Long Speaker Wires/Short Interconnects or Long Interconnects/Short Speaker Wires


I have a choice between 30’ runs of 4-conductor 12 gauge OFC speaker wire and 6’ long solid silver interconnects between the preamp and amps.....or 30’ long runs of Canare Cable interconnect between the preamp and amps and a set of short Kimber Kable teflon covered triple braided copper speaker wire.

I’m currently running the 30’ runs of speaker wire and 6’ IC runs. Years ago I ran the shorter Kimber Kables at a previous house with the shorter ICs, but the KK runs were too short for my current room. Today I stumbled across the 30’ runs of Canare Cable ICs that I had completely forgotten I even had. It’s sort of a big job to switch things out just to experiment, so before I test blindly, I was wondering which scenario has the most benefit to sound? FWIW, I think the current setup sounds great, but that doesn’t mean the other scenario couldn’t sound better.

I’ve read that output and input impedance of the amps and preamp can make a difference....I don’t know those specs of either, but my system has a recently refreshed Lazarus Cascade Basic tube pre-amp (4 - 12AX7s) going to two recently rebuilt Dyna/VTA ST-70s tube amps in a vertical bi-amp configuration that power an older pair of Sterling Acoustics speakers with an 8" Focal kevlar woofer in a transmission line, and a 5" kevlar midbass. Thanks in advance for any insights!

128x128knotscott
If it is RCA, short interconnects.  If XLR, short speaker cables.

If a choice, go with XLR.

Even with RCA, the rule of thumb is long IC and short speaker cables, unless the preamp is designed specifically to be used close to the power amp.