40 feet balanced between preamp and Levinson....

My suggestion would be to watch the used side here and wait for a deal. I did, and bought a 35 foot pair of transparent UltraXL balanced for $800. I thought that I did pretty good! Long cables go through here all the time.

I would try CALLING the folks at LAT International and see what they can come up with for you. With that long of a run, you will encounter higher than normal series resistance and high frequency loss. While the balanced line will help to reduce this, i would recommend the use of a silver conductor. Not only is silver lower in resistance than copper, it's greater high frequency extension and tendency to increase system resolution may help to balance out the losses from such a long run. Not only are their prices pretty reasonable, you have an extended amount of time to try them out at home with no risk involved. Sean
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http://www.latinternational.com/

If you using ML you should deffenetely go for Transparent Audio or MIT. They are best working in long length.

I agree with Sean on this - LAT will be able to help you with a quality cable and good/fair price - I use them.

Go to the local electronic parts house and have them make up a pair. Bet it's a lot less than $800 (used!). According to the manufacturer of my Atma-Sphere pre-amp, it can drive lengths as long as 200 feet. Don't know about the Audio Research. You could ask 'em I bet.

It is my understanding that the folks at Atmosphere are using runs of balanced Belden cable between their top end preamp and power amps. Would be worth a call to Atmosphere to find out what they have to say about it. I'm sure they are able to use whatever they want. One of the advantages of balanced cable is they are suitable for very long runs and they are said to have much less of a sonic signature than single ended cables. Just a thought and it would not cost very much to find out. Given that Belden caters to a different market there is no hype or the snake oil so often present in the world of high end audio cables. Good luck with it.

I used to have 33ft between ML380S and ML336 (recently replaced with Halcro) I am very pleased with Stealths CWS balanced cables, they were customized to offer low inductance (helps performance at long lengths (return/ground path must have low inductance in order to provide 'transparent" ground link at all frequencies (not only low ones )according to Stealth)
Matt

Long runs like this don't have very good resale value--that can be good for you if you are patient and watch the used market. I'm biased towards Audioquest. I've tried a lot of cables, and always seem to go back to AQ. I have long runs between my crossover and ML 20.0 and Krell KMA 160s. I used to have an AR pre-amp. I would recommend the AQ Emerald (now discontinued) if you can find a pair in that length. I'm using Lapis and Diamond--but wouldn't recommend either of those with the AR. The copper Emerald will give a slightly fuller and richer sound. My AR was a little on the lean side and sounded better with Emerald than with Lapis. I have not tried LAT cables, but Sean has been great asset to this site--so I would seriously consider his advice as well.

Stone bargain, great sound, nice fellow to deall with.

Thanks for all the balanced input! I'm still listening...