Do speaker wires have to be the same length for each speaker?

I thought it always reads cut the speaker cables the same length. So if I have one speaker next the stereo and the other across the room.You can have one 3ft length and the other at the length you need ?

That's the UFC bout portion of this discussion, @limomangus .

Yes, you can have a pair of speaker cables of different lengths to a stereo set.  Technically, the % difference in electrical parameters of two different lengths of speaker cable is very small.  So there's arguments on both sides on whether it's audible or not.

For me, I wouldn't be able to discern the difference - too busy listening to the music.  However - the difference is still there (audible or not), so why not make them the same length if you easily can?  But also again, for custom installs or other extenuating circumstances which make it hard to keep both lengths the same - cut away!

Try…

Wow,I will have a lot of extra speaker cable now...lol.

The answer to this question is maybe. You do not want too much impedance mismatch between the left and right cables, because that can cause a difference in the frequency response of each of the speakers.  So if the cables are both relatively short and the distributed impedance is minimal then the lengths can vary significantly without ill effects.