Between a rock and a hard place

[abpea]

Hello everyone,

I'm getting ready to hook up my latest version of GM's 48"er.

My question is if you have to have either a long speaker cable or a long interconnect (running from preamp to amp); which is better?

I know you want to keep cable lengths as short as possible but in this setup if I use my mono block amps I can have short speaker cables but long interconnects or if I use my other amp I'll have short interconnects but long speaker cables.

The long cable, whichever it is, will have to be approximately 16 feet.

Which would you choose... the rock or the hard place?

Thanks -
Bruce

 

[nerd of nerds]

i honestly doubt you'll be able to hear the difference...

But i'd say the amplified signal has less chance of degrading over a long path as its been apmplified and such...

But i honestly doubt you'll hear ANY difference or be able to measure any diffference...

Also, it seems like ur worrying about cables...

Don't, it doesn't matter...18AWG rat shack cable is just as good as some $10k per foot boutique cable...

 

[Cal Weldon]

Which amp sounds better?

 

[Tweeker]

Is the preamp-amp cable more subject to RFI due to the far higher input impedance?

 

[Scottmoose]

I'm with the Nerd (no offence!). I'm deeply suspicious of long interconects, particularly if they are single ended, and, worst of all, single-ended interconnects that are unshielded. That said, I too doubt that you'd hear a difference in themselves, assuming, of course, that the preamp has enough gain to drive such long, 16' interconnects. However, as noted above, the weaker signal is always going to be the more vulnerable to external RFI unless it's heavily shielded, and even then, you're just reducing the risks of a problem you needn't have in the first place. Balanced leads are nominally less vulnerable but even then... Long speaker wire every time. Chances are it'd be cheaper too.

Best
Scott

 

[abpea]

Thanks guys that's just the advice I was looking for!

I'll keep my interconnects short and go with the long speaker cable.

Happy New Year to all of you!!

Bruce

 

[planet10]

personally i tend towards long interconects & short speaker wire.... of course it deppends on your cables, your amps, how much current the speaker needs, how much RF is in your locale to pick up....

dave

 

[daly2k]

This is always an interesting process. I did some testing on some silver sonic balanced and shielded interconnect. I am using about 20ft per channel from my borberly balanced line tube preamp to my Pass Aleph 1.2's or A-75amps. When I did a square wave test to my pre-amp after building it the square waves looked fine. I then checked the square waves at the input to my amps (amps off) to see if the pre-amp could drive the cable. It looked ugly so I checked a 3ft lenght-still ugly. Sine waves no problem.
The output impedance of my tube pre amp is probably less than 1k ohm and I would bet that if you had a ss pre-amp with an output impedance of less than 100ohms you would get better results than me. In listening tests, I did not detect a difference due to the length of balanced interconnect. Don't worry, the square wave tests of the speaker wire was worse and I am not sure why. dave

 

[konut]

The OP posted this question on the Audiocircles forum as well. My advice was short speaker cables, long interconnects whicn is what I do even using a passive preamp. This was due to my experience with PA work that I was involved with years ago. It seems though that planet10 and I are in the minority as all of the responders at AC prefered just the opposite. I'd like to thank planet10 for making me feel less isolated.

 

[abpea]

Hey konut,

Thanks for your comments on both boards I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Even though you are in the minority on this particular question in this specific thread certainly doesn't mean your opinion is any less valid or appreciated. Variety is the spice of life!

'I love ya man!'

Thanks again and best wishes -
Bruce

 

[konut]

Thanks Bruce. I truly appreciate your comments.

 

[Scottmoose]

Room for all views! There are no absolutes in Life! Try both and see is probably the way forward, if you can. I stick with my short interconnects and long speaker leads (there's a radio ham with a 2000w linear amplifier chucking out RFI in the house), but whatever works best for you is the message: you're the one who lives with it after all.

Best regards to all
Scott

 

[planet10]

(there's a radio ham with a 2000w linear amplifier chucking out RFI in the house)

Ouch.

You probably need to line your room with mu-metal shielding...

dave