Right I have seen both ways, a turntable in a closet somewhere system elsewhere, but normally I am sure they have a standalone phono pre near to the cart and then longer interconnects down to the main system. I think I have come up with a new option to keep the whole system on my 2 ft cables througout, Its called giving up some space and at the same time getting a Flat panel monitor to hang on the wall.. But better than losing performance of the system.. by the way the main reason for the question was I am combining my surround system with the 2 channel and of course with a turntable right up on top a projection TV can't be put higher or even out of the way because its so high already, so I will have to put up a monitor that will be flat on the wall, my LCD is about 10" deep right now, but you could not open the turntable, so time to move on and do it the right way.. Thanks guys