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Long interconnects vs long speaker wire (1 Viewer)

Ellen

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Ellen
There isn't enough space in my entertainment center to hold all of the monoblock amps that I have in my system. I have been considering placing each amp on a stand near the speaker it powers. This would, of course, necessitate fairly long (around 20-25 ft) interconnects instead of long speaker wire runs. Is this a bad idea? Part of me says no since it is quite usual to run a long cable to a powered subwoofer. But I could swear that I've read posts about it being better to run long speaker wire since they would be less susceptible to picking up noise.

What say you all? If I go this route, should I make some interconnects from RG6-U/Q to help protect against the cables picking up noise? Any comments would be appreciated.
 

Chu Gai

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The theoretical answer to your question Ellen is that you're better off with long interconnects as opposed to long speaker cables. Doesn't mean it's audibly better or even discernible to your ears. Just that it's theoretically better. The main problem, if indeed there is one, will be the question of whether your preamp or whatever you're using for one has the ability to drive a long run of interconnect. You can also run RG59 or even thinner material (so long as it's copper and not copper over steel) as the main electrical factor that affects the signal is cable capacitance (lower is better). Now if you've got a length of RG6 laying around, I'd make one interconnect and determine for myself if the preamp can drive the signal and if there's an absence of any noise pick-up. Likely you won't have any problems. Sound like a reasonable approach?
 

Ellen

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Sounds very reasonable Chu. Silly me! I hadn't even thought about the preamp's ability to drive the amp thru that much cable. I think I do have a 25' RG59 cable in the closet. Will have to go to the Shack and pick up a couple of F-to-RCA adaptors but will definitely give it a test. Thanks for the info.
 

Bob McElfresh

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Several high-end systems (Dunlavy) also follow the same rules: short speaker wires, long interconnects.

One custom system I read about had the criteria that no speaker wire was longer than 6.5 feet. No reason was given, but this justified putting a mono-block behind each speaker and running interconnects from the receiver to each monoblock.

There are several issues that come up with running watts of power over wires that can be ignored with line-level signals (carried by interconnects).
 

Ted Lee

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my friend who had a decent setup (rotel, etc.) also opted for the longer interconnects. his preamp was on a separate table on the other wall, so he had to run approx 25 feet worth of interconnect. he put the amp on the other wall between the two speakers. worked fine...no hum...nothing.

he even had an electrical cord running lengthwise alongside the interconnects! :eek:
 

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