Least Losses: Long speaker cable vs. Long Interconnect?


Hi, I have such a clutter of audio gear around the TV I am contemplating moving one of my surround amps to the back of the room. This would place it near the rear speakers and give it the ventilation it needs. My question is whether I will suffer undue signal loss by having a long interconnect run (4-5 meters) as opposed to a long speaker cable run? I've been told that longer speaker runs are more desireable because they carry a high current as opposed to the voltage-based interconnects (more susceptible to signal loss). Any help would be appreaciated, especially with brands (will spend the cash if necessary). Thanks.
argent
If I were going to do something like that in my system, I would only do it if I could run balanced between the amp and preamp/pre-pro.Long speaker cables act as antennae, so unless the shielding on the speaker cable is subpar, you may be better off leaving things as they are.
Good luck
Long interconnects are much more desireable verus long speaker cables. Keep you speaker cable as short as possible. Yes, balanced is better if your equipment has that connection or termination. Also, a positive of moving eveything with the exception of your amp away from your speakers is the impoved imaging and sound stage. Ideally you do not want anything in from of you except your speakers.
You may or may not experience hum & noise pickup problems from running a long unbalanced interconnect. I've read of others doing so with no problems at all; it depends upon the impedances at source & load in addition to the particular cable in use. The only way to know for sure is to try it. You may be able to borrow some long interconnects (& speaker cables) of your preference from Cable Company (www.fatwyre.com). For this testing, they need not be exactly the length you need permenently (just move some things around if necessary). Incidentally, Cable Co's nominal cable rental fees are applicable to any future purchases of anything that they sell. Theoretically you're better off with shorter speaker cables & longer interconnects, although as always YMMV. I've always been forced to use longer speaker cables due to room-architecture; frankly I don't worry about it & these speaker runs are even a bit longer than yours are. I much prefer a networked speaker cable design for my longer runs, MIT T2, T3 or T4 would be good for your theater application. At that 4 to 5 meter length I wouldn't expect a great deal of difference one way or the other though. You'd have to try it out yourself to find out, but remember that these are only the surrounds anyway so not worth significant expenditure IMO. In any case be sure to use a decent quality cable; if you have only zip cord etc. then definitely do something about that right away.
As this is just the rear channels I was thinking of using some Audioquest Diamondback or Coral. I'm not too familiar with the MIT line, but I will research them. I don't want to go overboard on cable, but considering that I will be plugging into a Bryston 4B-ST and powering some N805s for the rears I want to make sure I don't choke the signal too much. Thanks for the input.