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Long Cables w/Short Speaker Cable or Vice Versa?

Assuming your equipment (other than power amp) is located a considerable distance from your speakers (15 feet), which is better:

(A) Long Interconnects with a Short Speaker Cable run; OR
(B) Short Interconnects with a Long Speaker Cable run?

Ideally, I want to seperate my McIntosh MC2301 monoblock amps so that they flank both sides of the cabinet built-in's that are on both sides of my fireplace and TV. Even if I put the amps together (in the left-side cabinet built-in), I will have at least a 15 foot run of speaker cable to reach the right speaker.

I have a decision to make on whether I should invest in a long run of interconnect OR speaker cable.

Thoughts?
chadhaas
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
I don't think the reasoning follows from your idea that because speaker cables carry a higher signal level they would be more prone to distortion; I have never heard this idea advanced. In fact any effect will be much more critical at LOWER signal levels because it will take much less to affect the signal. The higher the level of the signal the more it will take to affect it.
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
From my experiences, I STRONGLY DISAGREE with both Schipo and Alexs.
almarg's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
almarg
9,670 posts
 
A fundamental reason for the divergence of opinion on this question is that the answer depends on the characteristics of the equipment that is being connected. See this thread, in which there is discussion of some of the equipment characteristics that make each approach more desirable or less desirable.

The bottom line: Usually, but certainly not always, long interconnects/short speaker cables are the best approach.
The challenge I think that I may face is where to find 15' long interconnects!
Not sure why that would be a challenge. There are many good choices, in all price ranges. Would you want balanced (xlr) or unbalanced (rca) cables, and what would be the upper limit of what you would like to spend on them?

Regards,
-- Al
raquel
841 posts
 
Almarg is correct. And you should have no difficulty finding 15' runs of interconnects - there are almost always a lot of used long interconnects available at any given time on Audiogon (and they're usually cheaper than speaker cables, which use a lot more conductor).
clio09
3,346 posts
 
Some cables such as OCOS are designed to be used in long runs. I use 5.5m lengh with no problems.
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