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Long Cables w/Short Speaker Cable or Vice Versa?

Assuming your equipment (other than power amp) is located a considerable distance from your speakers (15 feet), which is better:

(A) Long Interconnects with a Short Speaker Cable run; OR
(B) Short Interconnects with a Long Speaker Cable run?

Ideally, I want to seperate my McIntosh MC2301 monoblock amps so that they flank both sides of the cabinet built-in's that are on both sides of my fireplace and TV. Even if I put the amps together (in the left-side cabinet built-in), I will have at least a 15 foot run of speaker cable to reach the right speaker.

I have a decision to make on whether I should invest in a long run of interconnect OR speaker cable.

Thoughts?
chadhaas

Showing 2 responses by chadhaas

chadhaas OP
3 posts
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. From the research I have gathered, it is my understanding that speaker cables carry a much larger signal than interconnects and are more prone to distortions.

The challenge I think that I may face is where to find 15' long interconnects! Ouch!
chadhaas OP
3 posts
 
I received this email response from a dealer:

Interconnect cables can be either RCA single-ended style or XLR balanced types. The XLR balanced type reduce the noise character and have negligible signal degradation over length. So these would be the preferred cable whenever possible regardless of length, when connecting source components, preamps and amplifiers.

RCA single-ended types are prone to noise pick-up whether from electromagnetic interference or from radio frequency interference and will have high frequency degradation once over 6 feet in length. If you have no choice but to use this style, keep the lengths closer to 3 feet if at all possible.

The least signal degradation will be associated with speaker cables since these are carrying a higher power signal where effects of resistance, capacitance and inductance are easily overcome with the stronger signal. If there is a choice between longer interconnects versus speaker cables. choose the longer speaker cables for better results.
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