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40ft: speaker cable or interconnect?

After reconfiguring my HT my LCR speakers are about 40 feet from my amp (Bryston 5b-st). I used to have 20-25 ft. runs and things sounded good. I used Frank's (Signal Cable) classic speaker cables.

Now that I've added another 15 feet, should I switch over to interconnects and relocate my amp near the speakers? Aesthetically, I prefer not to do this, but if 40 feet of speaker run isn't recommended, I'd consider it. I might also switch over to mono amps if I did this to minimize foot print up front (maybe Nuforce Ref9 or the like.)

Thanks,
John
jkscherk

Showing 2 responses by tonyptony

tonyptony
627 posts
 
John, one thing to keep in mind is the output impedance of your preamp and the input impedance of the amp. I was in the same situation as you last year, and discovered to my dismay that my old amp's input stage oscillated uncontrolably with long ICs. I don't think this will happen with the Bryston, but you may want to call both Bryston and your pre's manufacturer to see if there are any recommendations in this scenario.
tonyptony
627 posts
 
John, long single ended *is* possible. I solved the problem I was having (described above) by moving to a new amp (which I was coincidentally looking to do anyway). My new amp is an AVA FetValve, which has a very high (and stable) input imdedance and makes for an easy load to drive with long ICs. The AVA only has RCA in, so I tried a few things and went with well shielded RCA ICs (Purist Venustas) that are 30 ft long. I compared them to what I was using in my old arrangement (Kimber KCAG at 1.5m) and discovered no discernable rolloff or ill effects in using the Purist cables. The resulting combination works very well for me. YMMV, and I would suggest being very careful to assess all parts of the system in trying to find out if this might work with your equipment - even to where the cables will be routed relative to other sources of potential interference. But it can work.
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