What would happen if?


I just recently purchased a new pair of speaker cables and my goal is to hook them up and set them side by side with the old ones for easily comparasion.
My amplify is hidden behind the wall, it's very diff to get behind it to plug in and unplug the speaker cables back and forth. My Q. is what would happen if I get behind it once and tap the new pair on top of the old pair (old one is bananas, new one is spades) and leave the other end to the speakers OPEN. That way I can swap them back and forth for easy comparasion.
As far as I know, both of the cables will receive amplyfied signals at the same time but only 1 selected pair will get hooked up to the speakers. I'm curious what's the damage or any posible senerio would be if I play with them like this for approximately about a month? Will the dynamic of the speakers be decreased?
Thanks,
128x128nasaman
If I had a very highly resolving system, I would be a bit wary, thinking that perhaps it would influence the sound, although basically it probably wouldn't. But I would not do it anyway, because having five thumbs on each hand, I'd be afraid of shorting the amp, if the + and - poles of the wires not used, were to touch, while I fumbled around. A tube amp might take it, some SS amps don't like that at all.
I personally would not do it for 2 reasons. 1 - You just added antenna's to the amps output. 2 - Accidentlly touching the ends that are not being used.
I wouldn't do it but also for comparison reasons. Wouldn't the unconnected pair impart unneccessary capacitance at the amp's outputs? Good luck.
when you do it, just be very sure not to let the disconnected ends touch...

alternatively while not as satisfactory but spark free - you might start by wiring one speaker with the old and one with the new to get an initial sense of significant differences.

you will need to run this for a few days to let the new cable settle in - rapid ABing can be very deceptive and is generally not considered to be a good way to tell much of anything - also it will give your ears time to listen and determine what differences you might in fact be hearing

if you decide there are some big differences then you could proceed to a more ambitious comparison

if there is not much difference you can decide which cables you are keeping and which you will be posting on the Gon