Cables Which is better? Long interconnects or speaker wire

pcosta · Feb 20, 2015

I want to move my rack from between my speakers off to the side wall of my room. Now I would like reasons for using long interconnects over long speaker wire or vice versa.
I have a 12 watt 211 amp and my preamp and amp use RCA connections. The builder/designer of my amp says long speaker cables are the way to go for "best" performance in his opinion, but he also said my preamp could handle a 5m run of rca interconnects.

Peter Breuninger · Feb 20, 2015

pcosta said:
I want to move my rack from between my speakers off to the side wall of my room. Now I would like reasons for using long interconnects over long speaker wire or vice versa.
I have a 12 watt 211 amp and my preamp and amp use RCA connections. The builder/designer of my amp says long speaker cables are the way to go for "best" performance in his opinion, but he also said my preamp could handle a 5m run of rca interconnects.

Audio 101. Short speaker cables, long interconnects. Who, please name names is telling you otherwise?

pcosta · Feb 20, 2015

It seems the folks from Europe like long speaker cables. Tron Electric from the UK. Jeff from High Water Sound said you will get that answer Europe would use long speaker and USA guys use long interconnects, but no one ever says why.

Speedskater · Feb 20, 2015

Long RCA interconnects can be problematic if the amps are powered from a different circuit than the preamp.
Balanced XLR interconnects don't have this problem.

CGabriel · Feb 21, 2015

pcosta said:
I want to move my rack from between my speakers off to the side wall of my room. Now I would like reasons for using long interconnects over long speaker wire or vice versa.
I have a 12 watt 211 amp and my preamp and amp use RCA connections. The builder/designer of my amp says long speaker cables are the way to go for "best" performance in his opinion, but he also said my preamp could handle a 5m run of rca interconnects.

A half dozen of one and a half dozen of the other.

Or, it depends. Interconnects only transmit a "signal" - an alternating voltage into a relatively high impedance. This does not require significant current transmission so a long cable does not degrade the signal significantly. However, the same high impedance load makes the cable very susceptible to RF/EMI issues. So, if you need a along interconnect you would want a shielded type cable preferably a balanced XLR cable.

A speaker cable on the other hand must transmit "power" - a sum of the voltage signal and a significant current into relatively low impedance (speaker). There can be a very significant loss when a long speaker cable is used. It depends somewhat on the type of speaker you may use. A speaker that does not have a low point in its impedance curve would tolerate a long speaker cable better than would one that has a low impedance drop (i.e 4 ohms or less). If you need a long speaker cable you want to choose one that has a large gauge conductor and has a low inductance.

Bruce B · Feb 21, 2015

Many years ago I had a Classe' amp driving a pair of Maggies. I can't remember the pre I was using, but I used a long pair of speaker cables (25') and it almost sounded like I had put a high-pass filter on the system. I shortened the speaker cable and used a long pair on IC's and everything sounded fine again.

JackD201 · Feb 22, 2015

People would be surprised at how long one can run a signal cable if they look it up on AES, both single ended and balanced.

Orb · Feb 22, 2015

Worth noting though some cables do have moderately high capacitance/inductance that could be a consideration at longer lengths depending upon the audio hardware.
Cheers
Orb

LL21 · Feb 22, 2015

CGabriel said:
A half dozen of one and a half dozen of the other.

Or, it depends. Interconnects only transmit a "signal" - an alternating voltage into a relatively high impedance. This does not require significant current transmission so a long cable does not degrade the signal significantly. However, the same high impedance load makes the cable very susceptible to RF/EMI issues. So, if you need a along interconnect you would want a shielded type cable preferably a balanced XLR cable.

A speaker cable on the other hand must transmit "power" - a sum of the voltage signal and a significant current into relatively low impedance (speaker). There can be a very significant loss when a long speaker cable is used. It depends somewhat on the type of speaker you may use. A speaker that does not have a low point in its impedance curve would tolerate a long speaker cable better than would one that has a low impedance drop (i.e 4 ohms or less). If you need a long speaker cable you want to choose one that has a large gauge conductor and has a low inductance.

Thank you. Very helpful. For us non-techies, what is considered the starting range for 'long' for speaker cable runs? I am 15 feet where Transparent has supposedly calibrated the cables for my current equipment. I believe these are shielded, heavy gauge and have low inductance (from what i vaguely recall in a Martin Colloms review). Nevertheless, as a non-techie, would be interesting to know what the industry generally considers a long interconnect run and a long speaker run.

minirac · Feb 22, 2015

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-receivers-amps-processors/90121-linear-damping-factor.html

ACHiPo · Feb 22, 2015

LL21 said:
Thank you. Very helpful. For us non-techies, what is considered the starting range for 'long' for speaker cable runs? I am 15 feet where Transparent has supposedly calibrated the cables for my current equipment. I believe these are shielded, heavy gauge and have low inductance (from what i vaguely recall in a Martin Colloms review). Nevertheless, as a non-techie, would be interesting to know what the industry generally considers a long interconnect run and a long speaker run.

The information I've found defines "long" balanced interconnects as ~300'.

I've gone through the same thought process recently, and decided to run long-ish (for me 25') balanced interconnects from the electronics to monoblocks. I haven't moved the electronics yet, but I put the Mogami Gold Studio 25' into the system Thursday night. Initially I got quite a bit of sibilance and brightness with the Mogami Golds compared to my reference JenaLabs 4m Symphony XLRs, but after ~100 hours they're settling in nicely and I think I can be happy with them for some time.

I just got overwhelmed with the choices and figured I'd start by finding 1m interconnects I liked (Audience Au SE, Cabledyne platinum, WyWires Platinum, etc.), but then I realized even if I liked them as short interconnects there's no way I'm going to pay the $3k to $7k for an 8m run, so I'm starting with baby steps.

One thing I did learn in the process, however, is that balanced interconnects absolutely affect the sound (I was hoping that would not be the case :-( ), as replacing the cheap MonoPrice interconnects with the long JenaLabs and/or the Mogamis opened up the sound, increased musicality, and detail retrieval.

AC

LL21 · Feb 22, 2015

Thanks, AC. Good to know. Personally, i have found most of my cables 2nd hand...which is tough to do with Transparent RefXL and RefMM because they have to be calibrated for your equipment so its very very difficult. As a result, my interconnects are 1-2m and it is the SCs which must be longer. But from what you describe, 4.5m to 5m is hardly long by industry standards.

ACHiPo · Feb 22, 2015

LL21 said:
Thanks, AC. Good to know. Personally, i have found most of my cables 2nd hand...which is tough to do with Transparent RefXL and RefMM because they have to be calibrated for your equipment so its very very difficult. As a result, my interconnects are 1-2m and it is the SCs which must be longer. But from what you describe, 4.5m to 5m is hardly long by industry standards.

LL,
I'm a huge believer in buying used, especially for things like cables. Unfortunately it's tough to find long runs, and when I do, they're cables I know nothing about. My original plan was to find short (1-2 m) cables that I liked, then take the plunge on a longer cable. I just don't see myself dropping that kind of coin for the 8 m run.

4m - 5m for speaker cables is getting kinda long, but you should be fine as long as the cables don't have a lot of capacitance, resistance, or inductance.

AC

LL21 · Feb 22, 2015

ACHiPo said:
LL,
I'm a huge believer in buying used, especially for things like cables. Unfortunately it's tough to find long runs, and when I do, they're cables I know nothing about. My original plan was to find short (1-2 m) cables that I liked, then take the plunge on a longer cable. I just don't see myself dropping that kind of coin for the 8 m run.

4m - 5m for speaker cables is getting kinda long, but you should be fine as long as the cables don't have a lot of capacitance, resistance, or inductance.

AC

Thanks...apparently very low, and Transparent Audio does adjust each cable network box according to length and input/output impedance of the components...that is why when i buy 2nd hand i have to find an owner with same or similar equipment which in 2 cases (both ICs), i have.

As for SCs, those were a 2nd hand/part trade in/almost no cash-type deal with the TA Dealer/Distributor...so they are actually calibrated for my Gryphon/Wilson X1s.

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Cables Which is better? Long interconnects or speaker wire

pcosta

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