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69.116.133.124
I am running 5' balanced cables from the pre to the amp and then 50' cables from the amp to the speakers.
Its not easy or cheap but I could move my amp closer to my speakers if there would be a real difference.
Would it make a huge difference if I move the amp closer to the speakers and ran longer balanced runs??
Follow Ups:
If you look at strictly the loss of signal amplitude, or signal strength, if you are using a decent gauge of speaker wire, and a nominal 8 ohm load, then the losses would probably be on the order of a fraction of a dB, certainly less than 1 dB. For instance, a 50 foot run of 16 ga. wire is only going to have a signal loss in the midrange of approx. 0.4 dB, and a 12 ga. cable wioll be less than 1/2 that, or less than 0.2 dBHowever, it is not the simple loss of signal that is the main concern. There are other, more subtle losses that creep in for such a length, and it helps to realize that many folks can detect the differences between a poor cable (zip cord) and a high performance cable, when the speaker cable run is only 10 feet. Most folks who have high resolution ssytems would tel you that even the BEST speaker cable at 10 feet is still not perfect, and that a 50 foot run will be MORE than 5 times as bad.
Inductance comes into play, and will cause some high frequency loss, the lower the inmpedance of the load, and the longer the speaker cable, the worse this is. If it is a high performance speaker cable, then it would avoid the worst of these basic losses.
Of course, the big question is, could you gain in overall performance by switching to a longer line level cable, and shortening the speaker cable? This would depend entirely on two things: how much quality would yoube willing to pay for in the line elvel cable, and how good isthe signal drive capability of the preamp?
Even though a balanced signal source CAN have superior signal drive capability, this is not a given, and the ability to use a longer line level cable would depend entirely on the ability of the preamp to adequately drive it. The main problem is whether or not the preamp can drive the capacitance of the line level cable without choking, and unfortunately, a spec of a low output Z is NOT a sufficient condition for this to occur, the preamp MUST be able to drive enough current to handle the capacitive load of a long cable.
IF your signal source (preamp) to the amp had good drive capability (a 600 ohm drive capability and low output Z in combination would be a good indication of this), and you invested in a very good quality line level cable, then making the line level portion longer would certainly help things, but to some extent, it depends on how good the speaker cable was. If it is zip cord, then it would not be too hard or expensive, to better the system performance by using a decent cable to the power amp, and using shorter speaker cables.
One such cable suitable for balanced use would be Belden 89207, or 89272.
Wiring would be as noted in this post:
Balanced to RCA and vice versa.
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/25544.htmlAlso See:
Long Speaker Cables vs. Long Interconnects:
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/1080.html
Jon Risch
Wayne is right. Unless you have a particularly muscular source to drive the interconnect, a long interconnect would degrade the signal to the amp.Whether the long speaker cables are a problem for your amp depends on two things.
First, some amps cannot tolerate much capacitance in parallel with the load. It affects their feedback loop and makes them unstable. Long speaker cables with a lot of capacitance per unit length might be enough to push some amps over the limit.
Second, speaker cables can pick up RF noise, and some amps are sensitive to RF noise on their outputs.
If you want to find out cheaply if your cables are a problem, place some R-C networks across the amp and speaker terminals. Use about 10 ohms for resistance and about 0.01 microfarads for capacitance. Expensive components are not necessary to see if you have a problem. Wire the resistor in series with the capacitor, and place them with the capacitor on the (+) terminal and the resistor on the (-) terminal. Listen for improved midrange, smoother treble, and an overall sense of relaxation along with clarity.
If you hear an improvement, you can make better networks from old-style Holco or PRP resistors and silver-mica caps, and solder them to the ends of your speaker cables.
If nothing changes, then you don't have these particular equipment sensitivities and can stop worrying about your setup.
You're stuck with two bad options IMO. Assuming your speaker cable is good quality, heavy-gauge (14awg plus), I'd stay with the longer speaker cables. The long speaker cables will have an impact on your sound, but you've got plenty of juice to overcome the extra length, whereas the IC's carry a low-voltage signal, and tend to really suck the life out of the music in long lengths, IMO.
I'm sure you'll get different opinions.
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