is in a perfect world however and I dont know anyone living there. Can you tell a difference? I doubt it . Not unless you have a very high end system with incredible resolution and time and phase coherency.

I think it matter for the same Channels. Example same lengths for the L&R on the Mains 10ft. ea.. Surround Rear Channels L&R 15ft. ea..

You might not notice it ,but the impedance of the amp channels will. It is putting an uneven strain on the legs of the amps channels.

Being off an increment of a few feet will not be drastic,but if you do like 2 ft. to your Left channel with the right channel at 10ft. I think it might not be the best thing to do!

I hate rats nest of wire just like anyone else,but I try to keep things equal lengths as best I can.

Good luck!

I prefer equal length for Each channel set. Just as teh poster above, Abex does.

I use the same length on all front channels (8foot) L/C/R and the same on the rear channels (50 foot) in a 5.1 setup. I have a 15 x 22 room with a tray ceiling, the surround cables travel through the roof, and the speakers are mounted high on the rear wall.

The difference is resistance is actually trivial. Remember that resistance faced by your amp includes both the cable and the speaker. So if you're using 12 AWG cable, the difference in resistance between a 2-foot length (0.0034 ohms) and a 10-foot length (0.0170 ohms) doesn't matter a whole lot to an amp driving a speaker whose resistance starts at, maybe, 3 ohms and goes up from there.

My fronts are are all equal, but I think this is hard for me to justify, unless the electronics do change. Changing the speaker wire a foot changes by a factor related to speed of light. Moving a speaker changes by a factor of he speed of sound. Too lazy to do the math, until the cable effects (resistance, inductance if you "spool it" to shorten one, which is really bad idea) the actual sound, timing wise a spool of wire should make as less difference than moving a speaker an inch, so having maybe a 50% difference in cable length (making that number up) hardly seems important. So if Bomarc is correct, and he should be, close should be fine. Anthing else is likely the "psychoacuotics" as one poster called it. But, I keep em equal anyway - I am mostly psycho....

Truth be told, mine (2-channel only) are equal, too. Superstition.

Shaqspack, I really dont want to be the picky one here but.....

Ideally electricity moves at the speed of light.

However this speed is only constant in a vacuum. Speaker wire isnt a vacuum, so its speed would be relative to its properties.

Furthermore, electricity is inhibited by inductance and resistence and it is commonly argued that its approximate speed through copper is 60-80% that of light.

FWIW, =)

TOTALLY AGREE B.!