Cable questions


Hi,

First, I've read back quite a few discussions of long speaker cables vs. long interconnects. My question is a bit different, in that I don't have monoblocks, which is the focus of most of those discussions.

My problem is that for family-acceptability reasons, my stereo preamp must be some distance from my speakers. I could position the stereo power amp either with the preamp (using a 3-6' interconnect) or close to the speakers (under the floor, actually). With short interconnects, my speaker runs would be about 25-30'. With long (about 20')interconnects, my speaker runs would be about 10'.

My preamp is a Classe CP-35, and the amp is a CA-200. These units do have balanced output and input if that helps.

Second, what sort of cables would you recommend? Cost is an issue, I would like to spend a few hundred dollars on cabling (I realize that's low, but I've made some jumps to step up to this gear and need to slow down for now). I currently use a 3' Radio Shack Gold interconnect and 10 foot of 12guage homemade RS speaker cable. Speakers are Celestion S-300 floorstanders.

Finally, any information out there on homemade interconnects? Is this hard to do, and are the results reasonable?

Thanks for any advice!

- Eric
ehart
I'd opt for the 20'interconnects and 10' speaker cables - for value cables I would check out the Canare interconnect and cable. Both are inexpensive and reported by many to work quite well - I've never heard them though.
I would definitely go with a long balanced interconnect. Least likely to have any signal loss. I'll leave the recommendations for cable brand and model to those familiar with the Classe gear.
Ditto with Newbee -- I am using 20+ foot interconnects with 10 foot speaker cables and am achieving very fine results. The Phoenix Gold Pro interconnects are very inexpensive (under $100 for that length in XLR) and hold up to the best of systems. I can't speak to inexpensive speaker cable (mine is pricey) but do a thread search and look for used. Actually, there are excellent threads on low cost interconnects too. Good luck.
I chose to run a 7 metre IC between amp and pre so I could keep my spkr. cables 6 ft.(Kimber PBJ works fine)
I run Classe 25 power amps and CP-60 pre amp, I use the PS Audio Statements for inteconnects and XLO type 5 speaker wire which will be replaced with the PS Audio Statement speaker wire. I would go for the longer interconnects with shorter speaker wire but since your buget is only a few hundred dollars I would keep what you have for now and spend the money on dedicated lines or maybe a few nice power cords. I know your eq. well and your buget is not enough to get the most from your eq. Also check out a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet!
The other thing to do is a nice set of interconnects for now then down the road a bit pick up speaker wire, you have some long runs and not enough in the buget to really upgrade, as a few hundred wont get you much considering the long runs so work on other things until you can afford the better wire. Happy Listening!
Great advice, thanks. I will definitely go with the longer balanced interconnect. As a bonus, it sounds as though a decent long interconnect is cheaper than decent long speaker cables. I like the suggestion to spend the money on just interconnect now, and go with better speaker wires later when budget allows.

For future reference, I would love to hear what other Classe owners are using for Interconnects and speaker wire.

Thanks again

- Eric

p.s. How do you go about demoing this stuff (wire)? Local stores have a very limited selection. Do you just buy a bunch of different stuff here for comparison, then sell the losers?
Ehart,
Go to psaudio.com as they have a 30 day trial, also usedcable.com has many great cables that you can try for 30 days and if not happy just send back! I think if you tried the PS Audio statements in your system you will want to keep them! Check there power products out as they have been one of the best upgrades that I have done to my system. Happy Listening!
I'm having good results with Phoenix Zeropoint Pro inter-
connects and Zeropoint Pro Speaker cable.