Cables from amp to preamp or longer speaker cables…

Hello Thomastrouble! Think about professional installations. Almost always, the control board is near the back of the venue (hall, theater, auditorium, church, stadium) and the amps are very close (just a few feet - eliminating worrys about speaker cables) to the speakers. Balanced cables can run hundreds of feet between the control board and the power amps. An industry standard three conductor (balanced) sheilded cable from Belden is normally used to make the long distant runs. Think about microphone cables in performace locations. Tiny signals (about the same level as a moving coi cartridge) are routinely run for very long runs to a controll booth in the rear of the place. There is a good Chinese copycat cable available from Parts Express if $$ is a problem.  You don't have to spend huge amounts of money for those cables. I have set up sevral auditoriums and assure you that things are normally done in the way I have described. The best cables from Guitar Center should be fine. Don't spend over $10/foot, including connectors. Cables are easy to make if you can solder. Happy listening!

Short speaker cables and long interconnects. Over the last fifty years I have tried both. Depending on your equipment, generally the quality of the interconnects between preamp and amp are more important than whether or not they are single ended or balanced.

‘Also depending on the quality and specific components, typically the quality of the speaker cables will mater most, then the amp power cords, then the interconnects, then the rest of the power cords. Most importantly, each is additive, each improving the sound and in aggregate can make very substantial sound quality improvement.

It would be helpful to know more about your equipment and venue. There is a place under your user ID, under virtual systems. Then you can post only once.

I ran a pair of 7.5 meter, unbalanced interconnects from preamp to amps, with very short speaker cables, for years with no problems.  Recently, I replaced my 30-year-old interconnects with Morrow Audio cables, which are unshielded.  This caused some noise problems--my amps hummed more than usual and turning on or off a lamp made noise in the adjacent speaker.  So Morrow will be sending me a specially-made shielded version of the 8-meter interconnects, and hopefully that will solve the problem while still retaining the superb transparency of those cables.

With shielded interconnects, running unbalanced is unlikely to be a problem in an ordinary domestic setup.  In a professional setup where hundreds of feet of cable may be required, balanced cables are appropriate.  If ordinary mic cables can be used for a balanced setup, that could save $$, as long as both amp and preamp have the balanced jacks.  Balanced cables can transmit a higher output, therefore lower perceived noise level than long runs of unbalanced cable.

My speakers are in front of a bare wall and my gear is off to the side. Speakers are bi-wired with long runs of Kimber (I think) 6TC and 8Tc (but that was a long time ago, so I am not positive) and interconnects are 1.5 m of balanced Kimber Silver Streak (I went with 1.5 m because once upon a time I needed more flexibility with gear position).

I personally think my system is sounding fantastic at the present, but this thread has got me rethinking what the sonic advantages might be if I put the amp (Cary V12) on the floor between speakers with short cables and hooked amp to pre with long balanced interconnects. I would need a much longer power cable to do that, however.

Speaker cable you can run for several meters without any noticeable sound difference if they are designed right, no need to cost much either.