Using different speaker cable lengths on 2 channel amp - advisable?

[daws0n]

I've recently made some changes to my setup and have moved the hifi rack to the corner of the room. Originally, I could use 2m speaker cable but now that is too short for the right hand speaker. Been planning this for a while however, and picked up some airloc'd supra pro cable off eBay cheap, just for the job Each length of cable is 5m, so it reaches the far end speaker fine. But, since the left hand speaker is near the amplifier now it will be neater to use my old 2m cable instead of having 3-4m of cable slack on the floor.

I've tried it out and all seems fine - but, I keep reading about using equal lengths of cable for each channel - is this just people being fussy or is there a genuine electrical reason for doing this? Is it possible it could imbalance or effect the load on the power amp? Cosmetics aside, I'd rather be safe.

Thanks,

Dawson

 

[djftw]

I really wouldn't worry about it, the worst it could do is make the two channels sound (very) slightly different due to being presented with a (very) slightly different load. Unless it is Naim or similar where the cable effectively acts as part of the output stage I can't imagine that it's likely to make any difference that is audible to the human ear!

 

[daws0n]

It is an Exposure 28 power amp - I have read that the Farlowe-era designs are similar to naim, but I am not sure about the new ones...

 

[djftw]

I don't think so... Do you have the manual? If it contains dire warnings about high-capacitance speaker cables or suggests that you shouldn't use any but their own then you may have an issue. However, if it sounds fine to you and was running fine with 2m cables before I wouldn't worry about it, you won't damage it.