Cable Length Optimization...Speaker vs Interconnect, etc.

Bob..Thanks.

MC...I have to assume you are single and don't have the same constraints I do. Last IA became a brick, resident financial advisor set the budget...and paying attorneys fees to get a new advisor would put me into the 14 dollar Walmart checkout line BT speaker.

Limited budget? Balanced cable to a single end input is the biggest waste of $$ I can think of.
Don't worry about MC. He can't run balanced so you shouldn't either. The fact is that unless both ends are completely differental it is a total waste of funds.

Thanks Fuzztone. I agree with futility if all you do is basically use an XLR cable to carry a single, unbalanced signal by shorting pins (basically). I believe the Jensen, for example), retains the benefits of a balanced signal path, essentially, up to the transformer, so the unbalanced segment of the path is very short.

Am I incorrect in that? And are the benefits of reducing the unbalanced signal path length worth it over these distances, particularly when it means adding 2 connections and electrical devices? 

And while MC can be entertaining, is certainly more knowledgeable than me, I suspect (like many, including myself), cables aren't the only unbalanced items in his listening room.

But I think that what I am hearing leads me to believe that a longer, decent quality unbalanced cable will likely suffice...particularly in a physical environment that has tremendous complexity with little room (tolerance) for significant corrective treatments. And it is certainly not too costly to try both unbalanced solutions to evaluate.

Paul