Does unequal speaker wire length matter?

Timing will be off resulting in a loss of soundstage and imaging. It will be similar to listening to a system that is wired out of phase. It could be bad enough that you would be better off with a boom box.

Lamp cord would be a better option than two very different lengths of cable.

At that length timing has very little to do with it. However, resistance is different over those lengths, which does matter. Sorry.

I have seen it done with transparent cable with Wilson speakers. There was no change in sound with this particular system.

Apparently upgrading ones cable is very popular these days. I get three or four emails about upgrading mine every day. Heh. I guess word got out.

Seriously, I prefer same length for like speakers. i.e. Front L/R are the same, the surrounds are the same. Currently my center is an oddball . Its length is different from the front L/R but, its a different amp, with different ICs, extra processing, etc. etc. so I really dont worry too much over it.

My opinion is, use the shortest pair you can get away with and deal with the excess on the closer speaker as best you can. Dont coil the excess too tightly.

Cables should always be equal symmetry in length considering that you have the model and awg wire the same. Like Dbw1 said, timimg has nothing to do with length mismatch, its resistance. Resistance in a speaker cable subtle to voltage drop which in turn cause signal loss. When this happen, your intitle to hear a few db or less which cause image to shift off center. This is why it so important that you have the same length on both sides.

Alfredo