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Long Speaker cable or Long Interconnects

361 Views 7 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Dave McRoy, Jun 28, 2000

Steve Bruzonsky

Discussion Starter · Jun 24, 2000

Over at the AV Science Tweaks forum we've had some good discussions on this. Do a search at the Tweaks forum using "length" and "cable" and have fun reading!

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I have moved my equpiment rack to the back corner of my listening room, to accomodate my front projector. I really want to leave my rack at the back.

The distance from my rack to the far-most right front speaker is 35'.

I have a dedicated amp, a Sunfire CG, to biamp the front mains, and to drive the centre channel. I have a separate 2 channel for the rear surrounds.

Should I buy a quality 35' pair of speaker cables.

OR

Should I move my power amp to the front of the room.

Then I would use 25' interconnects from the preamp at the back up to the power amp at the front. And then I could use an 8' pair of high grade speaker cables. I have a line on some trade-in Cardas Golden Cross 8' bi-wire speaker cables for the mains. I would use "cheaper" interconnects for the back to the front.

My local hi-fi shop advise it would be better to use the longer interconnects, and shorter high-grade speaker cables.

Any thoughts out there ?

- Andy

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LMDA1

· #3 · Jun 27, 2000

I was faced with a similar situation and decided on the long interconnect. Although my dealer also recommended this route, my decision was based more on logic than scientific proof. You see I chose a long high quality interconnect and a short run banana-ended speaker cables; After a while I unexpectedly purchased new speakers which had spade connectors only !?!? All I have top say is I was very happy I had made the right decision.

Sergio R.

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mdavis

· #4 · Jun 27, 2000

This topic has had extensive posts to this forum. Please search on it -- I created at least a thread or two on it.

Woodman said:
Quote:

Andy:

Your local Hi-Fi shop is full of prunes (or more succinctly) the end result of consuming vast quantities of same!

When a long run of wire is necessary, the longer speaker cable is always preferable to the longer inter-connect every time IMHO.

Why is this Woodman? There has been long debates on this throughout the year and there are very stong scientific arguments on both sides.

Woodman said:
Quote:

Why would the local shop advise you differently? Duh! They obviously plan on extracting more cash from your wallet by doing so. If it were me, I'd be looking around for another dealer - one that's not quite so mercenary.

Actually, in my case, I decided to go with long interconnect (full line of Harmonic Technology cables) and this route was less expensive than the long speaker cable/short interconnect route. In fact, I've found this to always be the case for cables that I have looked at. I've found that the long speaker cable recommendation always becomes more costly...not that this mattered in my decision.

Happy Listening, Regards, Mark

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Andy Lammer

· #5 · Jun 27, 2000

I did a search over in the Tweaks forum, and there was discussion on both routes. My guess is, it all depends on who your are talking too !

Some say to-MAY-to, some say to to-MAH-to.

I will consult with my OUIJA Board and post my findings.

If the OUIJA Board is on the fritz, then the Magic 8-Ball will have to do.

- Andy

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PF

· #6 · Jun 27, 2000

Andy,

I've had to do it both ways in various set ups I've had in the past few years. Previously, I had a 25 foot interconnect because the general consensus seemed to me to be long speaker cable, short interconnect. But, currently, I'm running a 30 foot set of speaker cable. It sounds fine. Just be sure to buy a good quality cable.

I also agree that it's generally cheaper to go the long interconnect, short speaker cable route. Most companies seem to charge more for their speaker cables than their comparable interconnect.

By the way, if you like network box cables, they tend to be "relatively" good bargains in long lengths because the main expense is the network itself. A 30 foot pair of MIT speaker cable is not terribly much more than an eight or ten foot pair. But a 30 foot pair of another manufacturer's speaker cable might be almost three times the cost of the basic eight or ten foot pair.

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clopez

· #7 · Jun 28, 2000

Andy,

I used to run long interconnects. I have noticed that when I use shorter interconnects I recieved better quality sound at higher volumes.

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Dave McRoy

· #8 · Jun 28, 2000

If longer interconnects and short speaker cables is the less expensive way to go, then go for it, so long as your source impedance is sufficiently low (under 3000 Ohms) and the cable's series capacitance isn't too high...otherwise you might experience some frequency response and related phase anomalies. When people come to me with this dilemma, the first advice I usually offer is to explore the feasability of more or less "splitting the difference" between the lengths of the interconnects and the speaker cables. Granted, this isn't always practical. Regarding long speaker cables, most modern solid state power amplifiers are sufficienty low in output impedance and sufficiently stable to be okay with 30 ft.or so of speaker cable, unless the cable is some reactive, Voodoo stuff.

-Dave

------------------

HiDefDave

[This message has been edited by Dave McRoy (edited June 28, 2000).]

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