Very short speaker cable length recommended?

Which arguments do some experts have for stating that a longer speaker cable (8 feet and longer) is better than a shorter one? In digital interconnects 1.5 m seem to be the minimum length, due to signal relections within the cable, but with speaker cable we are dealing with very different (electrical) characteristics. What in the case of built-in amps in some (active) speakers? There is no speaker cable at all. Is this electrically bad? It's puzzling to me.

Chris

I once had a setup using CJ monoblocks, Wilson Witts, and 4 feet of Kimber 8TC that sounded very good. I thought shorter had to be better and I would save some money so I tried a 6 inch run of various wires including some 8TC. The resolution increased but it was bright and irritating. This was very repeatable and it was not subtle. The very short wires were horrible. I have no explanation and I agree it is puzzling, but that was my experience and the results were confirmed by several others.

I would say it depends on your amp. High feedback amps work better with short speaker cable runs. At least mine does. I went through a selection process using long and short cable runs - both cheapo 12 ga twisted strand copper and high quality cables. Ended up with 6 foot high quality cables sounding best. At least to my ears.

No doubt, Timru.

I've witnessed major debates in car forums regarding oil change intervals. You have recommendations from both oil and car manufacturers, and then you have the entire dino versus synthetic argument influencing change intervals. Then do you change both the filter AND the oil?

It sounds so much like analog versus digital, copper/silver, tubes, solid state, etc... It's all so confusing, but ultimately hopefully leaves us more informed to make our own deicisions.

I'll be watching this thread.

It is counter-intutive but I have two thoughts:

(1) It is possible that very short cables restrict speaker placement and thus affect sound indirectly, where as longer ones let you find optimal placement.

(2) Is it conceivable that some speakers were designed with either long or short cable and would sound better accordignly? Not sure it makes sense but just a thought.