About speaker cables..

Doesn't hurt. A shorter signal path from your amp to the speaker is thought my some to be a benefit. Those who use mono block amps claim that it is preferable to longer cable runs in addition to having separate power supplies and reduced feedback. Speaker cables can get quite expensive and I suspect you may be able to buy a better cable in a shorter length to maximise the benefits of your chosen amplifier. As with most things in audio there will be a variety of opinions most without any empirical evidence for their claims, so take any and all opinions with a proper amount of skepticism until you try it for yourself in your system. Good Luck!

This subject came up in a recent conversation with Mike Sanders of Quicksilver Audio. Mike claims speaker cable should be kept to a minimum length because that is what transfers the signal.

Depends on the speaker cable design. Some cables are designed so that they can be used in longer lengths.

I would like to make a correction to my recent posting. I meant to say speaker cable should be kept to a minimum length because that is what transfers the power.
OCOS made claims that their wire is ok for long lengths and they even said you can use different lengths. I have a friend using OCOS and we compared both ways. The result was the OCOS sounds better in short equal lengths. OCOS is a very unusual product since it is coax cable rather than speaker cable.

Shorter = less change/influence. Termination types also make for better integrity.

Some cables don't show fully their addition or subtraction (or both) to the presentation until there is a sufficient amount of it in the signal path.

If for ex I only needed one meter spkr cables, I'm not too sure just how picky I'd be. I’m thinking if I needed 5 meter spkr cables it would be another story.

I've had more than one cable co tell me (depending on the application) cables need to be at least a certain length to fully realize the potential of their wire. Usually those convos were on power cables.

Shorter = less $$$$ too, so add that into the equation when folks give their input as well. Especially when it comes to speakr cables.

Common sense enters into this... eg., ICs. Some feel a half meter cable will fit into their rig. Fine. Well, if it ain't a keeper... what then? 1/2 ICs aren't nearly as 'fittable' or resellable, into some other person's rig perhaps. Same way for extended lengths.

So sometimes if money matters too, staying closer to standard cable lengths might be best… or until you settle on exactly which one you prefer.