Leads to the preamp should be short, as in use the ones that came with the tonearm. A longer cable (within reason, assuming it is unbalanced) can link the pre to the power amp. The weak signal coming out of the cartridge does not suffer the higher capacitance and resistance of longer cables too well.
When separating the TT from the rest of the system
I need to separate my turntable from the rest of my system by about eight feet. Would it be best to separate just the turntable and run long interconnects from the TT to the phonostage, or, should I move the phonostage with the TT and have the long interconnect between the phonostage and the amp. I'm guessing that one way must be clearly better than the other. Thanks in advance for the help.