Room setup vs. longer interconnects

if your preamp can drive the cables, everything else being equal, you should hear no substantive difference. i drive 7 meter lengths with no loss (cardas cable - arc preamp).

Balanced, it HAS to be a balanced interconnect. I'm running a 7-meter long IC between preamp and amp, Goertz Micropurl. Works great between my BATVK30 preamp and BATVK500 amp and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

I would not attempt that long of an interconnect run unless it was balanced. Anything else opens you up to far greater signal degradation, increased opportunity for RFI, instability of the preamp circuitry, etc... Sean
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If U stick to unbalalnced: I wouldn't dare contradict Sean on the possible circuit danger resulting fm a long IC :>), but I did do just that w/out any problem. HOWEVER, it is logical that the smaller signal emanating from the pre is way more vulnerable to interference, loss, and other goodies Sean identifies, than the stronger signal that comes from the amp.
In fact, using unbalanced (as recommended by my pre manufacturer) @ 1mtr and amp->speakers 6 + 6 metres (i'm bi-amping), was better sounding in my system than the other way round!

You'll also generally get better image depth and deeper, wider, better soundstaging with no equipment rack between your speakers. I think it is a good trade to run a longer pre to power balanced IC and keep the rack out of the soundstage.

Greg, look around at some of the other forums and see what the engineers and designers have to say about this. I know that John Curl and Jon Risch have both stated that it can be done ( obviously ), but that it is typically not a "good idea". One of these two ( can't remember which one ) also went into detail about the capabilities of most Integrated Circuit based preamps not working well with anything over about 6' at the max. Even though Tubes and non-IC based preamps would fare better at longer runs, but you can still end up opening a can of worms.

Personally, i've run RCA's for a distance of up to 12' without problems with a specific preamp. I knew that it would remain stable with the specific cables that i was using, so that was not a problem. I also took into account that i would need extra shielding to deal with this when selecting cables. Having some technical background in this area can sometimes be an advantage. Someone not knowing what to look for could easily fall prey to a greedy dealer.

Another factor is that such a long run of cables will SURELY impart their sonic signature into the system in a hard-core manner. As such, you better know their sonic characteristics before shelling out the change for such a long run. Otherwise, you could end up investing in a "flavour" that is NOT complimentary to system performance or personal tastes.

Either way, 6+ meters is a LONG run of a low level signal. I know that people do this as i've purchased RCA based interconnects ( several times ) of this length and longer after they didn't work out as planned. I simply ended up gutting them, cutting them down to the sizes that i needed and reterminating. Since systems that require such long runs are the exception rather than the norm, there's not really a big market for cables like this. As such, you can pick them up as a MASSIVE bargain compared to new retail. Obviously, this works out great for folks that don't mind getting their hands dirty. On the other hand, it can be a real killer and major stumbling block to the original purchaser who thought that they could get by with such a set-up.

Like anything else, do you homework, talk to those that you'll be purchasing from and know what you'll be getting into BEFORE shelling out any "one way" cash. If at all possible, try before you buy. Sean
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Why don't you try repositioning your equipment rack to see if it affects the soundstage. If it does you could pop for acoustic treatment such as ASC panel trap or panel. If you are a DIY you could build acoustic treatment panels or bass traps over at Jon Risch’s website. There is a lot of information on the Audio Asylum on acoustic treatment and room setup. The Cardas website has recommend that equipment be placed in the lower 1/3 of the wall. This way you won’t have to worry about long interconnects.

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/a.htm

I am using DIY bass traps that work really well.

Davewav

Thanks for yr input, Sean!