long interconnects - earthly price?

i'm not sure of the price, but element cable has a one meter pair for under $100.00 . my suggestion is have the cable terminated with bullet plugs and have the cable unshielded.

Thank you for the suggestions. I've ordered a demo pair of Speltz and I'm trying to get a couple other pairs to demo. After testing them, I'll post my interpretations here. My setup is RCA. Can the Mogami 2534 connect to RCA? Jeff

Dr Joe has got a point, if you can do something with the $1900 difference try the Mogami. If $1900 is nothing to you, feed the poor souls at Transparent.

steve

Definitely go for microphone cable. Balanced is better for 16 feet but not essential.

The professional recording standard is Mogami 2534, though many studios use less expensive Belden and Canare. Even so, the Mogami is less than a buck a foot retail: the major cost will be quality connectors.

Everyone's ears and room and associated components differ. Having said that, I've compared Mogami 2534 and Canare StarQuad against quite a few high-end cables ($300 to $800 Cardas, AudioQuest, Tara Labs) and consistently haven't found a difference worth the price differential. Of course, YMMV.

Associated equipment: Sony DVP-S7700 as transport with Benchmark DAC1; Technics SP-10MKIIP turntable with Stax UA-9 tonearm and Ortofon Super OM40 cartridge; modified Sony ST-S555ES tuner; Meitner PA6+ preamp; Meitner MTR101+ power amps; Tannoy System 15 DMT II speakers; analogue ICs all Mogami 2534 with Cardas or Neutrik ProFi RCAs; digital IC i2 Digital X60; Museatex Krypton 1 metre speaker cable; DIY AC cables from 10 to 14 AWG shielded Belden.

Long (35-foot) Transparent Ultra interconnects worked very well for me in my system for many years. While the Transparent cables are generally very pricey in the typical 1-meter lengths, the upcharge for longer lengths is very reasonable on a per-foot basis, resulting in long runs that are comparatively very reasonably priced. If you buy used, you will probably be able to find a pair of Transparent Reference interconnects within your $2,000 price cap.

On long lengths, do not go cheap. I have a 12 meter run of the Pure Note Paragon E silver cable. I hear no signal degradation. I paid around $1500.

No offense taken, Albert. I should also have commented in my post that it might make sense for Jj2468 to get balanced IC's. While a 16-foot run is not terribly long, balanced IC's offer the potential advantage of lower noise, particularly if they are used in a system with high levels of RFI or EMI.

I knew that and posted Ben's name anyway. Guess it's the McCain side of my family that made me do it.

Hi, Albert:

Just a note to say that I'm the "other" Campbell -- Ben is a fellow "clansman" who lives in Scotland, whereas I live in Seattle.

Best regards,

Scott Campbell
"Sdcampbell"

For much less, I would use Apollo-A by Silent Audio.

Richard

Ben's advice to go for Belden is easy via Blue Jeans Cable Company. Here is a link:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm

15 foot stereo pair of Belden, factory terminated with Canare RCA and warranted is only $39.75. If you try them and it turns out not to be your favorite, it's worth keeping as backup for that price.

Your biggest concerns with a long cable run are:
- Signal loss
- EMI/RFI contamination
- a lot of metal (and its sonic signature) between point A to point B

You can get a pair of 5m Cyberlight cables that are immune to all of the above for around $1799. I have a set you can demo if you are serious.

More info

With a 16" run of IC, you should be looking for a cable that has low resistance and capacitance per foot (like microphone cable). One choice is Nordost flat cables (such as the Blue Heaven), which have very low capacitance, but a 16' run won't be cheap. Cardas cables are also low capacitance, but they are also on the expensive side.

There are several options you might consider, one of which is to build your own, using Belden cable (which typically has low capacitance). Here's the link to a general info sheet that describes the various applications for which different models of Belden cable are best suited:
http://bwcecom.belden.com/College/Techpprs/rhtheatp.htm

I triple dog dare you to find one whose performance matches or betters the Speltz anti-ic especially when the Speltz costs just a few hundred for this long run.

I'm not saying you won't find one because there may be a few out there, but I doubt you will.

-IMO