Null1, I was going to reply to Bigjoe, but after receiving your very generaous vote of confidence, I think I'll just leave it at that. Thanks.
Wallace, re: your question about spkr cable vs. IC length. It seems counterintuitive doesn't it that long ICs and short spkr cables are the preferred configuration, but there are several reasons for it and I'll list three in decending order of importance (to me anyway),
1.) It all started with (woofer) damping and tube amps. Tube amps require the mediation of a (output) transformer in order to couple the load (speaker) to the current valve (the power output tube). You cannot just hook a speaker to a tube like you can with a transistor (if you want to know why, read.) Problem is, with transformers, there's an inherent "magnetic lag" sometimes called "hysteresis" between one set of windings being energised by the tube and magnetizing the iron core which (and here comes the lag) then creates a current in the output windings which drive the speaker. Most tube amps have a maximum damping factor of 10. Think of this as braking power, and the number 10 as the multiple of reverse force the amp can apply to the woofer when the audio signal wants it to stop and go the other way (the faster it can do that, the cleaner your bass), Even having say 20 feet of speaker cable instead of 10 feet can reduce that damping factor from 10 down to 8 at 10 feet and 4 at 20 feet (I'm not going into "why" here.) So that's one reason to keep speaker wire short and wire size fat with tube amps. With SS amps, it's not damping so much (they generally have damping factors of as much as 100) but even at that, the inductances built up over long speaker runs produce a reverse load on the amps (the moving speaker actually generates an electrical current equal and opposite to the one driving it -- called reactance) which creates harmonic distortion and other nasties. This phenomenon, from what I've read screws most w/ SS amps but I could never figure out why.
2.) The (small) currents that must be carried by ICs compared to those of speaker cable mean that inductance and capacitance don't build up as readily. And time smear is often handled easily with special alloys, or a few different size wire strands or extra twists, whereas with a long speaker cable, this problem could only be solved (if at all) with a lot more material (ie heavy and expensive wire every foot.)
3.) Economics. Foot for foot, of similar quality goods, ICs are cheaper than speaker cable. That's why speaker cable is often the last thing folks upgrade.
There are other lesser reasons, some of which other folks mentioned. Another practical one that comes to mind is the fact that you are more likely to have an electrical outlet behind your speakers that's on (or could be put on) a different circuit from your front end stuff to give your amp(s) clean unshared power. Etc., etc., etc.
Wallace, re: your question about spkr cable vs. IC length. It seems counterintuitive doesn't it that long ICs and short spkr cables are the preferred configuration, but there are several reasons for it and I'll list three in decending order of importance (to me anyway),
1.) It all started with (woofer) damping and tube amps. Tube amps require the mediation of a (output) transformer in order to couple the load (speaker) to the current valve (the power output tube). You cannot just hook a speaker to a tube like you can with a transistor (if you want to know why, read.) Problem is, with transformers, there's an inherent "magnetic lag" sometimes called "hysteresis" between one set of windings being energised by the tube and magnetizing the iron core which (and here comes the lag) then creates a current in the output windings which drive the speaker. Most tube amps have a maximum damping factor of 10. Think of this as braking power, and the number 10 as the multiple of reverse force the amp can apply to the woofer when the audio signal wants it to stop and go the other way (the faster it can do that, the cleaner your bass), Even having say 20 feet of speaker cable instead of 10 feet can reduce that damping factor from 10 down to 8 at 10 feet and 4 at 20 feet (I'm not going into "why" here.) So that's one reason to keep speaker wire short and wire size fat with tube amps. With SS amps, it's not damping so much (they generally have damping factors of as much as 100) but even at that, the inductances built up over long speaker runs produce a reverse load on the amps (the moving speaker actually generates an electrical current equal and opposite to the one driving it -- called reactance) which creates harmonic distortion and other nasties. This phenomenon, from what I've read screws most w/ SS amps but I could never figure out why.
2.) The (small) currents that must be carried by ICs compared to those of speaker cable mean that inductance and capacitance don't build up as readily. And time smear is often handled easily with special alloys, or a few different size wire strands or extra twists, whereas with a long speaker cable, this problem could only be solved (if at all) with a lot more material (ie heavy and expensive wire every foot.)
3.) Economics. Foot for foot, of similar quality goods, ICs are cheaper than speaker cable. That's why speaker cable is often the last thing folks upgrade.
There are other lesser reasons, some of which other folks mentioned. Another practical one that comes to mind is the fact that you are more likely to have an electrical outlet behind your speakers that's on (or could be put on) a different circuit from your front end stuff to give your amp(s) clean unshared power. Etc., etc., etc.