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best long connection?

Hi all,

My second system will run (mono) speakers throughout the house. The central speaker-wire patch panel is about 30' (as the cable runs) from my sources. The amp and pre-amp support only RCA (unbalanced) connections. A converter will combine the stereo pre-amp outputs into mono inputs for the amp.

Which of these cabling choies might produce the best results?

1. Place pre-amp with the sources, the mono converter with the amp, and run long stereo interconnects between the pre-amp and amp.

2. Place pre-amp and mono converter with the sources, and run a single mono interconnect to the amp.

3. Put everything with the sources, and run a long speaker wire to the speaker patch panel.

Thanks for any help!
ehart
3 responses Add your response
ehart OP
215 posts
 
No response. This usually means I've been too wordy! The question boils down to: is it better to do a long interconnect between pre-amp and amp, or longer speaker cables?

In general, it seems the long interconnect is recommended here, but I wanted to see if a 30' unbalanced interconnect is really OK.

thanks,

Eric
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Yes, so long its shielded and/or you are careful locating it away from stuff that will cause hums or interference (usually from power lines). Long interconnects are my preference. As to where to put it in the chain, I keep my sources with my pre amp and use a long IC run to my amp. By the way, what is a mono converter?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
It depends on the wire. Electrons don't see the length of the wire. They see resistance, inductance, and capacitance. A 2 meter interconnect can look "longer" than a 5 meter one. For line level interconnects, low capacitance is the main issue.

It also matters what is the output impedance of the line level output. A solid state output with 10-50 ohm output impedance will tolerate long interconnects. If you have a tube preamp, 200 - 600 ohms output impedance, interconnects can be critical.
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