Long RCA short speaker wire or vice versa...?

[Race Car Driver]

Opinion.

If one were to have a 15 ft run of RCA from pro to the amp and a 4ft run of speaker wire, (both from a high quality maker)

Or if one were to go the other route, short RCA and 15 ft long speaker wire. (again, same company)

Do you think their would be any audiable difference?

My thought it the longer low level RCA with short hi level speaker wire would be ideal, but in my layout, Id like the look/setup of having the Amps out of site with the longer speaker wire.

[David Meek]

If I correctly remember some of Jon, Thomas and others' conversations on this, the general consensus is that interconnects tend to be more microphonic (thus picking up spurious signals) than speaker cables so keeping them shorter and the speaker cables longer gives better results. But, as always YMMV.

[grit]

I agree with David. Everything I've ever read says that the interconnects should be as short as possible. If you have to run a distance, make it the speaker wire. My understanding is that long interconnects should actually be balanced rather than RCA to avoid any problems with the signal changing.

[Race Car Driver]

Cool, that works better for me, I prefer to have a 1 meter RCA and 5 speaker.

I totally understand what you guys are saying, and ive always run as short of a signal cable as poss. But ive seen such emphasis on the boards here about speaker wire I didnt know if the "thought" had changed.

[Kal Rubinson]

If I correctly remember some of Jon, Thomas and others' conversations on this, the general consensus is that interconnects tend to be more microphonic (thus picking up spurious signals) than speaker cables so keeping them shorter and the speaker cables longer gives better results. But, as always YMMV.

Nope, it ain't a general consensus, except, perhaps, around here.

I have (almost) always found that long ICs and short speaker cables is preferable because the impedances seen on each end by an IC are relatively resistive in the audio range. Also, as long as the IC cable doesn't have too much capacitance (easily determined from specs/measurements), increased length results merely in a small voltage loss which can be compensated for with a little twist of the volume control where there is always voltage gain on tap. RF pickup and microphonics are pretty much solved problems with competent design and component selection.

Long speaker cables, however, see a highly reactive load at the speaker and, if from an output transformer, on the amp end, as well. This means that increasing length will change the resistance that is loading these reactances and can result in changes in the non-linear response. Increasing the resistance, as comes with great(!) length, means a loss of power (not just voltage) and that's OK as long as the power amp has sufficient reserves but not all will.

All that said, in most domestic environments and their concommittant distances, it doesn't really matter. I use 8-10 meter interconnects and 2 meter speaker cables for convenience (puts the power amps with the speakers and my rack is already too full) but the other way works fine.

Kal

[chasw98]

Not sure if it matters, but, in the pro audio world, power amps are always located next to the speaker stacks. The big difference is that long runs of balanced lines are quite ok with good cable or inside a snake from a console 100 feet away. A speaker wire that long would definitely use a lot of watts in the wire as heat.

[ThomasW]

I have (almost) always found that long ICs and short speaker cables is preferable

.... :agree:

[alebonau]

.... :agree:

I know with my mf A5cr pre-pwr, specs on the pre say its happy feeding a 30ft or 10m interconnect to the power amp thats with unbalanced connections. Give me flexibiltiy too of mounting the pre within 8-10m of the power amp. My equipment rack/shelf is pretty full too.

Where perhaps shortness of the interconnect might be more important might be between source and pre ?

[JonMarsh]

who can afford long runs of Cardas Golden Reference speaker cables anyway?


I prefer keeping speaker cables under 3 meters, and use balanced interconnects for IC's longer than two meters.

In my past system using a passive preamp with Shalco attenuators, long interconnects aren't feasible due to HF roll-off. In a situation like that, try to minimize the length of both speaker cables and interconnects. Which I don't like, because that means have all the electronics and sources near the speakers.

So, I use an active preamp with balanced outputs for my main audio system now (Ayre K5x) with longish runs of Ayre Signature balanced interconnects, and the power amps located close to the speaker; in my bedroom system I use the passive preamp with two meter Cardas interconnects and Kimber 8TC to the speakers; obviously, the total runs and total volume is nowhere near similar. The Ayre is as close to transparent as I've found in that price range (especially with a nice remote), and is very tolerant of cables and loading. The passive has a slight edge in ultimate transparency, but no where near the convenience or usability, and would require long speaker runs to have the source units (CD, SACD, music server) sufficiently far from the speakers (vibration, you know).

[David Meek]

Oops, looks like the memory is failing. ops: Long ICs - short speaker cables. Long ICs - short speaker cables. Long ICs....