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Unequal length interconnects?

I recently acquired a second Monarchy SM-70 Pro, and with the power distribution in my room it made sense to move both amps out of my rack to under the speakers. I got upgraded power cords (Volex 17604s) and a pair of 4ft Speltz Anti-cables to my Von Schweikert VR-1s, both of which made an audible improvement.

The last piece of the puzzle is the interconnects from my Wright WLA12A to the Monarchys. In my current room the rack needs to be in the corner rather than between the speakers. The distance to the far amp is about 12 feet, with the near amp at about 4 feet. I had two 6 foot mid-level Calrad pairs (http://www.electroniccity.com/shopping/pricelist.asp?prid=498&brandinc=42)
so I split them up and used a decent quality F-to-F joiner to make a 12 footer. I tried it with 12 footers on both channels and with a 12 footer to the far amp and a 6 footer to the near one and could hear no difference.

My questions are:

1) Would there be a big improvement using one solid 12 footer versus using the joined 6 footers? Right now I have no way to test that, so I was looking for someone who may have tried it.

2) Is there any downside to using unequal length cables? If I get two 12 footers I'd have to do something with the excess on the near amp.

In either case, if I have to replace the Calrads I'd probably go with something like Signal Cables, which would probably be a step up anyway.

Thanks for your help.

David
armstrod

Showing 2 responses by armstrod

armstrod OP
602 posts
 
Today I ordered Analog Twos from Frank at Signal Cable. He was very helpful in helping me determine the right cable and his opinion is that using two different cables lengths won't be a problem, especially with the lower capacitance of the Analog Two.

I found one problem with my current Calrads - they don't really have any strain relief, and with all the switching and trying different lengths and combinations, one of the ends has become intermittent. Time for new cables anyway!

Thanks for everyone's help.

David
armstrod OP
602 posts
 
After having my wife's son sleeping in my listening room for two weeks, I was finally able to install my new Signal Cables today. Right out the box they're a big improvement over the Calrads - much less noise, and much better high frequency extension. Can't wait to hear what they sound like after some break-in.

After being able to A/B, it's clear that using the two 6 footers with the F-to-F joiner was introducing some noise in that channel, so Loontoon and Porziob, you were exactly right.

Thanks again for all your help.

David
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